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12/28/2017 11:00 PMGirls’ Basketball
The Valley Regional girls’ basketball team recently secured a victory versus Old Saybrook to move its record to 2-1 on the season. On Dec. 21, Old Saybrook was in Deep River for a Shoreline Conference matchup against the Warriors, who prevailed by the final score of 46-42.
Valley struggled shooting from the outside against the Rams, but received strong performances from senior captains Paige Atkinson and Heidi Clark in the victory. Even though the shooting wasn’t there, Head Coach Geoff Konstan thought his team played some of the best basketball he’s seen in his third year at the helm and was encouraged to see his two seniors have big games. Clark led the Warriors in scoring with a career-high 16 points, while Atkinson had a career-best 11 points to go along with 14 rebounds.
“While it was the best basketball I’ve seen them play so far and the passing and everything else was amazing, it was a night where Carly Thompson, Alexis Finnerty, and Sadie Konstan were off in their shooting. It coincided with Heidi and Paige getting career highs,” Konstan said. “Now that we know that Heidi and Paige can score double digits in the paint, I honestly believe we can hang with anybody.”
After allowing the first basket of the game, Valley went on a 10-0 run and ended the first quarter up 10-7. At halftime, the Warriors led by the same margin at 21-18. Konstan’s squad started pulling away in the third quarter by going on a 13-0 run to make the score 38-27. In the fourth quarter, Old Saybrook scored five points in the last 15 seconds, but the game was already well in Valley’s hands at that juncture.
Finnerty scored 10 points while stuffing the stat sheet with 10 boards, six assists, and four steals for Valley, plus Thompson had four assists on the night. This game also marked the first time that Valley’s entire starting lineup was intact with the return of point guard Sadie Konstan. Coach Konstan liked what he saw from his squad at full strength.
“It was the first time the projected starting five played together, and it was everything that we hoped it would be,” said Konstan. “It was unquestionably the best basketball I had seen all season.”
Boys’ Basketball
The Warriors took recent defeats against Shoreline Conference opponents Coginchaug and Old Saybrook and are now 0-3 on the year.
On Dec. 18, Valley was on the road to face Coginchaug, where the team took a tough loss in overtime by the score of 56-54. The Warriors received great scoring performances from seniors Colin Sparaco (19 points), and Ernest Jean-Pierre (18 points, 4 three-pointers) in the effort. Senior Ben Weinstein posted 17 rebounds and a block on the evening. Valley had a 36-13 lead at halftime and brought a 48-33 advantage into the fourth quarter. However, Coginchaug mounted an offensive attack in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 54-54 and then scored the only two points in overtime to come away with the win.
On Dec. 21, the Warriors headed to Old Saybrook and dropped a 62-53 decision. Senior Mitch Holdmeyer scored 16 points in the game, while adding 12 rebounds, two steals, and an assist. Sophomore Cade Ensinger had five assists, four points, four boards, and a couple of steals for the Warriors. Valley got out to strong start with a 15-7 lead after the first quarter, but Old Saybrook responded with an 18-point second quarter to take a 25-23 lead at halftime. Old Saybrook added to its lead the rest of the way for the nine-point victory.