GRAHAMSVILLE--Trailing by 10 points at halftime the Tri-Valley Lady Bears last Thursday night turned the game into their favor with a tenacious second half defense and outstanding offense to edge Class B school James I. O'Neill 51-45.
In commenting on his teams second half defensive efforts Tri-Valley coach Jason Closs was quick to say "our defense was aggressive but not reckless and with some foul issues I commend the girls for still playing aggressive without committing fouls."
In the first and second quarters Tri-Valley was outscored 17-8 and 9-8 and trailed at halftime 26-16.
The Bears first half defense had problems stopping O'Neill's high scoring Samiaya Salley's 10 first-half points but limited her to four fourth-quarter scores.
Good defense transcends into better offense and Bears team captain senior Caroline Martin noted, "we work on defense a lot and when we started working together on defense we were able to create our offense."
O'Neill coach Catie Biordi in commenting on the turn of events in the second half noted. "our defense broke down in the third and fourth quarters and the girls on Tri-Valley were going after the ball harder and at the end of the day defense is going to carry you to a win."
Biodi complimented Tri-Valley in gaining the win and added "five for nineteen from the foul line in the second half also didn't half us."
Leading the Lady Bears second half scoring was Caroline Martin with 10 points in the third quarter and Sandra Alemany's nine points in the final eight minutes of play.
Tri-Valley outscored O'Neill 18-11 in the third quarter and 17-8 in the fourth quarter.
The strong Tri-Valley defense led to 31 turnovers by O'Neill. The Bears committed 22 turnovers.
Coach Closs added that "I just want to commend our bench players for displaying the energy they displayed when they are not in the game which lifted the girls that are in the game."
When asked what this win does for Tri-Valley in their upcoming league play Closs said, "this gives us a good win against at good team and it will springboard us into our league schedule."
Caroline Martin led Tri-Valley with 14 points followed by Sandra Alemany with 13. Sara Dertinger had eight points and grabbed nine rebounds.
Samiaya Salley scored 14 points for O'Neill.
Tri-Valley's overall record is now 3-5 and 1-0 in OCIAA Division V league play.
O'Neill's overall record is 5-5 and 2-0 in their OCIAA division play.
PHOTOS OF THURSDAY'S GAME
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