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It was a physical & sometimes emotional battle in the annual Route 47 shootout between Mississinawa Valley & Ansonia.  The Hawks won 6-of-8 games for bragging rights in 2025. 

Photos & Story by Dale Barger

ANSONIA – The Mississinawa Valley Blackhawks reign supreme garnering annual bragging rights in the Route 47 Shootout with the Ansonia Tigers.  The Hawks won 6-of-8 games that included 7^th, 8^th, JV and Varsity boys and girls contests.

In Jr. High action Mississinawa 8^th grade boys defeated Ansonia 53-25, 7^th grade girls won 32-20 and 8^th grade girls won 48-8.  The Ansonia 7^th grade boys defeated the Hawks 30-27.

The Lady Tigers Junior Varsity defeated Mississinawa Valley 13-9 in two quarters, while the Hawks boy JV team beat the Tigers 58-40.

It was the 2^nd time Mississinawa and Ansonia would meet-up this season with the first contest counting in the league standings.  The Mississinawa boys won the league battle 48-40 back on December 3^rd and they would win the 2^nd match-up with a similar score 52-42.

The Lady Hawks won their league battle with the Tigers on January 2^nd 63-29.  Ansonia would show improvement in their latest match-up before falling 68-46.

The Mississinawa boys jumped all over Ansonia in the opening quarter with Cing Scott scoring 12 of the teams 18 points. 

The Tigers struggled a bit out the gate and were playing without a couple of starters.

Ansonia showed spine winning the 2^nd quarter 14-10 with senior Cooper Riffle leading the way to close the gap to 28-20 at the break.


Ansonia Senior Cooper Riffle knocks down triple and led the Tigers with 14 points.

Mississinawa executed their offense and played under control in the 3^rd period and gradually extended their lead to 39-26 heading into the final frame.

The Tigers once again roared back and did it with aggressive defense and scoring in the open floor fighting their way back into the game.  After trailing 44-29 the Tigers scored 8 unanswered points to close the gap to 44-37 on a Shellhaas fast-break lay-up prompting a timeout by Mississinawa Valley with 3:51 to play.

Ansonia’s defense was doing work giving the Tigers a chance, but they would miss a number of shots in the next couple of minutes and eventually forced to gamble and foul.

The Hawks closed the game out strong at the free throw line to secure the 52-42 victory.

Freshman Ben Hamilton pulls down a big rebound, he had 13 points in win over the Tigers.

Mississinawa was led by Cing Scott with 26 and Ben Hamilton 13 points.  They improve to 5-7 overall and 3-4 in WOAC.  They will host Bradford on Friday, January 24^th.

Ansonia was led by senior Cooper Riffle with 14 points and freshman Graham Coppess who also had 14 in the game.  The Tigers are still in search of that first win this season and won’t find it any easier when they host Minster on Tuesday January 21^st.

In the girls featured nightcap game Mississinawa Valley got out to a fast 10-0 run before Ansonia would dig in to cut the lead to 10-5.

Syenna Purdin opened up with a triple and fielder inside followed up by a trey from Brooklynn Seubert and a lay-up from Paige Emrick.

The Tigers got off to a cold start and didn’t score until 3:52 on a 10’ jumper from Olivia Schmitmeyer, followed by a triple from Gabby Leeper to close to 10-5.

The Hawks pushed the lead back 19-5 on the strength of Paige Emrick who scored 9 points in the opening frame. 

Ansonia finished out the scoring on free throws and a buzzer beater from Schmitmeyer trailing 19-10 at the end of the 1^st quarter.

The Blackhawks won the 2nd quarter 12-11 but would work hard to do that taking a 31-21 lead at the half.

Paige Emrick scored 6 more points in the 2^nd quarter and had 15 at the half to lead MV

The Tigers under coach Connor Custenborder are quickly gaining respect from opposing coaches for their aggressive defensive pressure and never back down mentality as they battled against the more experienced Mississinawa team in the 3^rd quarter.

After building up a 15-point lead the Tiger would claw back and got a boost from fr. Guard Charlotte Barga who’s 3-point goal at 2:34 cut the lead down to 7, trailing 41-34 as Barga scored 8 points in the frame.

Freshman Charlotte Barga gave the Tigers a lift with some outside shooting in 3rd qtr.

After Ansonia held Taylee Woodbury in check in the first half to just 5 points the senior point guard scored 6 in the 3^rd quarter to compliment 4 from Purdin and 3 from Emrick to take a 47-34 lead heading into the final quarter.

The Blackhawks finished the game strong with Brooklynn Seubert going for 8 points, Emerick 6, Purdin 4 and Woodbury 3 in the final frame to run away from Ansonia for a 68-46 non-conference win.

“They started out 10, nothing. I believe that was a big run. And late third, early fourth, they went on another run that was around 14 to 16 points in their favor, and that was the difference in the game. Those two runs, right there. They're a great team. They can score the ball at will, and to beat teams like that, you got to limit those runs. And two runs in double digits just isn't going to work,” Ansonia coach Connor Custenborder said after the game.

Although the Tigers allowed those big runs they were able to battle back several times and is a positive thing that will serve them well in close games as the season goes along.

“They played hard and showed him they can play that style of basketball, and that's only going to help us, and we’ve got one coming up on Monday that's going to be very a similar style of basketball … and then if we want to go far in the tournament, we're going to face teams for that style of basketball.  We just got to work as a team to put it together for a full game,” Custenborder explained.

Custenborder praised the play of London Reichert and Charlotte Barga.

London Reichert battled hard inside for the Tigers and nearly registered a double/double.

“I thought London did good for us on the inside. She nearly had a double/double and did a great job contesting on the inside. And Charlotte there in the second half, got her outside shot going, and that helped us a lot as well, Custenborder praised.

For the game the Tigers were led by Charlotte Barga with 14 points, London Reichert had 8 points and 8 rebounds.

Ansonia falls to 8-7 overall, 5-3 in WOAC.  They will play in the Versailles Showcase and square off against Brookville on Monday.

Mississinawa coach gave credit to Ansonia and the effort they gave in the game.

“Rivalry games are always rough. I mean, you can throw records out the window. We knew it would be a physical game. Ansonia is an aggressive, defensive team, so we knew it wouldn't be a situation where we can just pull away and keep pulling away. It was, hey, we made a run, they're going to make a run, they're going to come back, they're going to keep fighting. So, we just got to try to stay under control, play focused and run our stuff,” Coach Michael Paige said after the game.

Coach Paige talked about the number of options his team has to score the ball, and it showed with 4-players scoring in double figures.

“We  have four girls averaging double figures. So, we got multiple ways we can score. We know people are going to key in on Taylee. We kind of expect that going into games, and in those moments, we want Syenna, Paige, Brooklyn, and other girls to step up and make shots. Tonight, it was Paige who stepped up big time, with 26 points.  When they're able to step up and score, it take pressure off Taylee and she still ended up with 15 points,” Paige stated.

MV Jr. Paige Emrick had a monster game with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists.

Early on it was Paige Emrick and Syenna Purdin providing the bulk of the scoring and I caught up with senior guard Syenna after the game.

“Coming into this game after we had a nine-day break we had to come in pretty focused and getting off to a good start was important,” Syenna said referring to the 10-0 start.

“If we don't have a big quarter, we would have to work much harder defensively the rest of the game and that’s what we've been working on most of this week, was our defense,” Purdin added.

Sr. Syenna Purdin doing work, she scored 16 points, worked the boards hard for a solid performance in the Blackhawks win.

Mississinawa only had 4 players score in the game but each of them reached double figures, led by Paige Emrick with 26 points 10 rebounds and 5 assists.  Syenna Purdin with 16, Taylee Woodbury 15 and Brooklynn Seubert 11.

Mississinawa improves to 13-2 overall, 7-1 in WOAC.  They will play in the Versailles Showcase on Monday at 1pm where they will take on 13-1 Marion Local.

Brooklynn Seubert goes hard to the basket for a lay-up in win over the Tigers.
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Arcanum coach Kevin Brackman gives instructions to Jr. Cole Kessler & Sr. Landon Flatter.  The Trojans came from behind to pick up a 57-41 win over Bradford.  

Photos & Story by Dale Barger

ARCANUM – The Trojans boys basketball team trailed 38-35 heading into the 4^th quarter but leaned on their defense to stymie the Railroaders in the 4^th quarter then finished strong offensively to hand Bradford a disappointing 57-41 WOAC defeat.

“I felt like I was screaming the whole night but finally our offense caught up to our defense,” Arcanum Coach said after the game.

Bradford led early in the first quarter behind the play of senior point guard Owen Canan who scored the first 9 points of the game for the Roaders.  He would end up with 11 of their 13 points in the 1^st quarter.

Owen Canan 2nd leading scorer in WOAC at 19.5 ppg had 11 in 1st quarter but shut down by Arcanum defense the rest of way ending the game 6 under his average with 13 points.

Arcanum trailed 13-11 heading into the 2^nd quarter got a boost from Matthew McCans with 7 points and 9 at the half to give the Trojans a one-point lead 27-26 at the break.

Bradford would take advantage of getting to the free throw line in the 2^nd quarter shooting 9-for-11.  Rallie Wirrig had 5 points off free throws and Zage Harleman scored 6 points for the Roaders.

Arcanum coach Kevin Brackman wasn’t happy with the flow of the game in the first half but was pleased with contributions from a number of younger guys.

Coach Brackman was pleased with contributions from younger players when saddled by fouls early in game.  So. Jace Mote knocks down a corner three ball to help the Trojans.

“The flow of the game was not ideal, in that first half, a lot of fouls were called. We fought through a little light adversity and at one time, we had, I think, three starters and a solid role player off the bench all two fouls there in the second quarter.  So, they sat there for a while, but we had guys step up. Our JV point guard, Jace Smote, played significant minutes tonight, and even saw one go down from deep. And so, we leaned on our bench, and they were able to kind of keep us around, that’s a testament to our kids,”

Bradford would regain the lead 30-29 in the 3^rd quarter on a lay-up from jr. guard Avery Felver and then expanded their lead to 38-29 with 3:38 to play in the 3^rd quarter.

But the Trojans defense shut the Roaders out the rest of the quarter and buckets from Cole Kessler and Cameron Ball inside helped narrow the gap to 38-35 heading into the final frame.

Cameron Ball rebounded and scored well for Arcanum to help get win over Bradford.

Bradford’s offense would all but disappear in the 4^th quarter with Arcanum hedging ball screens strong doubling up on Canan not allowing the Railroaders to get into any kind of offense.

Arcanum senior Landon Flatter would do what he has done many times late in the game scoring on back-to-back buckets by getting to the rim to re-capture the lead for the Trojans 40-39.

Landon Flatter goes strong to the hoop and scored 14 points in win over Bradford.

The Trojans kept hammering away with Ball getting a bucket off a turnover followed by a free throw to go up 43-39.  Wirrig answered with a fielder in the paint to close to 43-41 but Bradford would get shut out in the final 4:15 of the game.

Wirrig picked up his 4^th foul and eventually fouled out taking away a scoring threat and outlet for when Canan when he was double or triple teamed.

Rallie Wirrig had a double double scoring and rebounding, pulls down a rebound in game with Arcanum.  

Coach Brackman talked about the key to winning was keeping Owen Canan in check who ended the game with 13 points after scoring 11 in the 1^st quarter.

“In a game like this anytime he touches the ball, he's a tremendous player and does tremendous things. And for him to come out and score the first nine points of the game, 11 in the first quarter, we knew we were kind of in for it. I felt like our defense stepped up. We were able to force some deflections, which led to turnovers and then allowed us to kind of separate ourselves especially late in the game,”

Brackman gave credit to jr. Cole Kessler for helping contain and slow down Owen Canan which would be a big key in slowing down the Bradford offense.

Coach Brackman praised Jr. Cole Kessler & noted it was his best performance this year and key in helping the Trojans to a win over Bradford.

Kessler would be one of four Arcanum players scoring in double figures for the game.  Landon Flatter and Matthew McCans each had 14 points, Cameron Ball 12 and Kessler 10 in the game.

Bradford was led by Canan’s 13 points and Rallie Wirrig had 11.

The Railroaders fall to 5-8 overall and 3-3 in the WOAC.  They will play at Mississinawa Valley next Friday.

Arcanum improves to 8-5 and 4-2 in the WOAC, they’ll play at Riverside Saturday night.

Bradford senior Zage Harleman scored 8 points for Bradford in game at Arcanum.
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Tri-Village coach Brad Gray and Lady Patriots Team wear t-shirts to display his 400th career victory.  (All Feature photos by Dale Barger)

NEW MADISON - Congratulations to Tri-Village coach Brad Gray for achieving his 400^th career victory in a WOAC win over National Trail.  He becomes the 48^th coach to reach 400 wins in OHSAA girls basketball history.

The Lady Patriots offense was firing away in the opening quarter as they raced out to a huge 24-0 lead and 35-5 at the half.

Coach Gray’s 400^th win appeared to be a foregone conclusion heading into the 2^nd half as the Patriots finished the game with a running clock for a 52-14 win over the Blazers.

Gray now in his 19^th year as the girls’ varsity head coach has averaged just over 20 wins a year … an incredible standard for that length of time.

Coach Gray took a moment after the game to reflect on the 400 milestone.

“This is a team accomplishment, every time you kind of reach milestones like this, whether it was 200, 300, 400 you reflect on everybody that's had an impact. From all the really good players we've had and there's been a ton of them, you know.  All the kids that buy into being the role players who are committed to what we do, to the families that allow us to coach these kids really hard,” Gray stated.

Coach Gray continued.

“Looking further back, my upbringing and the people who impacted me as a kid growing up, all those things come flooding back and the appreciation for the coaches who mentored me. You know, it starts with guys like you probably heard me talk about Bug Thompson back in Wellsville, who was, without question, the biggest coaching impact on me as a kid, growing up,” Gray reflected.

“Then being fortunate enough when I came to Tri-Village, having Bill Moore here and share a room at the TV boot camp and have “Papa Fro” (Matt Renfro) and Lee Falknor take me under their wing, those are a good memory,” Gray stated.

“It’s with great appreciation for the guys who took a young kid right out of college and let me be a part of their staff and made me feel like my input mattered. I think sometimes that's hard for veteran coaches to allow a young guy to come in and actually speak his mind and try to grow and really appreciative for those guys. And then, of course, now the relationship between Josh (Sagester) and I, where it's just two guys who are very like-minded when it comes to our vision for our programs. And him being the superintendent and me being the Athletic Director, we can bounce things off each other and both of our programs have benefited from that relationship,” Gray explained.

“So, yeah, all those things just come flooding in when you're approaching stuff like this. But it's not me. I mean, it's the kids, they have won every game, I've not won a single game here. I’ve just been very lucky to be in the right place at the right time.  I'm the guy that kind of gets to be the figurehead … but, man, there's a lot of people that have had huge hands on what's going on, including all my assistants through the years,” Gray added.

“Like Mike Fisherback and my current staff, Scott Howell and Doug Mize.  Greg Ely, when I first started, helped us, I mean, we've had a lot of people Christy Sarver,  Mackenzie Taylor, Laden DeLawder, I can just go on with all the people who've been a part of our staff. They have all been huge help to me in this program as a whole,” Gray praised.

Coach Gray leads the break out of the timeout huddle.  

In coach Gray’s 19 years at the helm, he has had just one losing season, 10-11 the first year and he was asked if he could have foreseen 400 wins at that time.

“Honestly, it's hard doing this. It's even harder doing it at one place. For as long as I've been fortunate enough to do it, a lot of places won't commit to a coach for as long as Tri-Village is committed to myself, and again to Coach Josh Sagester. I mean, we've had two coaches that have been here for a really long time, and I think that speaks volumes about the commitment of our administration and our Board of Education, for allowing coaches to come in here and have a vision.  Even if it's not successful right from the start, as an AD, I try to give our coaches time, you can't just keep having a constant turnaround of coaches. I think when schools do that, their programs suffer because of it. And we've been really fortunate to have a ton of support here. So, to answer your question, that was a long answer, but no, if you would have told me back then that I'd still be the head girls coach here,” Gray described.

“I’ve been fortunate and maybe had a little luck going back to when we kind of started making some of our first runs I remember coach Richard Klein and Neil Hans, I ran into them I think maybe the second year that we went to the regional finals. And they said, you know, because I was young, we hope you're enjoying this, because we've coached for years, and we've never got to experience like what you've experienced. And hearing that from older coaches made me realize like, you better soak it in a little bit and not just expect it's going to keep happening,” Gray admired.

But for coach Gray in his 19 years has got to experience success with many teams more often than not allowing him to join 47 other coaches who have achieved 400 wins in girls’ basketball.

That’s a lot of wins and coach Gray can tell about some of the most painful losses ... but struggle a little bit more trying to identify the most memorable wins.

He immediately reflected on one of his most painful losses to Miami East back in the early years and at the time the Vikings were a perennial power winning league titles every year.

The Patriots were knocking at the door with a shot at winning a league title but got rocked by the Vikings prompting Gray to write on the board that they would never get beat like that again.

“Yes, I was young and maybe didn’t even know what to say at the time, but that loss was painful, we came in with an opportunity to topple the king pin and fell hard … it was the kind of game we can point to now that turned things around for us and became the motivation we needed to get over the hump,” Gray exclaimed.

And it would be the very next season that Tri-Village would take down Miami East to win a league title and catapulted Gray and the Lady Patriots program to another level and put them on a path to future success.

“I really believe that win against Miami East is the win that got our kids and our program believing we could compete at an elite level,” Gray said.

And it’s no surprise that it also would become one of his top 5 most memorable wins.

1. State Championship game vs Toledo Christian in 2023
2. Regional Final vs Fort Loramie in 2012
3. Regional Final vs Fort Loramie in 2023
4. State Semi-final vs Hiland in 2023
5. Miami East in 2010

Congratulations to coach Brad Gray and the Lady Patriots Basketball Program.  I’m sure in the years to come we might have to ask coach Gray to extend his list of most memorable wins.


400 wins and counting for Lady Patriots coach Brad Gray.  
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Taylee Woodbury surrounded by her family, team and coaches receives recognition after breaking the school scoring record.  (All feature photos by Dale Barger)

UNION CITY – Taylee Woodbury became Mississinawa Valley girls’ basketball all-time leading scorer in the Blackhawks 70-39 win over Twin Valley South Thursday night. 

Woodbury was eager to go right from the tip, ready to put the previous game against Arcanum in the rear-view mirror where she would agree she didn’t play her best in the loss to Trojans.

It would create a four-way tie at the top of the WOAC to include Arcanum, Tri-Village, Mississinawa and Twin Valley South making the match-up tonight a big game for both teams.

Woodbury didn’t take long to get her team on the board firing in a long-range triple to start to go up 3-0 just seconds into the contest and you knew it was going to be a special night.

She would repeat that 3 more times in the first quarter to help the Hawks to a 15-2 first quarter lead.

Then just as Woodbury did to start the game she connected on her 5^th straight triple to start the 2^nd quarter. 

Taylee "Would Bury" her 5th straight three-ball from the corner to become the all-time scoring leader at Mississinawa Valley.

It would also be a record breaking shot as she eclipsed the school’s all-time scoring record of 1,282 points.  Taylee ended the game with 20 points overall and now sits at 1,288 with plenty of games ahead to continue adding to her totals record.

After a brief stoppage in play and hugs with her teammates she was presented the game ball and a banner at half court with her coach, mom and dad while receiving recognition for the accomplishment.

Play resumed shortly after, and the Hawks continued to roll scoring 23 points in the second quarter. 

Jordyn Ritchie scored 12 points for the TV South.  They fell one game behind the league leaders in the standings with the loss to the Blackhawks.

Twin Valley South offense would find a little spark as well by attacking the basket and getting to the charity stripe.  They would made 7-of-8 free throws and couple treys from Kelsey Maggard and Jordan Ritchie  for 17 points … but the Hawks led 38-17 at the half.

The third quarter output resembled that of the 2^nd quarter with the Hawks winning 23-16.

Mississinawa got a spark from junior forward Brooklynn Seubert on 10 points in the paint to lead the way.  Maci Arndts led the Panthers with 6 points in the quarter.

Brooklynn Seubert dominated in the paint in the 2nd and 3rd quarters and ended with a double-double including 20 points.

The final quarter aided by a running clock tick away too quickly for South who won the frame 9-6 but really unable to make up much ground with Mississinawa winning the game 70-39.

The win keeps the Hawks in a tie at top of league with Arcanum & Tri-Village, while Twin Valley South falls a game behind.

For Mississinawa Valley Coach Michael Paige he was happy to see his team get back on track offensively and earn the conference win.

“I think the game obviously went really well for us, Twin Valley South is a very aggressive team, we wanted to match that while also pushing the ball.  It was a also big day for Taylee, so we wanted to make sure she was able to accomplish getting the record at home with our next two games being on the road. That was our focus in the first half and in the second half we just wanted to control the tempo and play under control. I think we managed to do that some but did get out of control a few times. So, we still have got things to work on, but overall it was a good game for us and big night for Taylee,” Page explained.

Mississinawa Valley was led in scoring by both Taylee Woodbury and Brooklynn Seubert both with 20 points. 

Twin Valley South was led by Jordan Ritchie with 12 points, Brylii Day who leads the league in rebounding had 10 boards.


The Panthers Brylii Day leads the league in rebouding, she pulled down 8 boards in the game.

The Panthers fall to 7-5 overall, 4-2 in the league and they will host Newton on Saturday.

The Blackhawks improve to 12-2 and 7-1 in WOAC and will travel to Ansonia on Saturday January 18 for the Rt 47 shootout and then take on Marion Local in a show at Versailles on Monday January 20^th.

The night however belonged to Taylee Woodbury as the senior point guard achieved the triple crown in basketball becoming the all-time assists, steals and now scoring record holder at Mississinawa Valley.

I had a chance to catch up with Taylee’s dad (Derrick Woodbury) after the game and it was a surreal and reflective moment for the proud dad.

“Honestly, it's just great to see your own kid who works hard and puts a lot of time and dedication in the gym earn these accomplishments the way she's been getting them, she really deserves it,” dad would say.

“When she first started playing basketball as a freshman she told me she was going to  beat my assist record for a game, and she's gotten it all right and set the school record for the most career assists as well.  She has always had a high set of standards, and she'd like to break more of them if she could … even her own records she has now. You never know what else she's going to do, she may break another record next week, who knows? She's probably chasing the free throw record for a career too,” Derrick added.

When talking to Taylee about her three career records she is most proud of the assist record.

“I’m most proud of the assist record, that’s my job, I’m the point guard and it’s the main thing I do, distribute the ball,” Taylee said.

But on this night it was a celebration for the scoring record and even though Taylee wasn’t feeling well, she was ready and went out and knocked down her first five consecutive triples to jump out to a big lead over South in the process of achieving the new scoring mark, while also getting redemption from the previous game.

“I'm wasn’t feeling the best coming in tonight, but we knew we had to throw that last game out of our heads, it was a tough one and probably shouldn’t have happened, but we made mistakes, life happens, and we all knew we had to come out strong in this game to get a big win,” Taylee stated.

When Taylee’s 5^th long range dart pierced the record books, play stopped as her coaches and teammates embraced her with her family and supporters on hand to witness the moment causing a stream of emotions to overcome her.

Lots of emotions were on display as Taylee Woodbury is embraced be her teammates.

“Like I was crying, it feels really great. Honestly, I couldn’t have done it without my people, coaches and team.  None of this could have been done without my teammates and to be able to share this moment with them means everything,” Taylee said.

When I asked Taylee about her family she choked up, fighting back tears and eventually just letting them roll down her cheek.

“The support I’ve gotten from my grandpa/grandma, dad/mom has really helped me to achieve the things I have,” Woodbury commented.

“My grandpa has helped me a lot through basketball he’s always asking me to go to the gym, every time I have a bad game or something, or don't hit my shots. He's always like, you want to go to the gym on Sundays, like any day, even after we have practice, he'll meet me out here and we shoot after practice. He's just always there for me,” Taylee commended.

It wasn’t always easy for Taylee who came down with a serious knee injury her sophomore year in the post season and a long recovery process to get back to playing.

“I want to thank Tony Cox my physical therapist for everything that he has done for me and being able to get me back on the floor and do everything that I can do. I couldn’t have done it without him either,” Woodbury added.

Taylee Woodbury is the schools assist record holder gets a wrap around pass through to her sister on the block for a score.

The Woodbury’s are a basketball family with Derrick being a standout player himself and a member of the Mississinawa Valley Athletic Hall of Fame.  He also coach’s 7^th grade girls’ basketball along with his daughter Tienna on the team.  Freshman daughter Tenlee would get the start tonight alongside her sister and at one point in the game Taylee gave her a wraparound pass for an assist.

In some good-natured ribbing with Derrick about who’s the best in the house I think I overheard a challenge of a one-on-one game with Taylee.  But he quickly acknowledged that Taylee holds all the records now.


The Woodbury's are a competitive  basketball family as Derrick Woodbury takes some good natured ribbing from his 3 daughters Tenlee, Tienna and Taylee.  Taylee has bragging rights now in the house with career records in scoring, steals and assists.

When I told Taylee I heard there might be a one-on-one game, she chuckled.

“Okay, that’s funny, he’s someone I’ve always looked up to, he’s a huge basketball fan, and he was good in his day. I mean, he probably had better handles than me, I will say he could dribble the ball, that's for sure.  But yeah, being able to beat his accomplishments really means a lot to me and he loves it more than anyone, he wants me to beat everything and with that kind of support I can’t lose,” Taylee concluded.

Taylee will graduate this year … but the impact Woodbury’s have on Mississinawa basketball is far from over as Grandpa/Grandma (Gary & Maureen), Dad/Mom (Derrick & Kristen) and the community will get to be fans much longer as Tenlee and Tienna come through the system.


There nothing better than a mother's hug as Taylee embraces her mom Kristen.
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Arcanum had plenty to get excited about as the Trojans pulled off the upset of previously unbeaten Mississinawa Valley.  (All feature photos by Dale Barger)

ARCANUM – The Lady Trojans basketball team turned in an impressive performance handing Mississinawa Valley their first WOAC League loss 51-46 to keep their hopes of winning a league title intact.

The win creates a log jam with four WOAC teams: Arcanum (4-1), Mississinawa Valley (6-1), Tri-Village (5-1) and Twin Valley South (4-1) all tied with just one loss in league play.

Arcanum would stun Mississinawa Valley getting off to a fast start with a 14-6, first quarter lead and 28-13 at the half.

The Lady Blackhawks generate a lot of offense from their defense and will give a steady dose of pressure all game long with their 2-2-1 full court press and a switching zone and aggressive man defense in the half court.

When Arcanum was able to break the pressure and get the ball up the floor they looked to get quick scoring opportunities and was successful a number of times before settling into a half court set.

In the first half senior Alexis Gibbons scored 11 points and sophomore Josie Schwartz 9 for the bulk of the Trojans offense. 

The Hawks scored first in the game on a lay-up from junior guard Paige Emrick, but Arcanum answered with a lay-up as well from Caroline Long to tie and then took a 7-2 lead at 3:22 after a short jump shot followed by a triple from Schwartz.

Sophomore Josie Schwartz injected offense into the Trojans game with 9 first half points.

The Hawks sophomore forward Gretchen Rodeheffer connected on an 8’ shot in the lane to draw to 7-4, followed by an Emrick drive to the rim to make it 7-6 by 2:43.

The Trojans struck back on a trey from Brooke Anderson followed by two free throws from Alexis Gibbons and a bucket at the first quarter buzzer for a 14-6 lead.

Mississinawa struggled offensively shooting just 23% in the first quarter and it didn’t get any better in the second quarter at 20%.

Junior Paige Emrick scored 9 in the first half as the Hawks struggled scoring the ball.

The Hawks offense generally starts with Taylee Woodbury and Arcanum’s strategy was to put as much pressure on her as they could making her work hard.  Woodbury didn’t score until 2:13 of the 2^nd quarter on a free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt.

Arcanum coach Abbey Moore credited the defensive pressure from her two guards for not allowing the Hawks to get into an offensive flow.

“We gave Josie (Schwartz) and Claire (Hein) the task of slowing down Taylee and they did their job and did it well. We mixed up what we were doing on them, trying to keep them guessing. They did a great job staying aggressive on her the whole game. And that's the key to their team. I mean, they're a great ball team, but, you know, when Taylee goes, they go, so I knew that was going to be a big part of our game plan,” Moore explained.

The Hawks scored just 7 points in the 2^nd quarter with five of them from Emerick and she would have 9 of the 13 Mississinawa points at the half.

Arcanum got 7 points from Gibbons, 4 from Schwartz and 3 from Long in the 2^nd quarter and led at the break 28-13.

One good half of basketball against a good team isn’t enough to win games and Arcanum was looking to put together a complete game after falling to Tri-Village a week ago, after having a big lead at the half to see it slip away in the 4^th quarter.

Mississinawa Valley has a lot of offensive weapons and combined with their pressure they can put a lot of points up in hurry which they would do in the third quarter.

Caroline Long scored 6 of 8 Trojan points in 3rd quarter and had 17 points in the game.

Arcanum started the second half with a fielder by Carline Long for their largest lead of the game 30-13 … but Taylee Woodbury got free in the corner and knock down a three-ball, her first points in the game from the field. 

A minute later senior Syenna Purdin connected from the same corner and Paige Emrick from the opposite side as the Hawks narrowed the gap to 33-22 midway through the quarter, and when Woodbury scored on a drive to the rim the lead was under single digits.

Senior Syenna Purdin had 9 points including two triples in the 3rd quarter.

Mississinawa slowed down Arcanum with their press that kept Gibbons and Schwartz quiet with neither scoring in the 3^rd quarter. 

Purdin added another trey and free throw for Mississinawa and Arcanum needed a basket. 

They got if from Caroline Long by attacking the rim, she scored 6 points in the 3^rd quarter for the Trojans.

Trailing 36-28 Gretchen Rodeheffer responded with a bucket and the harm for a 3-point play to close out the 3^rd trailing 36-31 as the Hawks were determined to make it a game.

Sophomore Gretchen Rodeheffer scores in the paint, her presence in the lane on defense and rebounding were big for the Hawks.

Long continued her scoring in the fourth quarter with a lay-up to start and moments later Gibbons got her first score of the second half.   Sandwiched between those two scores was a bucket from the Hawks Brooklynn Seubert to make the score 40-33 at the 5-minute mark.

With the score 44-35, Mississinawa got a triple from Woodbury closing to 44-38 … but it was Gibbons getting up the floor and finishing a left-handed lay-up then a right-handed lay-up on two straight trips extending the lead back out to 48-38. 

Big time games bring out a lot of emotions for competitive coaches, players and teams.  Coach Abbey Moore was in tune with the moment letting those emotions show. 

The little spurt visibly evoked emotions from coach Abbey Moore and the bench … but with 2:38 left to go and a dangerous Blackhawks team, the Trojans weren’t out of the woods yet.

Seubert, who was held scoreless before the 4^th quarter, finished with 7 points including an old-fashion 3-point play, then back-to-back lay-ups from Woodbury would cut the margin to 48-45 with just under a minute to go.

Arcanum then missed free throws on two straight trips and gave the Hawks an opportunity to tie.   

Taylee Woodbury had a good look from deep to try and tie the game late.  She ended the game with 12 points.

Woodbury got a good look from the top of the key, but it bounded off the back of the iron and Arcanum got the rebound and drew a foul.  Matty Noe converted both tosses for the Trojans, who were just 5-for-13 in the 4^th quarter, to go back up 50-45.

Rodeheffer made a free throw with 28 seconds bringing the score to 50-46 … but Arcanum added a free throw after an intentional foul was called sending Gibbons to the line and then the Trojans ran out the clock to claim a 51-46 WOAC win.

Mississinawa Valley was led in scoring by Page Emerick and Taylee Woodbury with 12 points each and Syenna Purdin had 9.

The Blackhawks fell from the ranks of undefeated on Monday in a 44-42-loss to Botkins and then suffered their first league loss to Arcanum is now 11-2 overall, 6-1 in the league. 

They will look to get back on track Thursday when Twin Valley South comes to town in a match-up of two one loss teams in the WOAC.

Emotions run high in games of this magnitude and although coach Michael Paige acknowledged his team didn’t play well, he felt the referee’s impact on the game caused frustration and affected his teams moral and execution.

Coach Michael Paige addresses his team during the game.  Despite the frustration and loss to Arcanum, he said all their team goals are still attainable.  

“I think part of the reason our offense wasn’t clicking is because of the frustration. I mean, when you take a teenage girl, and you tell her to stay focused when she feels like it's unfair, it's hard for her to keep her mind on execution and running the plays,” Paige stated

“I don't argue our calls, not one time with the referees do I argue our calls. My arguments are usually, why aren't we getting the same call? Hey, if this is a foul here, it should be a foul down there, and when it's not the same call on both ends that's where it's frustrating,” Paige exclaimed.

In losses to Botkins and Arcanum the Hawks were whistled for twice as many fouls and saw several players foul out of each game.

“I give Arcanum the credit. They played hard and I like a lot of the girls on their team. Abby's a good coach and I don't have anything bad to say about them … but the officiating was terrible, absolutely terrible,” Paige said.

Despite the two recent losses Paige acknowledged all their team goals are still intact.

“We control what we do, if we win out in WOAC play it will probably end up being a split conference title.  And our goal of reaching state is still there, those have always been our goals,” Paige concluded.

Those same emotions ran high for Arcanum who finally got over the hump of winning a big game giving them a huge confidence boost.   

Arcanum coach Abbey Moore gives credit to her kids for the win.

“Heart and Soul. That's what that was, these girls, man, they deserve it. They put the time in. They work hard every day. And I told them before the game, I think my exact words were, you know, I’d take a bullet for any one of you, and I'm going to ask you to go run through some brick walls for me. And every single one of them did, so I'll forever remember this one. And I these kids. I just I love them, and good things are going to happen this year, definitely,” said an elated Moore after the game.

Moore praised all her kids but wanted to mention her two seniors Alexis Gibbons and Brooke Anderson and their contributions.

“I'll tell you, it starts with these two next to me, my two seniors. this one's special, they wanted it,” Moore declared.

Alexis Gibbons finishes a left-handed lay-up & led all scorers in the game with 18 points.

“Take Brooke for example, fighting back and playing that game with a torn ACL. So let that one sink in,” Moore stated.

“Lex has been playing her butt off all year to try to compensate, the heart that these two have shown and how they treat each other takes our team to another level,” Moore added.

Lexy talked about her performance after the game.

“I think how I perform impacts the team a lot, what I bring, like, energy wise, because I got to get everybody up. If I'm down, then everybody else is down,” Alexis said.

But it’s her relationship with her senior teammate Brooke Anderson that motivates her the most.

“My biggest motivation is playing for Brooke, because we played together since second grade, and her going out in our first game, I think, put like a chip on my shoulder for the rest of the year and to get this win together is special,” Lexy expressed.

“Seeing Mississinawa blowing out teams by 20, 30 and 40 points and for all of us doing this together to get this win means a lot and I’m excited for the rest our journey this season,” Gibbons added.

Brooke Anderson was thankful for the opportunity to be back out on the court with her senior teammate as well.

Senior Brooke Anderson was an inspiration to her team playing with a torn ACL. She connected on this triple in the game.

“It felt good to get back out there and to get this win was huge for us mentally and for the rest of season and everything that’s to come.  Basically, we need to  keep playing the way we did today,” Anderson concluded.

It was a complete game for the Trojans  who was led by Lexy Gibbons with 18 points and Caroline Long with 17.  They improved to 6-4 overall and 4-1 in the WOAC and will be back in action Tuesday hosting Dixie in another WOAC contest.

Coach Abbey Moore &her Lady Trojans control their destiny after beating Mississinawa Valley.  Win out & they could attain their first ever WOAC Girls basketball title.
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