HAZELWOOD, PRIDDY, VAN DER WEGE LEAD SMOKY VALLEY

By William

CLAY CENTER – There is a reason why Clay Center is ranked # 3 in Class 4A and playing them at home was no treat for the Smoky Valley girls basketball team as the Lady Tigers humbled the Lady Vikings with a 60-28 defeat on Friday.

“We traveled to Clay Center for our third game of the week and ran into a buzz saw,” noted Lady Vikings Head Coach Larry Van Der Wege. “The combination of six games in two weeks and playing the number three team in 4A come together to lead to a very lopsided loss tonight.

After only trailing by four, 9-5, at the end of the first quarter, the Lady Vikings were ripped for 24 points in the second quarter by the Lady Tigers and found themselves down by 20, 33-13, going into the halftime break. After the intermission, Clay Center continued to hit their shots and ended up beating Smoky Valley by 32 points.

Much of the issue for the Lady Vikings was trying to stop Clay Center’s Clara Edwards and they were unable to do that as she finished the game with a double double by scoring 27 points and pulling down 10 rebounds, including four three-pointers and 9-11 from the free throw line.

Coach Van Der Wege acknowledged the Lady Tigers power by saying, “We knew Clay Center was going to apply a lot of pressure and it had an affect on us. Even when we were able to get into an opportunity to score, the pressure sped us up and caused us to miss a lot of shots while at the same time, Clay Center was deadly from downtown, hitting 8-20 three-pointers to go along with the scoring of Clara Edwards inside.”

Not all was lost for the Lady Vikings as freshman Adrian Hazelwood had another solid game by leading the team with 13 points while dishing out a pair of assists, grabbing three rebounds and making three steals on defense.

Concluding his reflections on the game, Coach Van Der Wege added, “Despite the score, we did some good things at times. We will get rested and be ready to go next week.”

Now 7-5 for the season, the Lady Vikings will return to the competitive court on Tuesday when they make a road trip to Hillsboro.

SMOKY VALLEY LADY VIKINGS at Clay Center

SCORING:                 1          2          3          4          FINAL

LADY VIKINGS          5          8          13       2          28

Clay Center               9          24       14       13       60

TEAM STATS:          

Clay Center: FG = 19-46; 3PT = 8-20; FT = 14-25; AST = 14; RBS = 29; TO = 9; STL = 13; BLK = 3; FLS = 15.

SMOKY VALLEY LADY VIKINGS: FG = 9-32; 3PT = 2-6; FT = 8-16; AST = 6; RBS = 22; TO = 20; STL = 5; BLK = 1; FLS = 21.

SMOKY VALLEY LADY VIKING INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:

SCORING: Adrian Hazelwood – 13; Breanna Priddy – 6; Abby Rose – 4; Kerington Haxton – 3; Avery Van Der Wege – 2.

3-POINTERS MADE: Adrian Hazelwood, Kerington Haxton – 1.

ASSISTS: McKinley Johnson, Adrian Hazelwood – 2; Avery Van Der Wege – 1.

REBOUNDS: Avery Van Der Wege – 4; Adrian Hazelwood, Breanna Priddy – 3; Kerington Haxton, Keira Mullen – 2; McKinley Johnson, Claire Broxterman – 1.

STEALS: Adrian Hazelwood – 3; Breanna Priddy, McKinley Johnson – 1.

BLOCKED SHOTS: Breanna Priddy – 1.

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