RICH KELLY
ORWELL — It hasn’t been a season to remember for the Grand Valley girls, as their 1-17 overall record and 0-11 Northeastern Athletic Conference slate will attest, but there have been moments when the Mustangs have put things together fairly well.
Monday night against the visiting Southington Wildcats was one of those moments, but one particular problem which has plagued the Grand Valley girls raised its ugly head again in this game as a strong second half for the Mustangs came up just short in a 38-29 game.
Getting and holding a lead has been a rarity for the Mustangs this year, but after nearly a minute and a half against the Wildcats, who had drilled GV earlier by a 74-30 count, a Kristen McClintock bomb propelled GV into a 3-0 lead, and it still led 5-4 for the next three minutes of the game. A free throw by Breanna Smith brought the score to that point, then Miranda Gallo hit a short baseline jumper to energize the Wildcats (10-7, 8-3 in NAC) into a run that gave them a 14-5 lead early in the second quarter.
When Taylor Schimley hit a short jumper for the Mustangs at the 3:08 mark of the second quarter, it ended a nearly eight-minute scoring drought for GV, and a solid second half which saw them get to within eight points twice in the second half proved to be a bit too much to overcome.
“I’m really proud of how our girls played tonight,” GV coach Kim Triskett said. “They had clobbered us by 44 the first time around, but in practice, we have worked hard to force teams to work the ball more around the perimeter in order to force outside shots.
“Southington pounded us inside before and had a few good looks in the first half tonight, but we made some adjustments to picking up the cutter in the second half, the girls executed them very well, and stayed active in their zones all the way to the end. We moved the ball well, got it inside more for better looks, but just had trouble knocking the shots down. This was one of our better games this season, and I’m glad the girls are keeping on working hard toward the end of the season and then tournaments.”
Putting the ball into the hole was still a problem for GV, but getting it to that point also was a challenge which both teams had to deal with. They each lost the ball 28 times, which will usually mean fewer shots. Southington had much more success in that area, hitting 16 of 40 shots for 40 percent while holding GV to a 25 percent clip on 11 of 44 tries.
Southington coach Melissa Wilthew was impressed with the effort put forth by the Mustangs, but not with the same thing from her girls.
“This game wasn’t our best moment of play,” she said. “We beat them by 44 before, and this isn’t a very satisfying win for us. We have four seniors who start for us, and we didn’t get the effort we need to have to be successful.”
Kaylynn Barco, one of four seniors starting for the Wildcats, was the only double-digit scorer in the game, tallying eight of her 13 points in the second half. She was joined by a trio of teammates who scored six points each. They were Gallo, Rebecca Wolke, and Smith.
McClintock’s 3-pointer to start the scoring in the game started her to a team-high total of nine points, Bailey Holmes scored all six of her points in the second half on the inside, and Emily Nye also scored six.
Kelly is a freelance writer from Jefferson.
