By Mark Schafer | The News-Review
PACKWOOD – For some of the other teams it might feel like a nightmare.
For the English Valleys girls basketball team, their season has been like a dream. Last week the Bears picked up wins No. 13 and 14 on the season.
On Jan. 29 the Bears were able to pick up their 13th win of the season when they downed Pekin on the road, 52-36.
Throughout the first quarter the English Valleys girls had to figure out the feisty defense of Pekin. The Panthers had set up a full-court trap and seemed to lure the Bears into trap after trap. That allowed the Panthers to get early steals.
While the Panthers were forcing turnovers, they weren’t able to create points. Instead, the quick passes of English Valleys helped the Bears gain an 8-2 early advantage.
Eventually Pekin would start to get their offense rolling, as they closed within three points. That was as close as the Panthers would get for the rest of the game though, as English Valleys led by three after the first quarter.
A cold shooting second quarter by both teams didn’t help, but English Valleys would lead by eight, 23-15 at halftime.
The difference in the game came in the third quarter. Although Pekin started with all the momentum, closing within five points early on, English Valleys broke the press and broke open the scoreboard. English Valleys would eventually use their quick pace and quick passes to help them build an 18-point lead at the end of the third quarter.
The Bears would lead by as much as 20 throughout the fourth quarter, but they started to rest some of their players which allowed Pekin to close in at the end of the game.
Still, the Bears, and their seven-member team had the win.
Kaylynn Caster led the scoring for the Bears with 18 points. Another 16 points came from Anna Luers. Aubrey Achenbach scored seven points. Addison Achenbach added six points and Mallory Koehn finished with five points.
Pekin was led by Abby Guise with 13 points. Another nine points were from Carlie Gambell. Maddy Petrehn and Anna HAdley both added seven points in the game.
With the defeat the Panthers fell to 10-8 overall on the season.
Pekin would fall the following night 59-33 to Highland on the road. The Panthers were able to pick up a Jan.27 win over Hillcrest Academy, 49-31.
English Valleys takes down No. 14 Montezuma
The Bears seemed to use the momentum from the Thursday night victory to grab a 39-38 road win against No. 14 ranked Montezuma on Friday night.
At first it didn’t seem like the Bears had any momentum at all. In the first half the Bears scored only 13 points, as Montezuma led 22-13.
Offense returned to the Bears in the second half as they scored 13 points in the third and fourth quarters. Meanwhile the Bravettes were limited to just 16 points in the second half, which allowed the Bears to take the narrow 39-38 win.
This week the Bears will be tested as they go on the road to play North Mahaska and No. 5 ranked Lynnville-Sully.
