Undefeated Tri-Village girls, Covington reach district finals
After a slow start, the top-ranked Tri-Village High School girls basketball team quickly found its stride.
The Patriots struggled from the field early in the game, but pulled away midway through the first half en route to a 73-23 victory over Tri-County North in a D-IV district semifinal game on Wednesday night at Versailles High School.
“We’ve struggled to shoot in this gym for some reason,” said Patriots coach Brad Gray. “Once we saw a couple go through, I thought we looked pretty good.”
Patriots senior Torie Richards had a game-high 20 points, senior Rylee Sagester had 12 and freshman Sydnee DeLong, senior Morgan Hunt and freshman Kennedi Hager each scored 11 as Tri-Village improved to 25-0. The Patriots advanced to the district finals — Ohio’s Round of 32 — for the eighth straight season.
“It’s nice, but we definitely have bigger goals,” Gray said. “It’s one game at a time. Any time you can punch your ticket to the districts — there’s a lot of teams in the state that don’t get the opportunity to do that — we definitely feel appreciative of that.”
Panthers sophomore Noni Garcia scored nine points for Tri-County North, which finished its season 15-10.
The Patriots hit 12 3-pointers, never trailing in the game. They led 48-8 at the half.
Tri-Village advanced to play Fayetteville-Perry in a D-IV district final game at 11 a.m. Saturday at Troy High School. The Patriots beat the Rockets 77-27 in a district final game last season.
“They looked good against Middletown Christian, kind of mixed up defenses, a little man and a little 1-2-2,” Gray said. “It will be interesting to see how they decide to play us. They’re in the district final. You’ve got to understand that anybody that’s in the district final, you’ve got to come ready to play.”
The undefeated Patriots, No. 1 in the final Division IV state poll of the season, are seeking their first trip to the state tournament since 2012. The goal, Gray said, is to win five more games; however, they won’t look past the Rockets or any other team they face this postseason.
“We’ve always talked about winning the next one,” Gray said. “We never try to get too far ahead. I know it sounds cliché, but we honestly have never once talked about being undefeated,
we’ve never once talked about our ranking. That stuff doesn’t matter. What matters is winning the next game.”
Covington 53, Southeastern 36:
The third-seeded Buccaneers trailed by two points at halftime, but outscored the second-seeded Trojans 29-10 in the second half to advance to a district final game for the first time since 2018.
Buccs sophomore Maggie Anderson had 18 points, junior Carlie Besecker had 14 and freshman Avery Koffer added 13 for Covington, which improved to 14-10.
Southeastern sophomore Brooke Nelson scored 20 points for the Trojans, who finished their season 17-8.
Covington had struggled in the third quarter all year long, said Buccaneers coach Shawn Naff. They weren’t
going to let it happen this time.
“We put a lot of our focus on coming out in the second half with energy, exploding and getting the ball into the post,” he said.
The Buccaneers went on a 9-0 run to start the second half and never trailed again. They held Southeastern to just two points in the third quarter, grabbing a 40-28 lead after three quarters.
The Trojans cut the lead to 10 on a 3-pointer by senior McKenna Ashmore with two minutes remaining, but they couldn’t get any closer.
Covington advanced to face second-ranked Fort Loramie (23-2) in a district final game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Troy High School.
“We’re excited,” Naff said. “We’re going to dive deep into Loramie tonight and see where we go from here.”