By Melissa Thorud

SPRING VALLEY – Spring Valley High School drama students will take this stage for the spring play this upcoming weekend. The play is a comedy directed by Liz Erickson and Derek Huebel called, “Just Another High School Play.”

The description of the play includes what the show will entail.

“A group of high school actors who apparently have been abandoned by their drama teacher, have to fend for themselves opening night in front of an impatient audience. Their teacher has left them hanging because no one has been showing up to rehearsals and no one is really quite sure what to do.”

While preparing for the performances, Erickson said there were a few challenges.

“I think the biggest challenge was getting everyone there,” she said. “High school students are busy so it was hard to have everyone present at rehearsal all the time.”

The cast and crew, however, are prepared for the stage. Theater goers have a choice of three shows to attend: 7 p.m. March 25, 7 p.m. March 26 and 2 p.m. March 27 at the Spring Valley Stagehands Theater (S234 McKay Ave.)

The cast began rehearsing in early February, Monday through Thursday each week to prepare. A lot of work goes into creating a production to be stage ready, but Erickson is no newbie to directing.

She has directed other productions for Spring Valley Stagehands and enjoys putting it all together. Her favorite part is watching the cast bond as rehearsals progress.

“My favorite part of it all is just watching them grow and this cast is great. They are all very close friends and it is fun to watch them all grow together,” said Erickson.

She also enjoyed watching the silliness of the cast as the performance came together. Being a comedy, there were a lot of laughs along the way.

“There were many funny moments,” she said. Cast member Merrick Johnson wrote a short article about the cast and members shared their favorite experiences in preparing “Just Another High School Play.”

He wrote, “The Valley Girl (Allison Graham) said she loves garnering the attention of the audience with her sassy persona, while the Grad Student (Danika Ramirez) sees herself as the hero of the scene and, in a sense, saving the scene itself.”

Johnson also asked the cast if they could explain the play in one word.

“The collective opinions of the cast reveal that this theatrical performance is: A comedic trainwreck, fetch (cool), a disaster, corpulent, riveting, unpredictable, phenomenal, friendly, chaotic, and hilarious. We’re excited to put on this comical play within a play for the Spring Valley community at the SV Stagehands,” Johnson said.

Erickson joked that she had a moment that stuck out to her during the journey that made her laugh as well.

“I can’t believe it, but I forgot to put the location of where the play is going to be on the flier that we made! I know people probably assume where it is but it made me laugh seeing that we forgot to add that important information,” she said.

Tickets will be available for purchase at the door before performances. Adults are $8 and children 12 and under are $5. GIRLS ALL-CONFERENCE

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what made Glaus such a great two-way player for the Wolves during her senior season.

“We worked with her on opening up the floor for everybody else,” Sticht said after a game earlier this season. “We’ve noticed that when you put her in the high post, it opens up the bottom for everybody else. Maggie (Glaus) is a selfless player and if we ask her to open things up, she’s willing to do that.”

Glaus’ desire to distribute to teammates, even when she could continue scoring made her a standout player in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference this season. In addition to the work that Glaus put in for the Wolves, she was joined in the accolades by the aforementioned McDonough, who received the All-Conference Honorable Mention nod.

McDonough finished the season averaging 7.7 points per game, 5.2 rebounds per game and 2.7 assists per game, the last of which was a team-high for the 2021-22 season. Her ability to run the offense and get the ball to Glaus in the post contributed to the Wolves’ success this season.

Spring Valley

The lone selection for the Spring Valley Cardinals girls’ basketball team is sophomore point guard Mara Ducklow, who received Second-Team All-Conference honors.

Throughout the 2021-22 season, Ducklow solidified herself as a great young player in the Dunn-St. Croix Conference. She finished the year leading the team in scoring with 11.6 points per game and also led the team in assists per game with 1.6.

Ducklow’s primary way of scoring is by getting downhill and either making layups or getting to the free throw line. By high school basketball standards, Ducklow was a good free throw shooter, connecting on 72% of her free throws throughout the year.

Despite having two lengthy forwards in the paint, Ducklow averaged 4.7 rebounds per game and often kept Spring Valley in games that otherwise would have been blowouts. The Cardinals finished the season with a 6-19 record and a 3-11 record in conference games.

Moving forward, Ducklow will likely continue to develop her game as she goes into her junior season during the 2022-23 campaign. Her efforts, in addition to the play of sophomore forward Halle Thomas, give Spring Valley a promising future.

River Falls

The lone all-conference selection for the River Falls girls’ basketball team was junior guard Ella Peters, who received Second-Team All-Conference honors.

While Peters isn’t the type of player that is going to go out and score 20 points per game, she is a balanced player that does all of the little things well. She led River Falls in scoring with 10.7 points per game, led the Wildcats in rebounding with 8.4 per game and finished second on the team in assists with 2.2 per game.

On Saturday, Jan. 8, the River Falls Wildcats hosted the Holmen Vikings in a non-conference game. That afternoon, River Falls won 67-40 and Ella Peters was an important part of the win, despite only scoring five points. She also grabbed eight rebounds, dished for three assists and tallied one steal in the victory.

After the game, River Falls head coach Ian Sticht spoke about how Peters impacts the game without necessarily filling up the stat sheet.

“I just think she does everything for us,” Sticht said of Peters. “She’s really good defensively, whether she’s on their best big or their best guard. Offensively she’s good at getting us into good action. She makes good passes and good decisions with the ball. She rebounds really well and does a lot of things for us.”

Peters’ ability to play well on both ends of the floor, limit turnovers and get teammates open was the driving reason for her selection to the Second-Team All-Conference roster for the 2021-22 season.