DEFIANCE – The Archbold Blue Streaks used a tough defensie effort to down the Tinora Lady Rams, 48-42 in the opening game at the Defiance Physical Therapy Classic Monday Night.

The first quarter saw the Lady Rams jump to an early 11-7 lead, the Blue Streaks’ offense came alive in the final minutes of the initial quarter, outscoring Tinora 9-0 to take a 16-11 lead after one.

Miley Gericke ignited Archbold’s offense with two quick three-point baskets in the last minutes of the first quarter. The pressing defense by the ‘Streaks rushed many open shots for the Lady Rams, resulting in many wide open misses in the initial stanza.

The second quarter saw the Tinora offense start to click, the Lady Rams rallied and grabbed a 28-26 halftime lead.
Tinora’s Emma Bailey tried to keep the Lady Rams in the game, as Bailey bucketed six points in the second quarter.

The Lady Rams attacked the basket again, but this quarter saw many of the open looks finally fall through the basket.
Tinora was led in the first half by Nova Okuley with nine points.
Okuley as a freshman back in the 2021 DTP Classic was the MVP, ending with 26 points and 7 made threes.

Archbold was led by Miley Gerecke and her 10 first-half points.

The third quarter saw the Blue Streaks Charlee Forward heat up and give Archbold a 40-36 lead at the end of the quarter. Tinora was still looking to get on the track offensively in the quarter, the aggressive defense of Archbold limited Tinora’s Karli Okuley to just 2 points.

The final quarter saw a physical battle between both teams. The ‘Streaks grabbed an early seven-point lead midway through the quarter, only to see the Lady Rams cut the lead to one, 43-42, at the 2:50 mark.

Tinora had a steal and a chance of the lead with 1:50 in the quarter, but a turnover gave the ball to Archbold and the Lady Rams never got closer than the one-point deficit.
Archbold’s Forward would hit two free throws, extending the Blue Streaks lead to 45-42.

The Lady Rams had another chance to tie, but another Tinora turnover with 60 seconds left gave the ball back to Archbold. The Streaks asked for a timeout after the Tinora turnover.

Out of the timeout, the Lady Rams came up with a steal, unfortunately, this with 50 seconds remaining, came up short in the paint, and Archbold would grab the rebound and be fouled.

Archbold’s Grace Meyer would hit both free throws and the Streaks would lead 47-42 with just 36 seconds in the contest.

The ‘Streaks’ defense was on lockdown over the final 30 seconds, not allowing the Lady Rams to get a shot off, and taking the contest, 47-42.

ARCHBOLD 16-10-14-6=48
TINORA 11-17-8-6=42

Archbold scoring: Pedraza 2, Forward 16, Gericke 14, Meyer 12, Grime 4

Tinora scoring Lee 8, J Okuley 2, Blanchard 7, Coy 5, Durfey 5, N Okuley 9, Bailey 6

The Lady Rams fall to 2-2 and will face Defiance at 6:15 pm in the consolation game, back at Defiance High School.

Archbold moves to 4-2 and will play Ayersville Tuesday at 7:30 pm in the Defiance Physical Therapy Classic Championship game at DHS.