Danielle Thomas sees some patterns developing five games into Tecumseh’s girls basketball season. Some are pleasing to the coach, some are not.
The best pattern is the winning streak the Arrows extended to four games Wednesday with a 60-48 win over struggling Urbana. The pattern Thomas didn’t like seeing again was falling behind 14-6 in the first quarter. The Arrows have had rough first quarters in all but one game.
“We’ve got to get out and get after it the very first quarter,” Thomas said. “I feel like sometimes we’ve got to shake the nerves off. We’re a little too jacked up at tip-off and we don’t finish the easy shots.”
When senior guard Brittany Frappier got a concussion in the opener, Thomas had to find some help from the freshmen class. Frappier is expected to return to the team next week, but in the meantime Danielle Franklin, a guard, and Lindsey Nartker, a forward, have strengthened an experienced team. Nartker had her second straight strong game and scored a team-high 18 points.
“They make some freshman mistakes,” Thomas said, “but overall they’re better than I thought they would have been this early in the season.”
If that pattern continues, the Arrows (4-1, 1-0) will have at the least a strong eight-player rotation to do battle with in the Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division. They already have a win over rival contender Kenton Ridge.
It was rare that Arrows star Bianca Quisenberry was not the top scorer. She finished with 14 and was off on her jump shot. But she scored three straight transition layups in the middle of a 10-0 run to close the third quarter for a 48-30 lead.
Urbana (1-4) has lost four straight with only two of the top seven players coach Bill Moss expected to have. So Moss is playing an inexperienced crew alongside senior star shooter Trischa Lacy (17 points) and sophomore post player Braxton Rogan (18 points).
“It’s going to be game by game trying to learn and get better,” Moss said. “We’ve got some kids we didn’t think would play, but they’ve got to play now. If we can get a third scorer we’ll be all right.”
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