Pike Valley JH GBB

In an unusual JHPTL Tournament scenario, both the semi-final and final round games were played on Saturday, February 6, 2010. In the day’s opening game at 9:30 a.m., the girls took on St. John’s-Tipton for the third time this season. The first half was a close struggle that finished in a 15-15 tie. In the second half, the Lady Panthers took control, outscoring the opponent 22-5 to take the 37-20 victory to reach the tournament championship game at 5:00 p.m. that evening. The Panthers were led in scoring in this game by Courtney Freed with 16 points, followed by Jaid Runft with 8, Delaney McGregor and Casey Freed with 4 each, Tori Hovis with 3, and Brooke Jensen with 2 points.

The championship game opponents were the Lakeside Knights, 8 point winners in their semi-final game over Rock Hills. It was a tight game throughout the first half with the Panthers clinging to a one-point lead when a buzzer-beating three-pointer gave the girls a 15-11 halftime lead. The second half saw both teams playing good defense and the Panthers never trailed. The victory was sealed with some great defense and rebounding in the final minutes combined with timely shooting. The Panther girls closed out the Knights by a final score of 24-18. We were led in scoring by Courtney Freed with 12 points, Jaid Runft had 6 points, Delaney McGregor had 4 points, and Brooke Jensen had 2 points. It was a great defensive effort and we outscored Lakeside in every quarter of the game to win the tournament.

Tournament team members included 8th grade girls Ryan Brown, Delaney McGregor, Maggie Kuhn, Tracy Garman, Casey Freed, Tori Swafford, Haley Hannaman, Addie Howley, Courtney Freed, Jaid Runft, Brooke Jensen, Tori Hovis, and Cassidy Stenson. Assistant coaches were Kaylene Clark and Theresa Kraus and the sixth and seventh girls were managers and stat keepers for the tournament.