BROOKVILLE – The Tri-Village Lady Patriots defeated Springfield Catholic Central 62-32 to claim the OHSAA DIV Brookville Sectional Title and will advance to play Legacy Christian in the District final on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Troy High School.
Both teams got off to a slow start and the score knotted up at 2 each after a few minutes of play before the Patriots made a rotation change. Immediately Trisa Porter knocked down a big triple in the corner and made some big plays.
The Patriots defense created some turnovers as well that were quickly turned into points by Morgan Hunt and TV was off and running as they jumped on top 15-6 to end the first quarter.
Springfield Catholic focused their defense on slowing down Rylee Sagester and the Patriots showed they have other weapons, so pick your poison carefully.
Tri-Village scored 20 points in the 2nd quarter while holding the Irish to just 8 opening up a nice lead at the break 35-14.
Morgan Hunt had 8 points, Lissa Siler connected on two triples for 6 and Maddie Downing had 4 in the paint.
While the Patriot offense was rolling, the defense was even better as they held Irish point guard Abbigail Peterson their leading scorer to just 2 points in each of the first 3 quarters with Andi Bietry and Morgan Hunt taking turns on her. The PATS expanded their lead to 51-24 heading into the final stanza.
Once again Hunt led in the frame with 7 points, with Sagester and Siler each adding a triple.
There would be no comeback for the Irish, although Peterson would shake free for 6 points in the period. But TV countered with another 6 from Hunt and a triple from Siler and would go on to win the game by the score of 62-32.
Freshman Morgan Hunt led all scorers with a career high 27 points, Lissa Siler had 15 points, Maddie Downing added 11 points, 8 rebounds and Trisa Porter dished out 10 dimes for the game.
“What a night for Morgan Hunt, she’s a kid who’s motor never stops and she plays hard every minute that she is out on the floor. She has added motivation now that we are in the tournament and wants to prove how valuable she is to this team and did a great job tonight,” Tri-Village coach Brad Gray said after the game.
“I thought our seniors were really good tonight too, their leadership was fantastic. Lissa Siler came out and played a really good game scoring the ball, Andi Bietry did a good job defensively, Trisa Porter came in and immediately made big plays and a big shot, she plays with a calmness about her and has great IQ and offensively we really click when she comes in because she is so smart about getting the ball in the right hands. Maddie Downing was dominant in the post when she got the ball as well,” Gray praised on his seniors.
“It really was an all-around good night for all 7 of our kids who played. They (Catholic Central) chose to face guard Rylee Sagester and when they do that we use her as a screener and create two man situations where she can get the ball to our post. I’m not sure why teams do that and maybe they don’t respect our other kids so when they lock her down offensively we still score a lot of points because we have a lot kids who can score, so using her as a screener they can’t help off her and it opens up other things and we take what they give us,” Gray concluded.
Score by Quarters:
Tri-Village 15…20…16…11 – 62
Catholic Central 06…08…10…08 – 32
Team Scoring:
Tri-Village; Sagester 5, Hunt 27, Meghan Downing 1, Porter 3, Siler 15, Maddie Downing 11;
Totals 6-17-10/15 – 62
Catholic Central; Skeens 2, Foster 5, Btruce 3, Mullen 5, Castle 5, Peterson 12;
Totals 2-12-8/11 – 32
Three Pointers:
TV 6 (Siler 4, Sagester 1, Porter 1)
CC 2 (Foster 1, Castle 1)
