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03/26/2017 12:00 AMThe Valley Regional girls’ basketball squad entered this year with some major aspirations as the team remained mostly in tact from the previous season. The 2015-’16 campaign was a learning season for the young Warriors, who went 7-13 and missed postseason play by one win in their first year with Head Coach Geoff Konstan. With another year of experience under his athletes’ belts, Konstan and his club were not only aiming to make it to the Shoreline Conference and Class M State tournaments, but win some games in them, as well. When all was said and done, the Warriors achieved that goal by posting an overall record of 14-10 that included one victory in each of the playoff brackets.
“I feel great about this season. We matched the highest expectations that we set,” said Konstan said. “I even had another coach say to me that it’s nice that Valley girls’ hoops is relevant again, even though that’s against his better interests.”
Valley’s campaign began with heartbreaking defeats to Coginchaug and East Hampton. Last year’s team MVP, junior Carly Thompson, wasn’t on the floor for the East Hampton game and didn’t play in several of the Warriors’ subsequent contests throughout the season. Following those frustrating defeats, Valley started to figure out how it could win games this year: staunch defense. Facing Shoreline Conference rival Old Saybrook in late December, Valley held the Rams to a single point in the first quarter and eight for the opening half on their way to a 45-28 victory. This win served as a blueprint for how the Warriors would move forward: They needed other players to step up in Thompson’s absence.
Coach Konstan employed defensive schemes centered around the speed of his three senior captains in guard Libby Spitzschuh, forward Francesca Daniels, and guard Brianna O’Brien. The trio joined forces with sophomore guard Alexis Finnerty, who picked up the scoring slack, to help the Warriors put together a memorable winter season.
“It was Finnerty and the three senior captains. It’s what those four did,” Konstan said. “The outstanding defense of Brianna. Finnerty does every single thing well, so she was huge for us. Franny Daniels, she was clearly the on-court leader. The kids really love Franny and embraced that. Her strong suit was communication. She was really an extension of the coaching staff. Then Libby and her explosive speed put her out in front for our transition offense.”
While those four athletes took care of much of the heavy lifting, there were other athletes who also made key contributions for Valley Regional. Time and time again, someone would come off the bench and play wherever Coach Konstan felt the team needed her most. Among those players were juniors Heidi Clark and Paige Atkinson, plus sophomore Sadie Konstan.
“Besides those four, there was always somebody else that would come up huge. It was somebody different every three games or so,” said Konstan. “I took some advice early in the season to make sure to get those kids varsity time, get them experience, and you’ll be glad that you did.”
After starting the year by dropping four of its first six games, Valley rattled off a six-game win streak which culminated with a 58-34 win over Amistad that put the team into both the Conference and State Tournaments. Thompson and Daniels were out for that game, but 10 different Warriors made their way to the score sheet to help them get the victory. Valley played the rest of the regular season trying to improve its playoff seedings and wound up posting a record of 12-8. Then in the Shoreline Conference Tournament, the Warriors pulled off a 30-23 victory against a Coginchaug squad that had defeated them twice during the regular season. Making the victory even more impressive was the fact that it came on the Blue Devils’ home floor. The game marked another smothering defensive effort for Valley, which sealed the victory when Spitzschuh sank two free throws late in the game.
“I think the Coginchaug win in Shorelines was the biggest win of the season. We went back there a few weeks after losing against the same team on the same floor to win that game,” Coach Konstan said. “The defensive performance that we were able to put out there in the first quarter, we held them to zero in the first and only four points in the second.”
After losing to Cromwell in the Shoreline quarterfinals, Valley entered the Class M State Tournament as the No. 23 seed and prevailed at 10th-seeded Prince Tech by a 57-50 final in the first round. The Warriors’ bench came up huge by leading a 15-0 run in the second quarter that propelled the team to its first state tourney triumph since 1999. The Warriors ended up losing to No. 7 seed St. Paul in the second round. While Coach Konstan would have loved to see his team go on a deeper run, he felt pleased that Valley achieved one of its preseason goals by recording a couple of postseason victories.
Looking ahead to next year, Konstan believes the Warriors have a chance to take another step forward, even though they’re going to be without their three graduating captains, plus fellow seniors Julia Jenkins and Amber Preble. Konstan knows that the Warriors will have to change up their game-plan in the 2017-’18 campaign.
“We’re going to have to play completely differently,” he said. “The three captains are very fast athletes, so we played a lot of full-court pressure. We ran a dribble-drive offense based on their speed. When the three fastest players are the graduating seniors, you have to figure out how to run differently.”
Ultimately, Coach Konstan is proud of the way his team persevered through some serious challenges this winter. He feels especially proud of the way his seniors stepped up to make the season one of the best the Warriors have seen in recent memory.
“I told my senior class that they can be proud that they got this program moving in the direction to make the team relevant,” said Konstan. “They laid the foundation. We’re building a program. It’s not about just a good year or good two years, it’s about being a contender for years to come.”
From the Sidelines
The Warriors recently recognized some of their players at the team’s postseason awards ceremony. Earning Most Valuable Player honors for Valley was sophomore guard Alexis Finnerty. The Defensive Player of the Year Award went to senior captain Brianna O’Brien. Junior forward Heidi Clark was named the Warriors’ Most Improved Player. The Leadership Award, which recognizes the player who was a vocal leader both on and off the court, went to senior captain forward Francesca Daniels. Senior captain guard Libby Spitzschuh earned the Warrior Award for showing incredible toughness by playing in some huge games while nursing an injury. Head Coach Geoff Konstan also named Clark and forward Paige Atkinson as the senior captains for next season. Konstan’s coaching staff featured assistant coaches Allyson Pitney and Lauren Budney.