WEST MILTON – The Arcanum Lady Trojans survived a bullish second half from the Milton-Union Lady Bulldogs and won 52-45 Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Trojans advanced to 3-4 while the Lady Bulldogs dropped to 1-4 with their one win coming against quickly improving Brookville. This was a tale of two halves with Arcanum dominating the first 25-5 while Milton-Union toasted the nets in the second, 40-27.
The first quarter saw six players score for the Trojans with sophomore Gracie Garno leading the way with 3 points to give the orange and black an even dozen. The Milton squad came through with 5 points with junior Annika Hutchison leading the way with a triple.
The second quarter showcased sophomore Camille Pohl reeling in 6 points to lead the Darke County squad for its total of 25 at half. The Lady Bulldogs had no bite at all in this eight-minute frame as no player dented the scoreboard. This totaled a goose egg that head coach Katie Roose had never had happened to her in her illustrious coaching career.
The third quarter saw sophomore Arcanum’s Kayla O’Daniel leading five scorers with 4 points for the Cross County Conference team for a total of 39. Milton-Union senior Beyoncé Bobbitt scored 9 points as the Miami County squad exploded for 19 points to almost quadruple its amount from the first half alone for a total of 24.
Fourth quarter fireworks showed Arcanum canning in 13 points led by Garno who gracefully made 5-of-6 free throws to lead the charges with 5 points. The Lady Trojans made 10-of-14 freebies for 71 percent to seal the deal.
The game got as close as 50-45 with 14 seconds remaining in this fast and furious eight minutes of turbulent action with players being hurt and one fan ejected from the stands. Bobbitt bit into the Trojan lead with 8 points followed closely by junior Kristen Dickison who dialed in 5, all from the charity line.
Pohl and Lexi Unger led Arcanum with 11 points each, Garno scored 10, Kayla O’Daniel 9, Elle Siculan 6, Macey Hartman 4 and Elliana Sloan 1.The Trojans had five triples, 11 regulars and were 15-of-22 from the charity stripe for 68 percent.
Bobbitt led the Lady Bulldogs with 17 points, Dickison scored 11, Morgan Nemeth 6, Olivia Brown 4, Jayla Gentry 4 and Annika Hutchison 3 for their total of 45. The Bulldogs accomplished this score by knocking in two 3-pointers, 15 fielders and nine free throws on 12 attempts.
“We got worn down in the second half with our team helping out with breakfast with Santa in the early morning,” Arcanum girls basketball coach Matt Grote said. “I want to credit Milton as they kept pounding away in the second half to make it a heck of a game. I am glad to get the win as we have played a lot of games in a small amount of time. We kept out of foul trouble which was huge, but we must learn to play all four quarters of the game. I am very pleased that we had three players in double figures and another player with 9.”
