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Ashley Johnson finds the path to the basket tough in a very phyisical game against Jackson Center.
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Team
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CCC
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ALL
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Franklin Monroe
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11-0
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15-5
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Covington
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10-1
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20-4
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Tri-Village
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9-2
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16-5
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Arcanum
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8-3
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17-4
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Mississinawa Valley
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7-4
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10-11
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Twin Valley South
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6-5
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9-11
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National Trail
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4-6
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7-11
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Bradford
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3-8
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7-11
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Ansonia
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3-8
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4-15
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Bethel
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2-7
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5-12
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Tri-County North
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1-9
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3-15
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Newton
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0-10
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0-19
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December 18, 2004 – COVINGTON
If you like tough defense, patient offense, and a basketball game where it's so tight that every possession counts than Covington High School on Saturday afternoon was the place to be. Covington and Jackson Center battled it out on the hardwood for four nail biting quarters, with the Lady Buccs escaping with a 26-23 win.
"We anticipating a low-scoring, defensive game and that's what we got," said Covington coach Chris Besecker after his Lady Buccs improved to 7-2 on the season. "It was physical, but that's what we expected because that's Jackson Center's style of play. We just had to gut it out."
The tone of the game was set from the outset as neither team could get an open look at the basket. Points that were scored either came from the foul line or in heavy traffic.
Covington took a 4-0 lead on a runner by Ashley Johnson and then two free throws by Michelle Meyer.
Jackson Center tied the score on a pair of free throws by Catie Halberstadt and a basket by Molly Stockstill, but Covington responded with a second Johnson basket to make the score 6-4.
The opening stanza closed out with the Lady Tigers tying the score with a jumper by Jill Baker and then Alex Christian giving the lead right back to Covington with a lay-up to make the score 8-6.
Covington's Andrea Meyer connected on a jumper to open the second, but back-to-back Tiger baskets tied the score at 10-10 with 5:55 left in the half.
The Lady Buccs then scored 5 unanswered points for their largest lead of the contest as Chelsea Tebbe hit on two free throws, Andrea Meyer drilled a jumper, and Cailtin Sargent split one of two free throws. The foul, which sent Sargent to the line, was committed by Halberstadt, her third in the half.
With Halberstadt on the bench, the Lady Buccs couldn't take advantage as Jackson Center outscored Covington 4-2 over the remainder of the half to close the gap to 17-14.
The second half was a defense clinic by both teams as Jackson Center held Covington scoreless in the third and without a field goal in the second half. The Lady Tigers scored eight points in the third on baskets by Abbie Latimer, Makaine Huffer, Halberstadt and Kristi Platfoot.
Trailing 22-17 to start the final 8:00, the Lady Buccs picked up the defensive pressure. Still, the Covington offense continued to struggle as each and every shot attempt was off the mark.
Michelle Meyer scored Covington's first points of the second half with 37 seconds gone in the fourth to bring Covington within 3 points. Moments later Meyer went to the line again and connected on both attempts to make the score 22-21.
Neither team could score for the next 3:00 until Covington's Chelsea Tebbe was sent to the line after Jackson Center's Kristi Platfoot picked up her fifth foul.
Tebbe canned both free throw attempts, giving Covington a 23-22 lead with under 2:00 to go.
After a Covington steal, Andrea Meyer hit on a short jumper to give the Lady Buccs a 25-22 lead with 58 seconds left in the game.
Jackson Center's Makaine Huffel went to the line with 16 seconds left, but couldn't connected on the second free throw, leaving Jackson Center down by two points, 25-23.
On the in-bounds pass, Michelle Meyer was fouled and sent to the line with an opportunity to ice the game. After making her first attempt, Meyer misfired on the second giving Jackson Center one last chance with 10 seconds left.
Halberstadt took the in-bounds pass and drove to the top of the key, but her attempt to tie the score was futile as the buzzer sounded giving Covington a 26-23 win.
Coach Besecker couldn't say enough about his teams defensive execution in the fourth quarter.
"Our defense kept us in it," said Besecker. "We were struggling offensively, but that was due to the pressure Jackson Center was putting on us defensively. We worked on the 1-3-1 zone because they (Jackson Center) is so affective against man-to-man. We felt we had a better chance to slow them down with the 1-3-1 and our girls executed the defense to near perfection. To hold a team like that to 1 point in the fourth quarter was impressive."
Neither team had a player in double digits in scoring as Michelle Meyer tallied a game-high 7 points, all coming at the free throw line.
Covington improves to 7-2 on the season while Jackson Center drops to 6-2. The Lady Buccs host Ansonia Thursday.
Scoring by Quarters:
Covington ..................8......17......17......26
Jackson Center.........6.......14......22......23
Covington Scoring:
Michelle Meyer – 7
Andrea Meyer – 6
Ashley Johnson – 6
Chelsea Tebbe – 4
Alex Christian – 2
Caitlin Sargent – 1
Jackson Center:
Kristi Platfoot – 6
Catie Halberstadt – 6
Jill Baker – 4
Makaine Huffel – 3
Molly Stockstill – 2
