BRUMBAUGH, HAZELWOOD LEAD SMOKY VALLEY
By William
LINDSBORG – Once they got past the first quarter it was steady and consistent for the Smoky Valley girls as they pulled away from Pratt and scored a 48-33 win at home on Tuesday.
After leading by just three, 6-3, at the end of the first quarter and just five, 19-14, at the halftime break, the Lady Vikings doubled their lead to 10 by the end of the third before earning the final 15-point victory.
“We concluded the regular season at home with the Greenbacks,” noted Lady Viking head coach Larry Van Der Wege. “After a sluggish first quarter, we started to find the offensive rhythm and opened up an 18-point lead in the fourth before winning 48-33.”
It was a total team effort as 11 Lady Vikings put at least a point by their name in the scorebook with Ellie Brumbaugh being the only one in double digits with 12 while Claire Broxterman chipped in with eight along with leading the team in the paint with six rebounds. While freshman sensation Adrian Hazelwood may have only scored three points in the game, she lead the offense by dishing out six assists, grabbed five rebounds and topped the team on defense with four steals.
Coach Van Der Wege continued his reflections on the game by saying, “Pratt is a smaller team and ran a dribble drive offense against our man-to-man defense. I was worried about getting into foul trouble and that is what happened in the first half. They also played a 3-2 zone that we had trouble getting good motion against early on. We switched to a 3-2 zone ourself, and really contained them the rest of the game. Between foul trouble and sluggishness, we had girls come off the bench halfway through the second quarter and they took us from being down four to being up by five at the half. It was a great spark to get us going.”
Concluding his reflections, Coach Van Der Wege added, “We kept that momentum up the entire second half and figured out how to get better inside-outside ball movement against their zone which opened up the scoring as shots started falling. After they scored their first 14 points, our defense got really tough the rest of the game and that gave us run-outs, and transition buckets, something that has been hard to come by. It was a great team win to end the regular season and the momentum we want going into substate next week.”
The victory gives the Lady Vikings a final regular season mark of 13-7 overall and 5-4 in games within the Central Kansas League. Smoky Valley now awaits seeded for substate.
Pratt at SMOKY VALLEY LADY VIKINGS
SCORING: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 FINAL
Pratt 3 11 8 11 33
LADY VIKINGS 6 13 13 16 48
Pratt Team Stats: FG 12-27; 3PT 5-14; FT 4-13; AST 2; RBS 17; TO 11; STL 5; BLK 0; FLS 13.
SMOKY VALLEY LADY VIKINGS TEAM STATS: FG 18-45; 3PT 7-20; FT 7-10; AST 13; RBS 25; TO 11; STL 12; BLK 3; FLS 17.
SMOKY VALLEY LADY VIKINGS INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:
Scoring (48): Ellie Brumbaugh – 12; Claire Broxterman – 8; McKinley Johnson – 5; Avery Van Der Wege – 5; Abby Rose – 5; Keira Mullen – 4; Tinley Scott – 3; Adrian Hazelwood – 3; Kerington Haxton – 2; Karee Adam – 2; Breanna Priddy – 1.
3-Pointers Made (7): Brumbaugh – 4; Johnson, Rose, Scott – 1.
Assists (13): Hazelwood – 6; Brumbaugh, Van Der Wege – 2; Rose, Mullen, Haxton – 1.
Rebounds (25): Broxterman – 6; Hazelwood – 5; Van Der Wege – 4; Brumbaugh – 3; Rose, Priddy – 2; Johnson, Scott, Haxton – 1.
Steals (12): Hazelwood – 4; Broxterman, Johnson – 2; Brumbaugh, Rose, Priddy, Gracie Lambert – 1.
Blocked Shots (3): Priddy – 2; Brumbaugh – 1.
{Smoky Valley Viking Postings is in need of SPONSORS, inquiry with crossdovewriter@gmail.com}