Julianna Simon drives to the basket in a Covington win over Newton.

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2011-12 SCHEDULE 11/25/11 11/26/11 12/01/11 12/03/11 12/08/11 12/15/11 12/17/11 11/22/11 01/02/12 01/12/12 01/14/12 01/19/12 01/21/12 01/26/12 01/28/12 01/30/12 02/02/12 02/04/12 02/06/12 02/09/12 ... 02/18/12 02/22/12 02/25/12 ... 03/04/12 @ Houston Fairlawn @ Franklin Monroe @ Versailles Mississinawa @ Newton Tri-Village @ Ansonia @ Milton Union @ Miami East National Trail Tri-County North Marion Local @ Twin Valley South Lehman @ Russia @ Arcanum @ New Bremen Bethel Bradford Sect. @ Brookville Twin Valley South Franklin Monroe Cedarville District @ Tipp Russia L 26-34 W 57-28 W 34-25 L32-43 W 50-37 W 32-22 L W W 36-24 L 27-53 L 25-37 W 54-34 L 31-49 W 61-21 L 38-40 L 30-36 W 45-31 W 38-34 W 42-23 W 52-37 ... W 46-25 W 47-36 W 53-27 ... L 23-32 2011-12 CCC STANDINGS Team CCC ALL Miami East 12-0 19-1 Tri-Village 11-1 19-1 Covington 9-3 12-8 National Trail 9-3 12-8 Tri-County North 8-4 11-9 Franklin Monroe 6-6 8-12 Mississinawa Valley 6-6 10-10 Newton 6-6 10-10 Bradford 5-7 8-12 Ansonia 2-10 3-17 Arcanum 2-10 3-17 Twin Valley South 1-11 3-17 Bethel 1-11 2-18

DECEMBER 15, 2011 - PLEASANT HILL
After struggling to put the ball in the basket in a dreadful first half, the Covington Lady Buccs caught fire in the second half to hand rival Newton its second loss of the season, 32-22.

"We weren't shooting well, that's for sure," said Covington coach Chris Besecker of his team's first half performance. "They were doubling down on Shelby (Kihm) and had a hand in (Julianna) Simon's face every time she touched the ball and we expected that. We didn't have others step up."

Newton played with fire and passion, outhustling a bigger Covington team for every loose ball and contesting every shot. And the scoreboard showed the results of Newton's efforts as the Lady Indians held a 12-7 lead at the break.

"They (Newton) were aggressive," Besecker said. "They wanted this game and you could see that by the effort they gave. They got a lot of loose balls that we should have gotten."

Covington slowly chipped into Newton's lead in the third quarter as Shelby Kihm made her presence felt inside with two buckets inside the paint. Caitlyn Crawford followed with a bucket from the free throw line and then Julianna Simon drilled a trey in the closing seconds of the third to give Covington a 21-17 lead with one quarter to play.

"That was probably the biggest play of the game," Besecker said of Simon's three-pointer to close out the third. "We worked for the last shot of the period and she got a nice look from the corner. That was a big shot."

And Newton had a hard time recovering as Covington outscored the Indians 11-5 in the final frame to pull away for ten-point win.

"Our defense kept us in the game until we finally started to hit some shots in the second half," said Besecker.

Still, Covington left a lot of points on the floor, primarily at the free throw line. The Lady Buccs missed on the front end of a one-and-one tree times in the fourth quarter alone.

"We left some points out there," said Besecker. "We had a chance to put them away sooner at the free throw line, but missed a lot of shots."

In the end Covington hit just enough shots and played well enough at the defensive end to improve to 4-2 overall and 3-0 in the CCC, while Newton drops to 5-2 on the season and 2-1 in the league.

Covington hosts Tri-Village on Saturday in another huge CCC showdown.

SCORING BY QUARTERS:
Covington ............. 4 ... 3 ... 14 ... 11 - 32
Newton ................. 6 ... 6 ..... 5 ..... 5 - 22

Covington Scoring:
Julianna Simon - 10
Shelby Kihm - 7
Caitlyn Crawford - 5
Cassidy Cain - 5
Heidi Snipes - 3
Haley Reames - 2

Newton Scoring:
Welbaum - 6
Snipes - 5
Kign - 5
Lavy - 4
Hignite - 2

Three-Point Field Goals:
Covington: Simon (2), Snipes
Newton: King, Welbaum

JV SCORE: Newton 28, Covington 17