(February 5th, 2015) – PETTISVILLE: Despite falling behind big in the first quarter, the Lady Blackbirds came back to claim an easy victory, improving their Buckeye Border Conference record to 8-0.
Hilltop got off to a phenomenal start, but couldn’t capitalize in the last three periods of the contest. Pettisville won the league match-up 46-28.
The Lady Cadets began the game with great defense, limiting Pettisville to just 4 points for the entirety of the first quarter. Hilltop played well on the other end of the court as well, claiming 13 points for themselves against a tight Blackbird defense.
Finding their backs against the wall early, the Lady Blackbirds regrouped in the second period. They shut down the Cadet offense completely in the quarter, refusing to allow even a single point to be scored against them. Offensively, the Blackbird girls came alive in that same span, surging to 16 points. Suddenly, Pettisville was up 20-13 with both teams heading into the locker rooms.
The third quarter saw a similar performance take place, as the Lady Blackbirds continued their defensive efforts against a shell shocked Hilltop squad. The Cadets could muster only 2 points in the period, while Pettisville managed 13. In the fourth and final quarter, the two units battled back and forth. Each team totaled 13 points in the period, which kept Pettisville firmly ahead by 18 points as the final buzzer sounded.
Turnovers played a crucial role in this game. Hilltop turned the ball over 13 times, which is not an especially high number. However, Pettisville only coughed up the ball twice all night. Such an absurdly low number is a true testament to how well the Lady blackbirds work together and share the basketball.
Dana Fricke gave her team a massive boost, scoring a game high 15 points for the Blackbird girls. Teammate Kate Kauffman added 10 points. Senior Mikala Avina put up another 7 points, while Lynnsey Crouch scored 6 points as well.
Just three players handled all of Hilltop’s scoring. Allie Schmitt connected on a three, as she earned a total of 10 points on the evening. Sophomore Ariana Brown also managed 10 points, but did most of her work from the paint. Meanwhile, fellow second year girl Felicity Jackson made a pair of shots from beyond the arc on her way to 8 points in the loss.