By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

DARKE COUNTY — Here are the scores and stats from the first round playoff games from Feb. 17.

Division IV: 2. Tri-Village 64 vs 18. National Trail 23

VERSAILLES — In the OHSAA Division IV Girls Basketball Southwest Sectional at Versailles, the two seed Lady Patriots took care of business and moved on to the next round.

The defense stole the show as they were aggressive and created a lot of offense for them. Head coach Brad Gray said the defense did what he thought they would earlier in the season. They haven’t under preformed, they just haven’t generated a ton of offense from their defense.

“I thought our defense created a lot more offense for us than what it has been. I think we’re a good defensive basketball team, but sometimes our defense hasn’t gotten us as much offense as I thought it would earlier in the year,” Gray said. “It was nice today to see our defense create offense.”

The offense was inconsistent in the first half, but did enough to gain a big lead in the first half. The Lady Patriots were up 31-9 at halftime.

The half-court offense picked up in the second half. The team started to hit more shots and got into a rhythm. Gray said the offense seems to flow better when they can get players touches in the post. In their first matchup against National Trail, Gray said they didn’t do that enough.

“That was a real focus for them all week in practice. Just trying to get as many post touches as we could, not necessarily for Kynnedi but for anybody. When we get post touches, we’re way more efficient,” Gray said.

The Lady Patriots kept up the intensity in the third quarter and got to a running clock. In the fourth quarter, the reserves got the chance to go in and finish the game.

Sophomore Kynnedi Hager led the team with 25 points. Sophomore Sydnee DeLong and Adalynn Hines both had 10 points.

If the Lady Patriots get the win over 20th seed Fairlawn, they will face the winner of 19th seed Bradford vs fifth seed Mississinawa Valley. That game will take place on Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. at Versailles High School.

A full game recap can be found on our website, dailyadvocate.com.

Division IV: 5. Mississinawa Valley 69 vs 16. Riverside 33

VERSAILLES — The Lady Blackhawks cruise through Riverside to move on in OHSAA Division IV Girls Basketball Southwest Sectional. In the final seconds of the second quarter, junior Taylee Woodbury scored to surpass 1,000 career points.

“It was exciting. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. I really appreciate them and their support throughout all of it,” Woodbury said.

Head coach Michael Paige said he is thrilled to see her accomplish this career milestone, especially doing it her junior year.

“We were hoping she got it today. With the tournament, we got a lot of other things to focus rather than her hitting that milestone,” Paige said. “We’re unbelievably happy for her. Hitting it as a junior is huge.”

Woodbury was 17 points away from reaching the milestone going into the game. At the end of last season, Woodbury had an ACL injury that kept her out of the Lady Blackhawks tournament games.

Coming back from the injury was a challenge early in the season. Woodbury was physically ready, but had to get through a mental block.

After a few games into the season, her confidence started to come back and she started to play up to her level.

“I started off slow. I still had it in my head, it was kind of scary. I was scared,” Woodbury said. “But as I kept going, I felt more comfortable and I started playing like my normal self which helped.”

The defense was consistent all game long. They didn’t allow the Lady Pirates to gain any momentum on the offense. The Lady Blackhawks limited second chance opportunities and forced turnovers.

The offense was inconsistent in the first half. They had their runs and their scoreless droughts. To start the second quarter, they went on a 9-2 run. Then they stalled out for a few minutes.

In the last four minutes of the quarter, they went on a 16-2 run.

The team made nine threes in the game. They were able to score inside and out. Paige said while they’re not afraid to let it fly from deep, he feels confident they can score in many different ways.

“We’re willing to let it go. We trust our bigs to rebound. We’ll play outside-in, we’ll play inside-out. However we need to get it done is what we’ll do,” Paige said.

The team carried the momentum from the end of the first half into the third quarter. They got the running clock and were able to get the reserves some playing time.

Woodbury led with 25 points and had 12 assists. Senior Brenna Price had 15 points on 7 for 10 shooting. The only blemish on the score sheet is the free throw shooting. Mississinawa Valley was 2 for 11 from the free throw line.

A win in their next game against 19th Bradford could give Mississinawa Valley a rematch against Tri-Village. That game would be on Feb. 28 at 6 p.m.

A full game recap can be found on our website, dailyadvocate.com.

Division IV: 14. Ansonia 54 vs 4. Southeastern 46

VERSAILLES — The Lady Tigers pulled off the upset in the OHSAA Division IV Girls Basketball Southwest Sectional to move on to the next round.

Head coach Connor Custenborder said the team did come out on the short end of the stick in seeding. But, they were still able to get a spot they wanted. It turned out for the best.

“Going into the draw, the 10 seed through the 14 seed pretty much all had the same record. It came down to strength of schedule. We got the short end of the stick there,” Custenborder said. “But I’m glad we could get a spot that we wanted in the draw and get a win.”

Southeastern led 28-21 at halftime. The Ansonia offense was doing enough to keep it close, but couldn’t get that bucket or two to take a lead.

The defense did their job. They forced turnovers and were speeding up the Lady Trojans. Ansonia couldn’t overcome their spurts on offense to get a lead.

The tides turned in the third quarter. Ansonia drained four threes in the third quarter. The offense started to flow in the half court and the defense gave them some easy buckets.

In the final minutes of the third quarter, Ansonia went on an 8-0 run to tie the game 36-36 heading into the fourth quarter. Sophomore Olivia Schmitmeyer hit two threes, junior Gabby Leeper hit a two and senior Bailey Schmit hit a three to help tie the game.

They did all of that without senior Brenna Schmit, one of their leading scorers, in the second half. She left the game due to injury.

Custenborder said all season long, they have struggled shooting and have worked on their shots. The players put in the extra work outside of practice to become more consistent shooters. The hard work paid off in this game.

“Shooting has been somethings that’s been a struggle for us all year. The girls work hard. I tell them if they ever want to go in the gym, I’m not going to tell them no. Some of them try to get in before school. The extra work is paying off,” Custenborder said.

It was a 41-41 tie game with 5:02 left in the fourth quarter. Ansonia dug deep and went on a run to close out the game with a win. The offense got some key buckets down the stretch and the defense got the stops needed to win.

Freshman London Reichert led the team with 17 points. Custenborder said they have encouraged Reichert to get more shots up during games. Bailey Schmit had 11 points and Leeper had 10 points. The team made eight threes in the game.

The Lady Tigers will next take on 10th seed Botkins, a team they lost 45-21 to during a losing streak. Custenborder said he hopes the team can realize they are a better team now than when they lost to Botkins in the regular season. It’s going to be a tall task either way.

That game will be on Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. at Versailles.

A full game recap can be found on our website, dailyadvocate.com.

Around the county:

Division IV: 17. Franklin Monroe 41 vs 3. Covington 70

The Lady Jets end their season with a loss to the third seed at Sidney High School in the OHSAA Division IV Girls Basketball Southwest Sectional. Franklin Monroe didn’t go away without a fight. They scored 16 points in the final quarter and outscored Covington in the quarter. Franklin Monroe ends their season with a 7-15 record and a 4-7 WOAC record.

Division II: 16. Greenville 35 vs 6. Thurgood Marshall 55

In the OHSAA Division II Girls Basketball Southwest Sectional, the Lady Wave fell to Thurgood Marshall at Tecumseh High School. Greenville ends their season with a 6-17 record and a 3-15 MVL record.

Division III: 5. Versailles 64 vs 17. Preble Shawnee 15

In the OHSAA Division III Girls Basketball Southwest Sectional, the Lady Tiger cruise through the Lady Arrows to move on at Covington High School. Versailles held Preble Shawnee scoreless in the second and fourth quarter. Senior Jenna Dirksen led with 16 points. Junior Sarah Stammen had 12 points and junior Taylor Wagner had 11 points. Versailles will take on 13th seed Brookville on Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. back at Covington.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]