SPRING VALLEY — A first half struggle found Spring Valley girls basketball down 21-13 against rival Elmwood/Plum City headed into the break, but the Cardinals found motivation from their leaders on senior night to rally back and win 49-39 Friday.

EPC got up 9-3 early as they continually broke Spring Valley’s press. The Wolves handled the press well the last time out against Spring Valley, and the start of this game was no different.

EPC was doing exactly what they practiced, staying calm despite the press and looking across the court to keep the defense moving. Sophomore Allison Sauve loves to push the ball up the court, EPC Head Coach Adrian Hook said, and that played a role in the press break.

On the other end, a combination of some good defense from EPC with missed open looks from Spring Valley had the Cardinals still trailing 14-8 with eight minutes left in the half. Some big free throws late in the half had the EPC halftime lead up to 21-13.

“Honestly, it’s just execution,” Hook said. “We did things that we work on, and it showed.”

The extra energy from it being a rivalry game also played into the early energy.

“Obviously, any time we play against Spring Valley it’s a rival of sorts. It goes way beyond my time in Elmwood/Plum City,” Hook said. “It really gets them fired up for it.”

It was not just one player that sparked the team. The entire starting five came out with the right energy, carrying over to the rest of the roster.

Spring Valley looked like a different team coming out of the half, with a newfound energy changing the game. Kate Cipriano drilled a three, followed by a snatched dribble by Jada Hoolihan who took it for a layup to cut the lead to 21-18 quickly. The press started to wear down EPC with the Cardinal run building a lead to 36-24.

“Focus and our attitude [changed]. I really didn’t like our body language in the first half and the girls changed that,” Head Coach Sean Hoolihan said. “I could hear them talking when I first came through the locker room at halftime, and I could tell they were at least saying the right things to each other.”

He said the Cardinals stepped up their defensive game along with some slight offensive tweaks to change the momentum.

Spring Valley’s lead neared 20 when EPC found some life again. A late run was not enough as the final score was 49-39.

“I thought Audrey [Mathison] got more aggressive offensively and I thought Kate Cipriano did a really good job defensively tonight,” Hoolihan said.

The senior class has meant a lot to this year’s Spring Valley team, helping a team full of young contributors get comfortable playing at the varsity level. The senior class of Audrey Mathison, Taylor Traynor, Raeann Traynor and Sophia Debrozzo each bring something different to the team, and all of their impacts have been felt.

“They all have different personalities, they all bring something different to the table, but they’re fun to be around,” Hoolihan said. “When they make it all the way through, you want to say that you enjoyed being around them, because you are around them a lot. That would be the biggest thing that I would say about this group is that they’re just really enjoyable to be around.”

Hoolihan said Taylor has gone through a pair of knee surgeries to take the court again, becoming an inspiration for the team and the community along the way. Raeann has made “tremendous” defensive improvements over the years and is a quiet leader that her teammates trust on and off the court. Debrozzo brings a fun personality to the team, with Hoolihan crediting much of the team being fun to coach to her. Mathison is an extremely hard worker, a rebounding machine and has unmatched willpower.

“It’s huge [to win] on any senior night,” Hoolihan said. “That’s the ultimate goal is to try to get your seniors a win at their last regular season home game.”

With the win, Hoolihan believes the Cardinals will get a home playoff game. At 10-13 on the year, he knows many outsiders will consider his team underdogs, but they know truly what they are capable of.

“This team doesn’t quit. We don’t quit. We play hard,” Hoolihan said. “We don’t play smart all the time but we play really hard, and that’s not something necessarily you coach. It’s kind of within them.”

Because of this mentality, they believe there is not a team in the state they cannot compete with.

Hook said “avalanches” have cost the EPC team a few games this year and they need to find a way to stay in peak form throughout the 36 minutes.

“We’ve got a doozy of a conference losing streak right now, so it would be great to end that,” Hook said. “But also, if we do end that, I just think there would be so much more positive energy in the program.”

With no seniors on its roster, EPC is a young team working on establishing a long-term culture.