Valley View Online

The Valley View Spartans opened and closed their 2008 home stand with an 82-73 win over the Shawnee Arrows last Saturday night. Both the Spartans and the Arrows are 1-1.

Preble Shawnee jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first 2:15 before the Spartans scored their first point but a pair of three-pointers from Ben Fannin and Brandon Fox, helped Valley View go on a 10-2 run, and they never looked back.

The Arrows tied it at 15 but that was as close as Shawnee could muster the rest of the evening.

“It was exciting to see this team maintain the lead,” head coach Brian Lemke noted. “At Brookville, despite leading almost the entire game, we fell apart.”

“Tonight we got shots off in the paint and executed at the end of the game. It paid off.”

Shawnee’s early zone kept Valley View off the boards, stifling Johnny Day, typically the Spartans ‘penetrator, pull-up and dish guy”.

“I could see that they were cheating the zone a bit, and not that Johnny can’t take the three-pointer, I just know that Ben looks to take that shot and he could be the guy that could make them pay, ” said Lemke.

Pay they did. Fannin made three of his five trey’s before the Arrows were finally forced to come out their match zone and play man-to-man. Fannin still stuck them for two more three-pointers before the first half came to a close.

Ricky Denny led the Spartan scoring for Spartans for the second straight night with 17 points, followed by Fannin who ended the night with 16.

“Ricky could score 40 points for us almost any night,” Lemke noted. “He was just being denied all over the floor so instead he went for the open spots and passed the ball off to our cutters. He played the most unselfish game I’ve ever seen him play.”

Lemke will look to Denny for more of that leadership over the next seven games as the Spartans take to the road against the powerhouses of the league before they return home on January 10.

“If we fight through this road trip, we should be peaking about the time we come home and then we have a stretch of 8 or 9 games here.”

Valley View will take on the Oakwood Lumberjacks, December 12 in the “Pit”. Oakwood is 0-2 coming off losses to Fenwick (54 – 66) and West Carrollton (77 – 90).

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The Lady Blue Devils power duo, Courtney Weeden and Shelby Pettit, combined for 38 points Thursday night, to down Valley View in their 2008 home opener, 67-36.

Andrea Gibbs powers through for two of her six point evening in a 36-67 loss against the Lady Blue Devils.

Weeden, with a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line lead all scorers with 21 points. Teammate Pettit knocked down 17.

Freshman Brooke Lewis led the Spartan scoring with 10 points.

“She came out early and made some nice shots and then got into foul trouble,” noted Spartan coach, Steve Dickson.

“It hurts that early in when your you’ve got someone hitting shots and then gets into foul trouble. If no one else steps up you get behind fast.”

Brookville jumped out to a 21-9 advantage in the first period and then coasted the rest of the game.

“I haven’t seen the rest of the league, but Bellbrook’s going to be up there and Oakwood’s going to be up there, but I think Brookville’s got a chance to win the league this year.” said Dickson.

With the graduation of Jesse Rowland, the Spartans appear to be missing a legitimate point gaurd that can dribble through the press and get down the floor.

“We can’t let the other team dictate what we do on offense.” Dickson said. “It’s going to be a long process. But we’re going to figure it out.”

They’ll have to do so fast. Oakwood, 4-0,  comes to town on Thursday with wins over Troy (50-45), Springfield (45-39), Eaton (53-40), and Franklin (58-40).

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Not too many takers in our first Photo Challenge of the Week. What’s wrong? Couldn’t you find a foot? At least one person joined our Flickr Photo Group. They didn’t share anything, but at least they joined!

Never-the-less, that’s not stopping us from challenging you again this week.  This week’s subject is Thanksgiving.

We want to see your best shot of something Thanksgiving. Maybe it was your Uncle Ted, who has gravy all over his shirt. Or the prettiest, cooked turkey you’ve ever seen. It might just be a tree.

So get creative. Share a photo with us. Each week we ask Valley View Online Readers to post a picture based on …something. Fall, buildings, children, pets, Sunsets. Just about any topic.

There are no rules for your photo. Keep in mind: This group is safe for everyone. Please, no offensive content and be sure your photo is ok for a global, public audience.

Upload your entry to our Flickr Photo Group. Use “Valley View Online” as one of your tags when you upload your photo.

Got an idea for a weekly topic? Send us an email and put ‘Photo Challenge” in the subject line. Or we can just do that for you

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