SPRING VALLEY — The Spring Valley girls basketball team has found its footing, winning six of eight games including an absolute domination of Frederic 70-31 in the Target Center on Jan. 17. The Cardinals rode the momentum from sharing a stadium with Minnesota’s professional basketball teams to a 64-48 win over Cumberland in their return home Jan. 20.

“It was a great experience for our kids. The kids had a lot of fun,” Head Coach Sean Hoolihan said of the trip to the Target Center. “It was just pretty cool to just be there and be in that type of arena.”

Against Cumberland, the teams were tied at 16 a piece before the Cardinals’ defensive intensity started to wear down the Beavers.

“Our defensive pressure got to them,” Hoolihan said. “We did not shoot very well that night. Katie Matthys did a great job of attacking the rim. Riley Zimmerman did a great job on rebounds and going to the free throw line, Addison Neidermyer did a great job on defense, Rylie Fritz made some things happen defensively, also. Just all around, our kids kind of gutted that game and wore Cumberland out.”

Over the final seven minutes of the half, Spring Valley ran the scoreline all the way to 43-24 in their favor. The closing minutes of the half looked like an entirely different ball game from the opening minutes. Spring Valley forced 25 turnovers, picking up 19 steals in the process.

Spring Valley is now 8-6 on the year with a 4-3 Dunn-St. Croix Conference record, good for fourth of nine teams in the league.

“We’ve played a good schedule, and we’ve played the really good teams tough. We haven’t been able to overcome that hump, but I think it does a good job preparing our kids to be able to know that any game that we do play, we have a chance to win,” Hoolihan said.

Hoolihan said the team has not shot well over the last five games with exception to the Frederic win. What has gotten them through it is the continuous improvement on the defensive end of the floor. Players are bought in and it shows, allowing fewer than 50 points over the last five games.

Offensively, with last season’s leading scorer Jada Hoolihan missing the season with an injury, fellow sophomore Katie Matthys has taken over as the leading scorer. Coach Hoolihan said Matthys works extremely hard in practice, and lives by the mindset of practicing like she plays.

“It’s kind of showed in the games,” Hoolihan said. “She kind of knew she had to step up her role with Jada being out in being a scorer for us. It really comes down to how hard she’s been practicing.”

Matthys scored 24 points in the win over Cumberland. She is averaging 14.1 points per game on the season to lead the team. Freshman Amelia Brunner has gotten it done all year long inside, averaging over 10 points and six rebounds per game. Fellow freshman post Riley Zimmerman had a big game against Cumberland, scoring 11 points and grabbing 11 rebounds (six offensive).