SPRING VALLEY — The Spring Valley Cardinals girls’ basketball team took full advantage of their winter break schedule, taking three wins without a loss. In the final of the three games Friday night, the Cardinals posted one of their best games of the year, dominating Chetek-Weyerhaeuser 57-25.

It was not the best start for Spring Valley, which freshman Katie Matthys aimed to change with a three and a jumped pass into a coast-to-coast finish, leading to an 8-8 start. The rest of the half and eventually the game would be all Cardinals, with Matthys drilling a step-back triple to make the halftime score 28-15.

Matthys continued her big game in the second half and fellow freshman Jada Hoolihan got going in the second with 17 total points. Spring Valley rode an 8-0 run out of the half to a dominant win.

“We started off kind of slow. We’ve got some kids not feeling very good tonight,” Head Coach Sean Hoolihan said. “Just really proud of the way that they kind of dug deep. Some kids will cash it in when you’re feeling like that, the way some of them are feeling. They dug deep because this team really, they enjoy each other.”

Hoolihan credited the senior class for helping the team keep its composure through the challenges. He also shouted out senior Taylor Traynor after working long and hard to recover from a serious injury last season, picking up a bucket Friday night.

A major focus for the Cardinals has been quickly building varsity experience on a young roster, as the two leading scorers, Hoolihan at 15 points per game and Matthys at nine, are both freshmen. Sophomore Kate Cipriano also slides in as the team’s fourth leading scorer behind senior Audrey Mathison.

One player that absolutely shined Friday night was Matthys, who has been building up confidence all year long.

“Definitely with getting closer with the team and working together, it definitely boosts my confidence on the court,” Matthys said.

Matthys posted 23 points on five three-pointers to go along with a stellar four steals. For Coach Hoolihan, it is not Matthys’ shooting that is the top trait to stick out.

“A lot of people would say well she brings shooting, she brings this, she brings that,” Hoolihan said. “What I think she brings is the will to win. She really loves to win and compete, and that’s something that can’t be taught, it’s just kind of in some people.”

The comfortability has spread to the defense as well, as Matthys has learned to cut off passing lanes and affect the game in a multitude of ways.

“She’s doing a really good job playing defense, which is usually the hardest thing to do as a freshman,” Hoolihan said. “Offensive stuff is easy, defense is hard.”

It was a crucial stretch for a Spring Valley team that had lost four straight heading into the break as they now stand at 5-6 overall and 1-3 in conference play. After the three consecutive wins, Matthys has all the confidence they will make a push in the main stretch of conference play.

“We literally are just taking it one game at a time right now,” Hoolihan said. “We’re trying to set a standard each game, you know, a bar. We talked with them about that, hey you raised the bar tonight, we aren’t going to go back down. And it’s not about winning and losing, it’s about how we’re playing.”

Early in the year, the top focus for the Cards was defensive improvement. In each of their six losses this year, they have given up at least 50 points. Things have looked completely different in their five wins, giving up 42 or less in each of them.

“We’ve been working hard in practice and our coaches have kind of gotten on us about being better on defense and working more as a team and bringing the negative energy out of the picture,” Matthys said.

Coach Hoolihan said his team always had the individual defense down, and it was just the cohesion that took some time.

“We spent a lot of time in practice on it, and they’re buying in,” Hoolihan said. “We’re far from great but I’d put us right about at good right now.”

From the on-court perspective, the players are having a lot of the same feelings.

“We had a lot better help side defense,” Matthys said. “We were working as a team, working together and just being there for each other.”