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02/06/2016 11:00 PMBoys’ Basketball
The Valley boys’ hoops squad defeated Hyde 44-43 on a buzzer-beater from Nash Eppard to move to 6-9 on the season. The Warriors need two more victories in their last four games to clinch a spot in the postseason. On Feb. 2 versus Hyde (5-9) the Warriors rallied from 14 points down to win as time expired, 44-43. After Hyde’s Marquell Lloyd hit a corner three with 3.4 seconds left to put the Howling Wolves up 43-42, Valley Head Coach Kevin Woods called a timeout. Colin Sparaco followed by throwing a perfect full-court pass to Nash Eppard, who laid it in at the buzzer.
“We keep a play in our back pocket that we work on a lot in practice for this type of situation,” Coach Woods said. “Nash made a great seal at the basket and hit the shot. Everyone remembers the guy who scored, but forgets the guy who threw the pass, and Colin did a great job with a really unbelievable pass. We needed that win and it would’ve been a back-breaker the way we fought back. Fortunately, we got the ‘W’ and it keeps us in contention for both post season tournaments.”
Eppard scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Valley. Jordan Moran finished with 14 points, including 11 crucial points during the fourth quarter comeback, while adding five rebounds and two steals in the victory.
Girls’ Basketball
Valley girls’ hoops faced Hyde and won 66-41 and then lost at Morgan 79-32 last week to move to 6-10 on the season.
On Feb. 2, the Warriors traveled to New Haven and defeated Hyde by 25 to snap a three-game losing streak. Offensively, everything clicked for the Warriors as they scored 20 points in the first quarter, matching their season high. Still, Coach Geoff Konstan wasn’t happy with a defense that allowed 16.
“We had a good talk between the quarters,” Konstan said. “And [we] played our best basketball of the season in the second quarter on both ends of the court.”
Valley outscored Hyde 24-3 in the second period, establishing a new season high in points for a quarter, while also clamping down on defense to hold a 44-19 halftime advantage en route to the blowout.
Junior captain Francesca Daniels led the way with a superb all-around game, scoring a season-high 15 points, to go along with six assists, six steals, and four rebounds. Sophomore Carly Thompson also scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds, while freshman Alexis Finnerty chipped in with 13 points and four steals. Valley’s lone senior, Sam Torrenti, scored a season-high six points and played tough defense in the paint all game.
“After a tough week which saw us lose three games in five days, this was exactly what we needed to get back on track and have the girls and coaches feeling good again,” Konstan said. “It’s a long bus ride back from New Haven and it was nice to hear the girls in such great spirits on the ride home!”
With a current record of 6-10, Valley will need two wins in its final four games to guarantee qualification for the Shoreline Conference Tournament and State Tournament. This season, a minimum of 32 teams qualify for states, even if the final teams to qualify have less than eight wins, which was the previous requirement to get in. Currently, the Warriors are in the No. 32 slot in Class S.
“Our goal has always been to get the eight wins traditionally needed to qualify for the tournaments,” Konstan said. “That won’t change, even if we could sneak in with seven wins.”
On Feb. 2, Valley lost to Shoreline Conference powerhouse Morgan 79-32. The Huskies jumped out to a 24-4 first quarter lead behind 12 points from Sami Ashton. Valley found some scoring in the second quarter, tallying 16 points for the period. Morgan kept on rolling offensively, however, and scored 27 in the quarter to take a 51-20 halftime lead. Ashton had 25 first-half points and finished with 31 for the game.
“She probably could have scored 50 points if she wanted to. You have to play near-perfect basketball for a team like ours to even be competitive with Morgan this year and we certainly didn’t do that,” Coach Konstan said. “The credit goes to Morgan, who are extremely well coached and who play incredible basketball.
Valley was led by sophomore Carly Thompson, who had 11 points.