NEW MADISON – A little more than a third of the way through the season, the Tri-Village girls basketball team picked up its eighth win of the year after doubling up non-conference foe Madison 54-27 on Monday night.
The win moved the Lady Patriots to 8-1 overall with the lone blemish on the season to Versailles, which currently remains undefeated at 8-0.
It was junior Lissa Siler that started off fast for Tri-Village. She had 8 of her game-high 16 points in the first quarter leading her team to an 18-10 lead after the first eight minutes. The second quarter was a little less pleasing overall for TV coach Brad Gray as the Mohawks hung around trailing 30-22 at halftime.
Siler only added two points in the second frame for a total of 10 at the break, while Meghan Downing chipped in with 8 points after the first half.
“I thought our start was good, but our second quarter was rough,” Gray said. “I think defensively we kind of lost our way a little bit in the second quarter and we voiced those frustrations at halftime to the kids.
“Then in the second half we only gave up 5 points so defensively we answered the bell and I was pleased with that,” he continued. “We challenged them a little bit and we came out and I thought guarded pretty well. Our rebounding was good all night, it was just I thought we had a lull in that second quarter both offensively and defensively and allowed them to get back in the game.”
It was Siler again who kicked it up a notch to start the third quarter. She came out and scored 5 points in the first three minutes of the period to push the Lady Patriots to a 38-25 lead with 4:17 left in the third quarter. Emma Printz came back down the floor on the next play and drained a 3-pointer for a 41-25 lead and then with 12 seconds left in the third quarter Madison Foreman connected on a 3-pointer for her only points in the game and the Patriots lead was at 20 points (45-25) going into the final stanza.
Add to that the defensive pressure Tri-Village was applying, and it was basically over for the Mohawks.
“Their defense really kicked it up in the second half,” said Madison coach Brian McGuire, whose squad falls to 2-7 overall. “That is a very good basketball team – probably one of the better teams we will play all year. We still have to play Valley View and Waynesville again, but you could see some good things out of our young kids. I was really happy with our young players. Carly McMonigle is just a sophomore and this is her first year of varsity and is doing really well. I’m really happy. She played well tonight against their twin towers (Meghan and Maddie Downing).”
McMonigle and Grace Baker each scored 7 points to lead Madison in scoring. Tara Price added 6.
“We are missing Kenzie Saunders our leading scorer who averages about 20 points per game,” McGuire said. “She had an ACL tear in our second game against Waynesville so she is done for the year. And we have another one out because of concussion, so there are two players we are missing really big time, but I am happy with the effort today. I really was. At times we did really good, but at times you could see their experience. I mean that is the same team that went to the regional finals against Minster last year and Minster won state. They are a great basketball team.”
In addition to Siler’s 16 points, Maddie Downing had 11 and Meghan Downing totaled 10 for the Patriots.
“We were worried about them having confidence and we thought the start of the third quarter was going going to be really important for us and our kids came out and did some good things at both ends of the court,” Gray said. “Lissa got us started in that third quarter with a deuce and then a trey. When she is hot she is a shot maker. If she can find the free space, which sometimes is hard to do because teams really try to key on her, but when she is open and let’s it go a lot of times we feel like it is going in.
“Right now she is shooting it pretty well and it is allowing our post players now to get more one-on-one opportunities,” he continued. “When they can get one-on-one opportunities inside I feel we are pretty good in there too. It was a good night. Madison has been a really solid program and I think what was good for us is what they do is very similar to what St. Henry does and that is who we play next so it was nice to kind of see that style of offense because that is what we are going to see again on Saturday.”
Score by quarters
Madison^10^12^3^2^-^27
Tri-Village^18^12^15^9^-^54
Individual scoring
Madison – Regan Dorman 2 0 4, Ally King 1 0 2, Grace Baker 2 1 7, Tara Price 3 0 6, Sydney Marsh 0 1 1, Carly McMonigle 3 1 7. Totals: 11 3 27.
Tri-Village – Madison Foreman 1 0 3, Emma Printz 3 0 8, Meghan Downing 3 4 10, Peyton Bietry 1 1 3, Andi Bietry 1 0 3, Lissa Siler 5 3 16, Maddie Downing 5 1 11. Totals: 19 9 54.
3-pointers – Madison 2 (Baker 2), Tri-Village 7 (Siler 3, Printz 2, Foreman, A. Bietry)
Records: Madison (2-7), Tri-Village (8-1).
