SPRING VALLEY — Spring Valley’s girls basketball team did what it needed to in the regular season to earn a home playoff game and took advantage Feb. 25, dominating Prairie Farm 44-21.
As a No. 7 seed taking on a No. 10 seed, the teams were expected to be fairly evenly matched, and they were in the opening minutes. Spring Valley was playing phenomenal defense in the opening minutes; however, they simply could not get the open shots to fall, leading 9-6 10 minutes in. A deep three from freshman Jada Hoolihan warmed up the engines a bit, with Katie Matthys following suit with a pair of threes to break the game open with a 26-12 halftime lead.
Senior Audrey Mathison put in some work inside in the second half, crushing Prairie Farm’s chances.
“We won the game, that’s what playoffs are about,” Head Coach Sean Hoolihan said. “I really don’t think it matters record-wise when you get into the playoffs. You’ve got to play well that night.”
On a team with a lot of young contributors in their first or second playoff games, the senior class took on the challenge of keeping them calm.
“I gave a speech before the game and I kind of just said, ‘Stay calm, run what we know, get the fundamentals down,” Mathison said.
Hoolihan said the senior class has had calming voices all season long.
“They do a good job of being that quiet voice,” Hoolihan said. “We don’t necessarily have a rah rah girl on our team right now and that’s okay. Our seniors did a really good job of just keeping everyone calm but excited.”
He also said junior Addison Neidermyer has been a “mother hen” for the team this season. Defensively, it was the press that was working its usual magic.
“I thought we just did a good job of constant pressure on them,” Hoolihan said. “That’s going to wear on them mentally. They were a little gassed too, you could see them bending over a lot, especially in the second half. When you press, you’re going to give up a layup once in a while. Our kids are starting to learn that we can’t just get so frustrated and give up on the press just because that happens once in a while.”
Mathison also liked what she saw from her help defenders as she anchored the half-court defense.
“I think we definitely had a lot of help defense down by the post to watch those cutters,” Matjhison said.
Winning a playoff game is a milestone for any team, especially one with four rostered freshmen getting to pick up multiple games of playoff experience during their first season.
“It’s really cool to win a playoff game,” Hoolihan said. “I’m really happy for these kids because they’ve worked really hard all season. So, we’re going to enjoy this tonight and get ready for Friday.”
Spring Valley then took on 22-3 Webster on the road Friday, the second-seeded team in their region. The Cardinals gave everything they had but came up just short 45-42 after a 28-19 second half to climb back from a double-digit deficit.