SIDNEY – The Tri-Village varsity girls basketball team defeated Lehman Catholic on the Cavaliers’ home court 84-39.
“We shot it well tonight,” Tri-Village varsity girls basketball coach Brad Gray said. “It was good to see our kids shoot the ball the way they did.”
Tri-Village wasted no time getting on the board with Krystal Falknor making good on a free throw 12 seconds into the game.
Patriot baskets from Ecko Brown and Shaye Thomas had T-V out to a quick 5-0 lead.
Lehman Catholic got its first score of the night with a Jenna Kronenberger basket at 6:50.
The Patriots took a 12-4 lead with two baskets from senior Teha Richards, bringing a Cavaliers timeout.
A basket from Elizabeth Collins, a Richards trey and a field goal by Elizabeth Collins brought the first quarter to a close with Tri-Village leading 19-13.
“Our defense was pretty tough,” Lehman Catholic varsity girls basketball coach Kim Miller said. “The girls were talking and they were hustling.”
The Cavaliers opened second quarter scoring with an Ava Schmitz basket cutting the Patriots’ lead to 19-15.
“Defensively we were a little shaky,” Gray said. “We settled in the second half.”
It took a trey from Falknor to open up scoring space and a 26-18 Tri-Village lead.
Allie Hall scored a goal for Lehman Catholic to reduce the Patriots’ lead to six at 26-20, the last time the Cavaliers would be close on the scoreboard.
“In the first half we were giving up too many offensive rebounds, but we shored that up a little bit in the second half,” Gray said.
Tri-Village went on an 11-2 quarter-ending run with three two-point goals from Richards, a Thomas bucket and a 3-pointer from Lexie Bruner for a 41-24 Patriot halftime lead.
“With our offense coming together we had a great first half,” Miller said. “We were hanging right there with them.”
Lehman Catholic scored first out of the locker room, making the score 41-26 while holding Tri-Village off the board for the first 1:25 of the second half.
At the 6:35 third quarter mark, Tri-Village outscored the Cavaliers 25-6 by the end of the quarter as the Lady Patriots shot the lights out, hitting six third quarter treys and a 66-32 quarter-ending score.
“We started stroking the ball a little bit,” Gray said.
Teha Richards hit for four third quarter threes, including a completed free throw coming from a foul on a trey for a Richards’ four-point play. Shaye Thomas connected on two treys, a two-point goal and two free throws. Falknor hit a basket to round out the Patriots’ 25-point third quarter scoring output.
“We’re a team, that the way we shoot the ball if we can give ourselves extra opportunities on the ones we miss, that shot percentage goes up with the second shot and the third shot,” Gray said.
Tri-Village outscored Lehman Catholic 18-7 in the final quarter as all Lady Patriots saw playing time.
Bruner hit for two baskets and a trey for seven Tri-Village fourth quarter points while Heather Ferris scored four points in the quarter for the Patriots.
Tri-Village connected on 10 three-point goals and hit 18-of-28 free throws as all Lady Patriots got in the scoring column.
Richards led the Patriots with 31-points coming from six two-point goals, five treys and 4-of-5 free throws.
Tri-Village had balanced quarterly scoring going 19-22-25-18 by the quarters.
“We don’t even talk about it (third place state ranking),” Gray said. “I don’t think it is pressure to them. We have our own expectations on ourselves and we probably put more pressure on ourselves than anybody can through the media or even in the community. The girls will tell you very rarely am I satisfied after games.
“I don’t let them get complacent. I always try to challenge them,” Gray said. “State ranking is nice. By no means am I downplaying that. We are grateful that we are ranked that high. We also know in the grand scheme of things, being ranked third in the state does not punch your ticket to Columbus. It’s what you do out on the floor.”