Finally got it going…Versailles took advantage of Valley View turnovers to score 32 points in the second half (Katey Litten, above) and knock out Valley View, 60-40. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
After a sputtering quarter and a not-so-thrilling half, Versailles found its footing in the third quarter to cruise to a twenty-point district win over Valley View.
Trotwood, OH – Who knows, really? It’s been this way for years.
Regardless of how far you go on the state tournament trail there’s always that one night, that one game, where you’re lucky to get out alive.
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And Versailles coach Tracy White might have been counting her blessings on the bus back to Darke County Tuesday night after her Division V Tigers quit beating themselves and finally beat Valley View (16-8), 60-40, to advance to Saturday’s district final round.
Versailles (16-8) had fought the sick bug over the weekend, fought what White called a nonchalant warmup in pre-game, then had to fight through turnovers and missed opportunities around the rim in the first half to trail by 14-8 at the end of the first quarter.
Versailles turned up the defensive pressure in the second half (Sarah Stammen, #4, above).
Valley View threw some 3-2 zone at the Tigers in an effort to negate some of the inside size and scoring threat of Kynnedi Hager and Taylor Wagner. And it worked, at least for a while. Versailles, a team that had seen plenty of zone throughout the year, was hesitant to attack the rim, played back on its heels, and allowed the much smaller Valley View team to get ahead with some unlikely three-point shooting.
But comebacks are almost always generated by defense, and Versailles came out in the second quarter with a bit more fire, doubling the ball handlers, creating some turnovers, and scored in transition on some of those flubs. Sarah Stammen, Katey Litten, and Wagner each scored a pair of buckets, Litten and Wagner cashed in on six consecutive free throw attempts, they outscored Valley View 20 to 10 for the eight minutes and edged ahead 28-24 by halftime.
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“We were nonchalant in our warmups and I told the coaches we’re not going hard, we’re not being fundamental, and we’re just going through the motions,” said White, post-game. “I was concerned about it, I talked about it in the locker room, and I felt that’s how the whole first half went. We weren’t knocking down shots to help us out, either, but that was because we weren’t into it defensively.
Versailles’s Taylor Wagner crushes the shot attempt of Valley View’s River Lemke during Tuesday’s 60-40 Tigers win.
“We’ve actually seen quite a bit of zone this year, but when we go through our sets sometimes we become too unselfish, we look to pass the ball instead of attack and it gets deflected and those plays don’t follow through. I felt in the second half we did a little better job.”
32 points better, in fact, as they did get into it, defensively, creating 19 Valley View turnovers for the game, and scoring 14 points off those turnovers, and cashing in on some wide-open looks from the perimeter by Litten, Stammen, and Hager got to increase the lead to 42-32 at the start of the fourth quarter.
The defense held Valley View to just 8 points for both the third and fourth quarters, while Taylor Wagner feasted off transition in the final eight minutes to score 9 of her game-high 23 points and join Stammen (16 points) in double figures. They closed out Valley View, nonchalantly, in the final four minutes to win and advance, 60 to 40.
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In addition to Wagner and Stammen, Katey Litten finished with 9 points, Hager had 6, Grace Osborne had 4, and Isabel Barga chipped in 2. The Tigers finished by shooting 42% from the field, 74% from the line, and cleaned the backboards, grabbing 37 rebounds.
“In the second half we did a better job of attack,” said White, relieved to see more characteristic basketball from her team. “We did more sharing the ball, moving it, and when we had opportunity we were attacking [the rim].
“We’ve had some kids sick, one in particular, and she pushed through to come to school today and play, and luckily we got the ‘W’ tonight.”
Versailles improves to 16-8, and moves to Saturday’s district final round where they’ll meet Cincinnati Mariemont, who advanced to the final by rolling past Summit Country Day in the night’s second game, 49-31.
White promised to watch a bit of that game on the bus back to Versailles. Then, make sure her players drink plenty of fluids, take a Bayer aspirin, and get plenty of bed rest.
It being Versailles, there’s bound to be some chicken soup.
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