Lady Devils spoil Valle's senior night

By JASON VIOX\Daily Journal Sports Writer

STE. GENEVIEVE - The Valle Lady Warriors were hoping to celebrate their senior night with a win over the Chaffee Lady Devils. Unfortunately for Valle, the Lady Devils had other plans. The Lady Warriors turned the ball over a few times in the final quarter and couldn't make some very close shots count. The Lady Devils went back home with a 43-33 win.

Valle's seniors Katie Shuh and Danielle Donze both drained a three to take a 6-2 edge, but Mindy Hendrix countered with a lay-up. Chaffee didn't score the rest of the quarter as the Lady Warriors picked off several passes. Katie Jo Bergtholdt came through with a lay-up, and Donze added a jump shot. Valle went ahead 10-4 after the first quarter.

The Lady Devils kicked off the second frame with an 8-2 scoring run to tie the game at 12-12. Kegan Orr scored half of those points for Chaffee, and Tori Keys and Hendrix both added a lay-up. Donze gave the Lady Warriors the lead again on a short jump shot, and Carla Stoll added a putback. Valle held a slight 16-14 edge at half-time.

Bergtholdt extended the Lady Warriors' lead on a lay-up in the third quarter, but the Lady Devils went on a 9-2 scoring drive to take a 23-20 advantage. Nikole Johnson scored three points, and Rachel Hendrix and Orr both added two during the run.

Valle regained the lead on jump shots by Bergtholdt and Donze and a free throw by Erin Bruns, but Sara Petitt tied the game up on a jump shot before the end of the third quarter. The two squads were deadlocked at 25-25.

Bergtholdt handed her team a two-point edge on a pair of free throws, but that was the last time the Lady Warriors held the lead. Chaffee piled up 10 straight points for a 37-29 game. Mindy Hendrix recorded a lay-up and a three pointer during the run.

Bergtholdt posted a jump shot and a lay-up to bring Valle to within five points with 45 seconds left, but the Lady Devils destroyed any chance of a comeback with back-to-back lay-ups from Hendrix and Johnson.

“Overall we did a pretty good job,” commented Valle's coach Marty Weiler. “In the first half we pretty much knew what they (Chaffee) were going to do and we took care of the ball. We took our time and executed pretty well. I knew it was going to be a defensive game. I knew there wasn't going to be a lot of scoring.”

“We didn't capitalize on a few inside chances that we had that could have extended the lead to give us a little bit of a margin, but we couldn't capitalize on those,” added Weiler. “In the second half we made some silly mistakes. They were really unforced errors on our part, and again we missed a few shots inside that we probably should have hit, but other than that the effort was good.”

Bergtholdt finished with a game-high 16 points, and Donze added nine for Valle. Hendrix led Chaffee in scoring with 13 points.

The Lady Warriors (13-11) will visit South County Tech on Tuesday for the district tournament. Fifth-seeded Valle will take on No. 4 seed Bismarck. “There's no secret between us,” commented Weiler on the district match-up. “This will be our fourth meeting so we pretty much know what they're (Bismarck) going to do and they pretty much know what we're going to do. It's just a matter of who executes the best.”

Chaffee - 4 10 11 18 - 43

Valle - 10 6 9 8 - 33

SCORING:

Chaffee - M Hendrix 13, K Orr 7, N Johnson 6, W Schlosser 6, S Petitt 4, R Hendrix 3, C Beck 2, T Keys 2.

Valle - K Bergtholdt 16, D Donze 9, C Stoll 4, K Shuh 3, E Bruns 1

3-Pointers - M Hendrix, D Donze, K Shuh.