Federal Hocking wins hard-fought duel against Athens

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — The Lancers (11-5, 4-3 TVC-Hocking) made the Journey from Federal Hocking to Athens to face the Bulldogs (11-3, 6-0 TVC-Ohio) in a highly anticipated matchup. The Lancers came out on top with a 58-45 win in a game with everyone on the edge of their seat.

Federal Hocking needed redemption after falling short of a strong Chippewa, while Athens was firing on all cylinders after taking down Notre Dame in an invitational.

The Bulldogs started with the ball, trying to play their game and spread the ball. Knowing this, the Lancers used their speed to make Athens force shots.

In the first quarter, Federal Hocking wanted to establish themselves in the paint, with only two of their nine attempts coming from behind the arc. They ended the quarter up 14-9.

In the second quarter, the Lancers got into more of a rhythm. They were able to force the ball into the paint while being undersized. They did all this with very good efficiency, only missing two of their eight shots inside.

However, they could not find the bottom of the net from the three-point line, going 0-7 on threes. This offered a window for Athens to pull ahead, but they were unable to capitalize, struggling to get shots to fall, ending the half down 29-20.

Coming out of the half, the Bulldogs looked like a new team. Quinn Banks hit some key threes that fired up her team, and Lex Koopal cleaned up any shots her team couldn’t make.

Athens tied the game up 35-35 and then eventually took the lead 37-35. However, that didn’t sit right with Jaylee Orsborn, who got a key last-second steal and layup to tie up the game 37-37 at the end of the third.

In a heated fourth quarter, it was all Brenlee Cottrill all day. She was leading the team in points with 14, but in the fourth alone, contrail scored 13.

Cottrill said her mind was on one thing going into the fourth quarter.

“We needed to win; we started out good early, then we were losing the rebound game, and we needed to rebound.”

Cottrill not only ended with 27 points, but she also picked up nine rebounds, nearly finding her way to a double-double. Her performance put the game on ice and helped the Lancers Advance to an 11-5 record.

Athens will have a quick turnaround, needing to defend homecourt against Vinton County on Wednesday

Federal Hocking will return home and prepare to host Eastern on Thursday.