By Becky Walz,
The Turkey Valley girls’ basketball team (4-3, 3-2 UIC) put another tally in the win column Friday over West Central, only to follow it with a loss to Osage Saturday.
Protecting home court
After a tight first quarter, the Trojans were able to break away from West Central (1-4, 1-3 UIC) to win 52-30 at home Friday night.
“This was a good win coming off the loss to Central and it was nice to see our seniors do well on senior night,” noted Coach Carla Nymeyer. “West Central really collapsed on Jacqlyn (Schmitt), but she was able to play strong and muscle up some shots to be our second highest scorer. We had nice balanced scoring by our top three and our communication on the floor was better this game as well.”
Leading 9-8 after the first period, the Trojans stretched their lead to 26-15 at the half. Returning to the court in the second half, the Blue Devils went on a 7-1 run to pull within three with two minutes left in the third. TV quickly got the lead back to nine, 33-24, with a period left to play. In the fourth, the Blue Devils ran out of gas, allowing the Trojans to pull away.
Jalyssa Blazek dropped in 15 points to go with three rebounds and three steals. Jacqlyn Schmitt scored 12 points and had nine boards. Kara Reicks was also in double figures with 11.
West Central 8 7 9 6 30
Turkey Valley 9 17 7 19 52
Scoring – Jalyssa Blazek 15; Jacqlyn Schmitt 12; Kara Reicks 11; Brianna Busta 7; Hailey Elsbernd 5; Aubrey Hoffert 2
Rebounds – J. Schmitt 9; Blazek 3; Hoffert 2; Elsbernd 2; Alison Leibold 2; Busta 2; Reicks 1; Assists – Reicks 3; J. Schmitt 1; Leibold 1; Steals – Reicks 10; Blazek 3; J. Schmitt 2; Busta 2; Hoffert 1; Blocks – J. Schmitt 1
Date with the Devils
The Trojans once again found themselves in the middle of a winnable game Saturday against Osage (5-3); however, cold shooting late in the game gave the final advantage to the Devils, 42-37.
By the end of the first period, TV had claimed a minor advantage, 13-11. In the second period, Alison Leibold and Brianna Busta came off the bench to give the Trojans a trio of three-pointers and a 23-17 halftime lead. The Trojans built an 11-point lead in the third quarter, but watched as Osage nearly erased the deficit, 32-30, with eight minutes remaining in the game. The Devils kept TV off the board for the first six minutes off the final period to take a 38-32 lead and holding on for the win
“We made some really nice plays and I’m encouraged by that, but we need to find ways to get the fire going to pull ourselves back up when the flow isn’t going our way,” said Coach Nymeyer.
J. Schmitt put down nine points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists. Busta also had nine points, while Blazek contributed eight.
Osage 11 6 13 12 42
Turkey Valley 13 10 9 5 37
Scoring – J. Schmitt 9; Busta 9; Blazek 8; Leibold 6; Reicks 5
Rebounds – J. Schmitt 5; Blazek 2; Busta 2; Olivia Snyder 2; Leibold 1; Assists – J. Schmitt 4; Blazek 2; Reicks 2; Leibold 2; Steals – Reicks 4; J. Schmitt 3; Blazek 2; Busta 1
One more to go
As the holidays are on the horizon, Turkey Valley has one more conference game to go tonight, Tuesday, Dec. 21, versus South Winn in Calmar. The Trojans will have a two-week hiatus from competition before heading to Postville, Tuesday, Jan. 4.
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