Springs Valley Community High School

As the Springs Valley girls’ basketball team took the floor on Saturday evening, there was plenty of reason for nerves. It was opening night and only two starters were back from last year’s team, the Blackhawks were starting a pair of freshmen, and two other players who helped make up their rotation had never played a varsity basketball game for Springs Valley before. On top of that their opponent, Wood Memorial, had just beaten Perry Central 61-38 the night before. Springs Valley started a bit slow, trailing 12-11 after one quarter, but after that the Blackhawks showed no signs of nerves. They burst by the Trojans, outscoring them 15-4 in the second quarter on the way to a 47-37 victory. “I was definitely concerned because I knew Wood Memorial had scored a bunch of points last night and had a game under their belt,” Springs Valley coach Marty Niehaus said. “We’ve kind of been playing catch-up, trying to get our volleyball kids up to speed, and I was feeling a little nervous about if we were ready or how ready we were. I thought the kids gave great effort, played smart, battled back and forth there for a while and then went on a nice run. I was happy with the course of things tonight for sure.” The common thread throughout Springs Valley’s successes on Saturday was its stifling defensive effort. The Blackhawks didn’t just limit what the Trojans were able to do with the ball, they nearly shut them down. Wood Memorial hit just 12 of its 46 shots from the field, a paltry shooting percentage of 26.1. The Trojans also turned the ball over 15 times, 12 of which came on steals by the Blackhawks. Springs Valley was perfect by no means though. The Blackhawks had 19 fouls in the game that led to 22 free throws for Wood Memorial. They’ll work to improve on that moving forward. “Obviously we probably had a few too many fouls, but that’s something that we can clean up pretty easily,” Niehaus said. “We wanted to double-team in the post and I thought we did a pretty good job with that. Sometimes our rotations there weren’t great, but that’s something we can work on. “I thought as far as actually getting in there and denying the post and working there, we did a nice job. Hopefully that’s something that we can continue to use because we’ll see some height next week.” On the offensive side of the ball, it was Maddie Carnes who set the pace for Springs Valley. The freshman, in her first game as a high-schooler, led the Blackhawks with 20 points on an incredibly efficient 10-of-12 shooting performance. She also had a team-high nine rebounds to go along with four steals and three assists, giving her a strong all-around debut. “She’s all-out and she did a really good job of going to the basket, finishing, dishing off to kids when she needed to. I think she just played a really good game overall. It was a great start to her career,” Niehaus said. “You could also really tell with (freshman classmate) Maci Eckerty that they’d played together. She did a good job of getting Maddie the ball on the fly and I think that really helped us break out on that run.” Springs Valley (1-0, 0-0 PLAC) will kick things up a notch now with its season underway. The Blackhawks will travel to Shoals on Tuesday, then to Forest Park on Thursday. As they do so, they’ll work to keep improving and building on what they did against Wood Memorial. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, no doubt. We’ve been operating a little bit behind because we got our volleyball girls a little later,” Niehaus said. “We’ve got a lot of things to work on, but practices have gone well, I think the kids have been willing to work on the things that I’ve asked them to, and hopefully we can build upon tonight’s win.” WOOD MEMORIAL TROJANS 37 3P;AFG;FT;R;PF;Pts Jos. Page, g;0-0;5-15;1-5;11;4;11 Blacklock, g;0-0;0-2;2-4;3;1;2 Sevier, f;1-2;3-12;5-6;9;1;12 Schwomeyer, f;0-0;0-0;0-1;1;1;0 Shoultz, c;0-3;3-9;3-6;1;2;9 Schoonover;1-3;1-4;0-0;1;2;3 Rhoden;0-0;0-0;0-0;1;0;0 Jill. Page;0-3;0-3;0-0;0;2;0 Bigham;0-1;0-1;0-0;0;1;0 Totals;2-12;12-46;11-22;28;14;37 Shooting;.167;.261;.500 SPRINGS VALLEY BLACKHAWKS 47 3P;AFG;FT;R;PF;Pts Buchanan, g;0-0;2-2;2-4;0;2;6 Eckerty, g;0-2;3-7;0-0;4;1;6 Shipman, f;0-1;2-3;0-0;1;3;4 Hall, f;0-0;1-4;1-2;4;3;3 Carnes, c;0-0;10-12;0-0;9;4;20 Bonta;1-2;1-4;1-4;0;2;4 Nottger;0-0;1-4;0-0;7;1;2 McCormick;0-1;1-2;0-0;5;1;2 Allstott;0-2;0-3;0-0;1;2;0 Totals;1-8;21-41;4-10;31;19;47 Shooting;.125;.525;.400 Wood Memorial (1-1);12;4;8;13—37 Springs Valley (1-0);11;15;14;7—47 TO: Wood Memorial 15, Springs Valley 14.