No Charm in Spartan Loss
Springboro, OH (February 16, 2006)— The third time wasn't so charming for the Lady Spartans, as they fall in the opening round of the Division II tournament to the Oakwood Jills, 54-59. The SWBL co-champions end the season 16-5, their last three losses all coming at the hands of the Jills.
Oakwood jumped to a 15-4 lead before the Spartans battled back to close the gap to within seven to end the first period. The Spartans then outscored the Jills 13-9 in the second to trail 23-26 at the half.
But it was all Oakwood in the second half. The Spartans started out strong, taking a lead early at one point, but failed to find the basket down the stretch. Stymied by the outstanding offense of Oakwood's senior forward, Emma Jandel, Valley View's opening round jinx carries forward another year.
"The bottom line is, we just couldn't stop Emma," said Spartan head coach Steve Dickson.
Jandel finished the game with a game high 27 points.
"We just didn't put the ball in the basket late in the game," Dickson went on to say. "There were way to many second chances."
"Our returning players are going to be better players because of the kind of leadership our seniors gave us this season," Dickson added, notably choked up about the thought of losing his five seniors.
"They're a good team. I hope they keep our league alive in the tournament."
| Valley View | 10 | 23 | 39 | 54 |
| Oakwood | 17 | 26 | 43 | 59 |
Scoring: Rowland 14, Hanahan 11, Kerns 9, Hogg 9, Tipton 5, Barker 3, Smith 3
