Defense Continues To Be Spartan Strength
Middletown, OH (January 8, 2005)— Stephanie Powers scored all of her nine points in the fourth quarter, while the rest of her Spartan teammates were busy holding the Mohawks to just 13, second half points, enroute to a 34-28 win over the number 5 ranked Buckeye Division leaders.
"This was a big win!" commented coach Steve Dickson, trying to catch his breath after the emotional finish.
"We played phenomonal defense. We denied the pass inside, heck we denied the pass everywhere. Our goal was to keep the big girl (Amanda Eckhardt, 6'4") off the boards.""
Eckhardt, one of the area's top four leading rebounding, struggled underneath under the relentless Spartan pressure.
Offensively, Valley View (9-3) is still struggling to find the bucket with any consistency, but with their defensive speed, so do their opponents, allowing the Spartans to score just enough to be effective.
"The plan was to get the ball inside and then push it back out, forcing the middle to open up. We ran the game plan flawlessly tonight."
Valley View, tied for first place in the Southwestern Division with Bellbrook, travels to Oakwood Monday night to take on a much improved squad. It was the LumberJills win over Bellbrook that put the Spartans in the two-way tie.
"They're much better shooters than the first time we played them. We will have to play good at every position."
| Valley View | 8 | 12 | 19 | 34 |
| Madison | 10 | 15 | 18 | 28 |
Scoring: Kerns 12, Powers 9, Hasty 6, K. Smith 5, S. Smith 2
