Southern Valley girls advance

Friday, February 20, 2004
Tyler Bieck/McCook Daily Gazette Cambridge's Andi Langley (25 in white) and Southern Valley's Janae Perkins scramble for a loose ball during Thursday's Class C2-11 sub-district championship game at the McCook High School gymnasium. Southern Valley defeated Cambridge 51-46.

A 10-0 third quarter run for the Southern Valley girls basketball team was the difference maker in its 51-46 class C2-11 sub-district final win over Cambridge Thursday night in the McCook High School gym.

The first half was full of lead changes flying back-and-forth between the two ball clubs. One thing that was consistent for Southern Valley was the play of Jenee Perkins.

Perkins poured in 12 points in the first half. She had 8 of Southern Valley's 10 second quarter points.

Perkins strong first half performance allowed Southern Valley to hold a 22-21 lead at the half.

"She's been a good post player for us all year long," said Southern Valley head coach Mike Lanham on the play of the 5-foot-10 Perkins. "We've just tried to get the ball into the post all year long."

When Perkins ran into foul trouble in the third quarter, Southern Valley switched on its smothering defense and gave up just 6 points to Cambridge.

From the 5:20 mark in the third until the quarter's end, Cambridge could not get a shot to fall.

Southern Valley took advantage of Cambridge's scoreless streak and scored 10 unanswered points en route to a 35-27 lead at the end of the third quarter.

"Once we got things squared away at halftime, we came out and switched up our defense," said Lanham. "It took us a while to get acclimated, but once we did, we did okay."

While Darcy Lueking took over on the offensive side for Southern Valley and put in 10 points in the second half (12 total), Lisa Minnick ignited a Cambridge offense that had been shut down in the third quarter.

Minnick quietly led Cambridge out from a deficit that amounted to as much as 10 points with 3:00 remaining in the game.

Minnick, who had 14 points, hit a 3-pointer with 50 seconds left that brought Cambridge within three, 46-43.

But, Cambridge could not convert on their next possession and Southern Valley continued to knock down their foul shots. Minnick added another 3-pointer with eight seconds left, but it wasn't enough as Southern Valley came out a 51-46 victor.

Andrea Langley also scored in double digits for Cambridge. She finished with 12 points.

Southern Valley improved to 13-7. Cambridge wrapped up its season with a 14-9 record.

Southern Valley advances to the District 6 championship on Feb. 27.

Southern Valley will take on Morrill. Morrill defeated Bayard 42-24 to capture the C2-12 sub-district title.

The site and time for the district final will be announced later as Southern Valley and Morrill must come to a mutual agreement.

Morrill will be entering the final with a 15-6 record. Lanham said they are comparable with previous teams they have defeated.

"As far as records go, they're about the same as ours," he said. "They'll be good, but we've played some good teams and we've been pretty successful."

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SVHS: Luther 5, Becker 4, Quinn 8, Janae Perkins 7, Jenee Perkins 13, Lueking 12, Raquel Perkins 2.

CHS: Moore 8, Nickerson 6, Minnick 14, Langley 12, Rice 4, Bruckman 2.

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