Photo courtesy The Valley Voice
On Saturday morning, Southern Valley was looking for its first-ever Girls State Basketball Championship. The #3 seeded Eagles battled #1 Pender, a school with a couple of championships under its belt, including last year's Class C2 championship. Despite an excellent defensive effort, the Eagles, couldn't get the lid off of the basket against the Pendragons' defense falling 39-25.
Southern Valley came out strong as Adi Hunt got the scoring started on a layup. We wouldn't see much more scoring for the quarter, as both the Eagles and the Pendragons were patient on offense. On the defensive side, neither team would give an inch early either. Pender led 7-5 going to the second.
In the second period, Pender continued their defensive prowess. They were playing excellent defense near the rim and in the paint. Southern Valley scored a single point in the second and trailed 14-6 at halftime.
In the second half, the shot-making picked up a little bit for both teams. Southern Valley continued to make attempts at a comeback but Pender would make some shots themselves. The eight-point deficit was not large, obviously, but in a title game, it felt like a lot for whatever reason.
The Eagles did trim the deficit by one going to the fourth, with Pender leading 24-17.
In the final stanza, foul trouble began to appear for Southern Valley. Both Ann Bose and Adi Hunt fouled out with a few minutes remaining as they tried to get back into the game. The Eagles fought hard until the end and should feel good about their effort.
For Pender, this is their third title; 2013 in Class D1 and 2023 in Class C2 and this season in D1. They were led by Maya Dolliver with 16 points. Hadley Walsh and Avery Wegner each had nine points. The Pendragons were 13-18 from the free-throw line. I decent chunk of those shots from the line came when Southern Valley got into foul trouble in the fourth quarter.
Pender also had 13 points off of the fast break, an important stat in this one. Southern Valley had four.
For Southern Valley, they capture their first runner-up finish at state. Ann Bose and Adi Hunt each had nine points to lead Southern Valley. Tori Bose had six points, and Brecklyn Hammond rounded out the scoring with one point. Southern Valley was 5-7 from the charity stripe.
Head Coach of the Eagles, Richard McDonald was proud of his team this season and in this game. "You know I am really proud of our girls. Really resilient as a group...We have nine different girls start this year as a team. So it's a true team effort. They truly bought into what we were doing."
Southern Valley ends the season at 28-2 congrats to them on their runner-up finish.
