Spartans pull off the comeback in the Alley
By: Coleman Bacon
Posted on:
ALBANY, Ohio (WOUB) – The Trimble Tomcats (11-5, 4-3) traveled to Albany to take on the Alexander Spartans (11-5, 4-3) in a nonconference instant classic. The Tomcats came into the night on a hot streak, winning their last eight games dating back to late December. They planned on keeping the momentum going, but the Spartans caught fire late and sent Trimble back empty-handed with a final score of 61-57
Coming into tonight, both teams were looking to retain their momentum heading into the tournament just right around the corner. With both teams going blow for blow, there was no telling who was going to come out victorious. Rilynn Fouts looked to put an exclamation point on her Tomcats career as the junior was just 10 points away from eclipsing the 1,000 point milestone.
In the first quarter, the Spartans attempted to establish their well known full court press defense however, the Tomcats had no issue early going right around them and forcing Alexander to take an early shift back to their standard 2-3 zone for the entirety of the first half. Both teams went back and forth, and the score remained close at the end of the first, with Trimble on top 13-12.
Heading into the second, Trimble looked to continue their domination on the offensive boards and stout defense. Alexander took matters into their own hands and was able to spread out the floor and hit some key three pointers to close the Tomcat lead heading into halftime, 26-22.
In the third quarter, we saw more of the same with the Tomcats keeping the pressure on and extending the lead late in the quarter when Rilynn Fouts drove into the paint and sank the bucket for her 1,000 career points with time winding down. The biggest lead of the game belonged to the Tomcats heading into the fourth, up 46-37.
Starting the fourth quarter, Alexander wasn’t done yet and started to claw their way back, beginning with a steal and an and one to cut into the lead swinging the momentum back to the Spartans. They would ride that out for the rest of the game, being able to capitalize on costly Tomcat mistakes to take the win at home.
Both teams have tough competition to close out the season as Trimble travels to Waterford to take on the Wildcats on Thursday.
Alexander will look to keep up their winning ways as they look to defend the alley against their rivals in the Athens Bulldogs also on Thursday.