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Unbeaten Triad girls lose focus in fourth quarter

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By David Jablonski, Staff Writer 11:09 PM Tuesday, December 27, 2011

NORTH LEWISBURG — Even though his team was up big against Catholic Central last week, Jason Malone found himself yelling at his Triad High School girls basketball team. The Cardinals won 68-44, but lost their focus a bit in the fourth quarter.

“I was really disappointed in our defense,” Malone said. “I called timeout, and I was angry.”

An official gave Malone a look, as if to say, “What’s your problem? You have a huge lead.”

“I just said, ‘We’re better than this,’ ” Malone said. “We have to be able to play four quarters against Mechanicsburg.”

That’s the next game for Triad, which is one victory away from taking an undefeated record into 2012. It hosts Mechanicsburg tonight. The Cardinals are 8-0 and 5-0 in the Ohio Heritage Conference. Mechanicsburg is 5-1 and 4-1 in the OHC.

“It’s going to be difficult,” Malone said. “They’re athletic. They’re very talented. I think (Graham transfer) Tori Purk brings a whole different dynamic to their team. She’s going to be a tough matchup for us.”

Coming into this week, Triad and Kenton Ridge  (6-0) were the only remaining unbeaten teams in the area.

“You always think at the beginning of the year you’re going to win every game,” Malone said, “but I never really thought about it to be honest. You take it one game at a time. I know it’s cliche.

“We know if we do things well, we have a pretty good chance of winning every time we go out. We’ve got a lot of experience coming back.”

The Cardinals celebrated the holidays by baking cookies at Malone’s house. Four or five of the players showed up. Malone and his assistant coach Bruce Schlabach also bought dog tags with the players’ names on them for all the players.

But the best gift of all was the team’s performance in December. Triad, led by senior Kelsey Funderburgh’s 26.9 points per game, has won every game by at least nine points.

“The one thing I’ve stressed is, ‘Don’t get into a comfort zone,’ ” Malone said. “I don’t think we’ve talked about the undefeated aspect.”

Stat attack: Kenton Ridge senior and Michigan State recruit Mariah Harris ranks in the area’s stats leaders in rebounding (first,  12.8 rpg), assists (first, 7.2 apg), steals (8.0 spg), blocked shots (second, 2.5 bpg), scoring (fifth, 21.3 ppg) and field goal percentage (14th, 50.9) ... Harris’ Cougars are averaging 26 points more per contest (88.0 ppg) than the closest area team, Mechanicsburg ... Urbana’s Trischa Lacy is on fire from 3-point land, hitting a sizzling 50 percent of her 3-point goal attempts — easily tops in the area.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0351 or David.Jablonski@coxinc.com.

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