NEW MADISON – The Tri-Village Lady Patriots continued to roll on Saturday, handing National Trail its first loss of the season, 62-31.
The PATS used a suffocating defense that stymied the Lady Blazers in the first half as TV held a 16-6 first quarter lead and a 35-10 halftime advantage.
National Trail’s focus was slowing down the Patriots by disrupting their half-court offense, denying point guard Rachel Miller getting the ball and over playing senior leading scorer Allie Downing.
When you take away options, good teams take advantage of what you give; in this case it was Danika Mann. The senior poured in 14 first half points and totaled 20 to lead all scorers in the game.
“Our top two scorers, Allie Downing and Emma Printz, both only had two points at the half, and for a lot of teams they would be in trouble,” Tri-Village girls basketball coach Brad Gray said. “And to have 25-point lead meant we had other kids who step up to contribute.
“Our game plan was to pound the ball inside to Danika, and our kids did a good job of finding her, and to her credit she finished inside today. It was a good day for her,” Gray said.
Trail adjusted at the half and attacked the Patriots’ defense to score 11 points, the Blazers’ best offensive quarter of the game.
The Patriots got six points inside by Mann and five outside from Downing to go up 50-21.
The Patriots with a deep bench emptied it in the fourth period with all 15 players on the roster seeing floor time. Edie Morris led the way in the finals stanza with three straight splash downs between the free throw line and the top of the key.
“In the last couple of games we were content to chuck from the outside, and today we didn’t settle, and the results show,” Gray said.
TV went on to record a 62-31 Cross County Conference win to remain undefeated at 5-0 on the year.
Box score:
Score by quarters
TV – 16 – 19 – 15 – 12 – 62
NT – 06 – 04 – 11 – 10 – 31
Individual scoring:
Tri-Village (5-0, 3-0)
Miller 9, Morris 6, Printz 4, Downing 7, Siler 3, P. Bietry 2, Burke 2, Flory 3, Mann 20
Totals 3-23-7/10 – 62
National Trail (3-1, 0-1)
P. Laird 5, Baker 2, M. Laird 10, K. Byrd 10, Abner 4
Totals 4-7-5/12 – 32
