1/6 Most Valuable Thoughts: West Canada Valley @ Little Falls Girls Hoops

Little Falls 80, West Canada Valley 46

Well, there’s a statement.

Especially when Little Falls didn’t even play that well, at least by their standards. They turned it on early to get a big lead, turned it off to let WCV back into it, then turned it back on in a major way to storm to a 34 point victory on their home court Monday night.

I came in on Gen Schoff watch last evening, with the senior, 4 year starter, and King of Kings baller sitting on 970 points entering the game. She filled up the stat line early, and the Schoff & Kelli Shep show led Little Falls to its first large lead. They forced WCV into 8 first quarter turnovers with their 2-2-1 press and turned 5 of them into layups. It started off slowly, with there being a scoreless stretch both ways of just under 3 minutes after Little Falls took an early 6-2 lead. However, 4 buckets scored in 45 seconds, 3 from LF, bumped the lead to 12-4 and forced WCV coach Brian Ellis to take 1 of 3 early timeouts he used. Hayley Yager scored 2 of her team-high 18 points after the timeout, but the Mounties then went on a 10-0 run, 5 from Amy Hart, to take a 22-6 lead late in the first. Yager answered with a trey to stop the bleeding, but the lead was at 15, 24-9, after the 1^st. Little Falls started off cold as ice, missing 8 of their first 10, but they finished the quarter making 8 of their last 10 to even it out, led by Shepardson’s 11 points. A 3 point play from Schoff gave Little Falls its largest 1^st half lead at 29-11 with 5:39 left in the 2^nd, but they could muster just 2 more field goals in the 1^st half while WCV crawled back into it. The Indians went on a 10-2 run, including scoring 7 straight while Schoff was on the bench with 2 fouls, to knock it back to 10. Carissa Tasovac, who didn’t score in the 1^st quarter, got going in that timeframe, starting the run with a bucket and ending it with a 3 point play. They did this by dominating the offensive glass – they shot just 5/20 in the quarter, but got 2^nd & 3^rd chances consistently. Chey Rivenburg stopped the bleeding on the Mounties’ side with a seal & bucket with 7.5 seconds left in the half to make the score 33-21, which was the score at half.

WCV kept up the intensity to start the 3^rd, giving Little Falls all it could handle and honestly, more than I thought they could give the Mounties. A Tasovac trey and Morgan Lynch bucket knocked the lead down to 7, the closest it had been since 12-6 late in the 1^st. After Hannah Becker got on the board with a three for Little Falls, Tasovac answered with another one of her own to knock it back down to 7. A quick 9-2 spurt from Little Falls with buckets by all starters but Shepardson briefly brought their lead up to 14 at 45-31, but WCV answered with a 7-2 run of their own. Laken Dawson split a pair of free throws, and Hayley Yager treys were bookends to an Amy Hart basket, and it was a single digit game all over again, WCV trailing just 9 at 47-38 with 2:30 to go.

That’s when it all changed. Little Falls scored 9 of the last 11 in the 3^rd, Schoff with 5 of them, and the Mounties’ lead jumped back to 16 at 56-40 after 3. They scored the first 7 of the 4^th quarter as well with buckets from Sarah Bruins & Schoff, along with a trey from Becker, extending that run from the 3^rd quarter to 16-2. WCV didn’t muster a field goal until Danielle VanName had her only bucket with 4:14 left. At that point, it was well in hand. The Indians were held to 6 4^th quarter points, none in the last 3:22, where LF scored their last 10 thanks to Schoff & Bruins, and got out of this one with a 34 point W. It was much closer than the score shows, but Little Falls showed when it’s time to turn it on, they can turn it on.

#ByTheNumbers - Gen Schoff came up a little short of that 1,000 point threshold, but she doesn’t have much work to do next game. She picked it up after a 1^st half that, by her standards, is a little slow, and finished with 24 points. She added 9 boards, 5 dimes, and 3 blocks. Kelli Shepardson had that monster 1^st quarter and finished with 16 points & 8 rebounds. Those rebounding numbers from your point guard are always nice to have! Hannah Becker scored all 16 of her points after intermission and added 5 steals, and Amy Hart was consistent throughout and finished with 14. Sarah Bruins, making her return after being out for a while with a serious illness, added 8 points & 7 rebounds. Battle like Bruins!

West Canada Valley was led by Hayley Yager, who was looking for her shot and hitting it. She finished with 18 points, half of them from the land where they give you an extra point for making it. Carissa Tasovac didn’t score in the 1^st, but still finished in double digits with 13. All of her points came in the middle quarters, 9 of them in a stretch of 3 minutes in late 2^nd & early 3^rd quarters. They fought hard throughout and hung with the Mounties for nearly 3 quarters.

Neat-o Stat of the Night: It’s all about how you start & how you finish. Little Falls only outscored WCV by 1 in the middle quarters, including dropping the 2^nd by 3. However, they outscored WCV 48-15 in the 1^st & 4^th quarters. It was 24-9 in the 1^st, 24-6 in the 4^th. Start strong, finish strong.