Sunday, February 19, 2012
By Jim flick
Mineral ridge
The South Range High girls basketball squad led from start to finish Saturday against Grand Valley High in the opening round of the Division III Northeast District Division III tournament.
After South Range (13-8) defeated Grand Valley, 46-27, Pymatuning Valley (19-3) rallied in the fourth quarter to nip Springfield Local, 29-28.
“We played good, solid Raider defense today,” South Range coach Wayne Johnson said. “We came out focused. We played a real good first half. “
The Raiders dominated early, jumping out to a 15-2 lead. The lead grew to 26-6 at halftime.
Grand Valley (4-17) came on in the second half, outscoring South Range 21-16.
“At halftime, we talked about being a little more aggressive offensively,” Grand Valley coach Kim Triskett said. “I felt the kids were being rather passive, and not attacking the basket.
“We asked them to be more aggressive in getting to the hoop.”
The Raiders were led by junior Lexi Naples.
“My shots were falling,” she said after scoring a game-high 16 points. “Everyone else was making good passes and playing real [well].
“We’re ready to go, we don’t want our season to end yet.”
Senior Kristin Robinson scored five.
“My shots weren’t falling, so I focused more on getting the ball to my teammates,” Robinson said.
Grand Valley’s leading scorer was freshman Jessica Vormelker, who tallied 10 points.
In the other game, Pymatuning Valley trailed Springfield (11-10) most of the game. The Lakers put only one point on the scoreboard in the first quarter and trailed the Tigers 12-6 at halftime.
After three quarters, Springfield held a 19-14 lead.
Pymatuning Valley outscored Springfield Local 15-10 in the fourth quarter, and grabbed the lead with less than two minutes to play.
“Later in the game, I thought we got the pace and the tempo where we wanted it,” Pymatuning Valley coach Jeff Compan said. “That really changed things.
“I though we did a real nice job with defense today,” Compan said. “Offense was another story.”
Springfield coach Jim Schuler said giveaways were costly.
“We came out strong early,” Schuler said. “But later we made some careless turnovers.”
The game’s leading scorer was Springfield Local junior Andrea Zubick, who netted 12 points.
Pymatuning Valley was led by freshman Abby Hamilton, who scored eight points. She said she at first felt hesitant to take shots in the game, “But now it feels great.”
Winning the game “feels very good,” said Pymatuning Valley senior Shauna Soderstrom, sank the shot that finally gave the Lakers the lead, “because we haven’t won in the tournament in three years.
“To break that streak is a real accomplishment.”