In a nail-biting battle against Zanesville, Tri-Valley lost the lead a few times before finally locking in their heels and edging out the formidable Lady Devils as they fought to try to maintain their playoff momentum. In the end, the Scotties showed their top-seeded prowess as they ended Zanesville’s postseason with a 49 – 41 victory.
An unlikely battle for sure as the Lady Devils were ranked 13 coming into the contest against #1 ranked Scotties, but Zanesville hit the court with something to prove as they took the early lead over Tri-Valley with 5 – 0 in the first part of the first quarter. But, after regaining possession of the ball, the Lady Dawgs got their heads together and pulled off shot after shot to regain control and end the quarter up 15 – 12 against Zanesville.
The Blue Devils had some tricks up their sleeves as it would seem because the second quarter was entirely dominated by them as the held the Scottie offense to just 3 points for the entire quarter while they waged a full court battle to gain the lead sending the Lady Dawgs into the locker room down 20 – 18 at the halftime buzzer.
Coach Kurt Kaufman made the most of the ten minute halftime break as the Scotties hit the court with a rebound of confidence and more steam than the previous quarter for sure. The girls matched Zanesville shot for shot and block for block pulling out of a 3 point deficit at one point in the quarter to regain the lead at the end of the quarter going into the 4th up narrowly by 32 – 30 against Zanesville.
The fourth quarter proved to be the most outrageous struggle you could possibly see on a basketball court as the two teams fought back and fourth with the weight of continuing the playoffs in the balance for each team. Aside from a last-minute layup from #11 Riley Tracy the entire quarter was run by #3 sophomore Lexi Howe with 7 points in the quarter and #34 freshman Eva Dittmar with 6 points in the quarter to land the Scotties at 49 to the Zanesville Lady Blue Devils 41. This win launches the Lady Dawgs forward in the playoffs as they face #5 seeded Dover at the Doghouse on Saturday, February 27th, at 1pm.
