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| Alex Christian goes up for two of her game-high 18 points. |
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| Cheslea Tebbe defends a Milton player in the Lady Buccs' win. |
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Team
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CCC
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ALL
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Miami East
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12-0
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17-3
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Covington
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11-1
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17-3
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Arcanum
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9-3
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12-8
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Franklin Monroe
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8-4
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10-9
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Tri-County North
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8-4
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12-8
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Bethel
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7-5
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8-11
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Mississinawa Valley
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6-6
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10-9
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Tri-Village
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4-7
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9-10
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Ansonia
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4-8
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6-13
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Twin Valley South
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2-9
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6-13
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Newton
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2-10
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3-17
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Bradford
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1-10
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3-16
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| National Trail |
1-10 |
2-17 |
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December 23, 2006 – COVINGTON
The Covington Lady Buccs gave themselves an early Christmas present with a hard-fought 50-38 victory over a hard-nosed and aggressive Milton-Union team on Saturday.
"It was a physical game," said Covington coach Chris Besecker. "We had some kids ailing, but they sucked it up and gave a lot of effort."
All five Buccaneer starters saw the majority of the action other than a few minutes here and there to catch a breather or address nagging injuries.
"Chelsea (Tebbe) had to come out to get worked on," Besecker said. "She's been battling a sore ankle and some blisters on her feet. We had her on (Kaci) Finfrock for a while, but we had to switch some things around."
Still, Covington was able to withstand the aggressive defensive pressure applied by the Lady Bulldogs, who played more like pit bulls.
"They (Milton) got after it tonight," Besecker praised. "They were in our face all night. They put a lot of pressure on the ball and made us work to get into an offensive set."
Milton wasn't the only team playing aggressive defense, the Lady Buccs matched the effort with their typical style of swarming defense.
After surrendering 11 first period points, Covington held Milton to a single point in the second stanza. Still, the Lady Buccs only managed 7 points of their own in the second to take a 17-12 half time lead.
"Overall our defense was solid tonight," Besecker said. "But we didn't convert well on the other end and create space on the scoreboard."
Fortunately for Covington, senior point guard Ashley Johnson found her stroke early by canning two first period treys and then a three-point play in the second period.
Alex Christian scored the other eight first half points for Covington.
Held scoreless in the first half, Andrea Meyer got into the scoring column in the early moments of the third period with a jumper.
Another Johnson three-pointer followed to increase the Covington lead to 22-14.
Milton matched Covington point-for-point over the next 2:00 until a three-pointer by Andrea Meyer gave Covington its first double digit lead of the contest, 31-20 with 1:26 left in the stanza.
Two Milton buckets followed, one each by Kaci Finfrock and Alycia Helman, before Alex Christian snuck in the back door for a lay-up.
Ashley Johnson then closed out the third with her fourth three-pointer of the contest to increase Covington's lead to 36-24 with one final quarter to play.
"We opened up the floor in the second half," described Besecker. "We did some inside-out stuff where we kicked the ball out. Ashley (Johnson) hit some big shots."
Both teams took turns making a pair of baskets to open the fourth period.
Milton then scored on two straight possessions to cut the margin to 40-32, before Andrea Meyer knocked down her second trey of the contest.
Not deterred, the Lady Bulldogs scored six straight points to bring the Milton crowd to its feet and force a Covington timeout with 2:45 left in the game and the scoreboard reading 43-38.
"We misread some passes there and they had a nice run to get back into the game," Besecker explained. "We took a timeout to regroup and refocus."
The timeout worked as Covington held Milton scoreless the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, the Lady Buccs ran off seven straight points to take a 50-38 win.
Alex Christian led all players with 18 points, while Ashley Johnson was a clutch performer with four treys and 17 points.
Milton also had two players in double figures with Alycia Helman scoring 12 points and Erin Searcy knocking down 10.
The victory is Covington's fifth straight as its record improves to 8-2 on the season.
The Lady Buccs close out 2006 on December 28 with a huge Cross County Conference showdown against Miami East.
Scoring by Quarters:
Milton Union ..........11........12........24........38
Covington ..............10........17........40........50
Covington Scoring:
Alex Christian - 18
Ashley Johnson - 17
Andrea Meyer - 8
Renee Otte - 4
Chelsea Tebbe - 3
Milton Union Scoring:
Alycia Helman - 12
Erin Searcy - 10
Kacie Finfrock - 9
Maggie Busse - 3
Marie Boone - 2
Lauren Sergy - 2
Three-point Scoring:
Covington: Ashley Johnson (4), Andrea Meyer (2)
Milton Union: Kaci Finfrock (1)
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