Trojans Take Bulldogs
J. C. Tilton
In the opening round of the TVS sectional Arcanum had a heated game against the Milton Union Bulldogs. It was a closely matched game and emotions ran high as both teams battled to advance in the state tournament. It would pit the outside shooting of West Milton against the pressing and driving Arcanum Trojans.
West Milton came out strong in the opening quarter Erin Searcey and Kaci Frinfrock put the Bulldogs out front with 5 and 4 points respectively. Ashley Falknor scored 4 points in the last few minutes, but the Bulldogs had a 12-7 advantage at the first buzzer. Arcanum was getting some turnovers out of their press, but were not able to convert them to points. Milton Union stayed in a half court zone thru out the first half, while Arcanum would press and fall back into man to man.
Falknor had a good second quarter scoring wise for the Trojans with 15 points. The momentum seemed to swing over to the Trojans as they caught up with and then passed the Bulldogs. However with about 14 seconds to go Milton Unions Taiya Martens was fouled by Ashley Falknor on a breakaway layup. She was called for an intentional foul. The Bulldog fans were livid. Martens would return to the game in the second half, but she was badly shaken up on the play. A few free throws and a made shot from the inbound and suddenly the Bulldogs were back on top again. It seemed like the Bulldogs now had the momentum going into the locker room.
In the second half the Bulldog fans treated the Arcanum team in their visiting black jerseys like the evil empire and Ashley Falknor like Darth Vader. Boo'ing every time that she touched the ball in the opening minutes. To keep the situation from getting out of hand the referee's called the game very tightly in the third quarter. Coach O'Dell could take no more and had a few words to say to a referee about a call and got a technical for his outburst. Whether intentionally to deflect attention from Falknor or not, the effect was the same - it seemed to distract the crowd from her. The Trojans then went on a 7-0 roll to take a lead that they would not relinquish.
They closed the third quarter up 38-31. Then they slowed down the pace of the game. Milton Union went to the press and had a little success. They were able to pull within 5 late in the quarter, but couldn't get a good run going. They were forced to foul in the end, and Arcanum hit their foul shots to win 57-48.
|