Valley Christian zips past Hubbard

January 17, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

Hubbard struggles to find points, handle relentless full-court pressure

By CHEZ ALLISON

YOUNGSTOWN

From Monday’s opening tipoff, the Valley Christian girls basketball team applied full court pressure.

Relentless defense was too much for Hubbard’s guards to handle in a 65-29 victory.

The pressure created turnover after turnover for Hubbard, whose guards couldn’t get any room to create offense.

“We like to trap and apply pressure. It’s something we practice a lot and enjoy doing,” Valley Christian sophomore guard Imane Snyder said.

They say practice makes perfect and the Valley Christian defense was outstanding, holding Hubbard to fewer than 30 points.

“Tough game tonight, credit their girls for executing their gameplan,” Hubbard coach Raymond DeLuco said.

At halftime, Valley Christian had a 27-15 lead and never let up. India Snyder was the game’s leading scorer with 20 points.

“I just wanted to be aggressive on both sides of the ball and glad I was able to make shots and get my teammates involved,” Snyder said.

Defense created offense for Valley Christian as easy points were created from steals from the full-court pressure.

Imane Snyder added 19 points for Valley Christian but had to leave the game early due to an ankle injury.

“My ankle feels fine especially with the win,” she said.

Klaudia Vaughn and Taylor Jones both added 10 points for Valley Christian.

Coach Bill Hoelzel was happy with the way the Valley Christian gameplan came together.

“Defense is our bread and butter,” Hoelzel said.’We missed some easy ones early, but our defense was the key and I’m happy for the girls getting this win.”

Hubbard was led in scoring by Annie DeLuco with nine points. Athenia Smith added six points.