Springs Valley Community High School

As it opened Patoka Lake Athletic Conference play on Tuesday evening, the Springs Valley girls’ basketball team wanted to impose its will. The Blackhawks, taking on a Mitchell team that had started the season 2-4, knew that if they could set the pace for the game they’d be in prime position to take a win. So that’s what they did. They flew around on defense, making the Bluejackets work for every basket they got, and built an 11-4 lead by the end of the first quarter. That would be all Springs Valley needed as from that point, it slowly built its way to a 43-25 victory. “I thought we got off to a really good start: did some aggressive things right off the bat, pushed the ball like we wanted to, and got a little cushion there to start,” Springs Valley coach Marty Niehaus said. “I guess the only thing I could find fault with was our defensive rebounding. It wasn’t so great to start, but we did clean that up and I think that allowed us to build up that lead a little bit at a time.” It was Springs Valley’s superb defensive effort that won the day, which has been the case for the ‘Hawks through much of the season. This time, they held Mitchell to 22-percent shooting from the field over the entire game, allowing the Bluejackets to make just eight of their 35 shots. There were just two Bluejackets who made multiple shots and only one who made at least 50 percent of their shots — Taylor Lee hit one of two attempts. The Blackhawks were anchored by their post defense, as Mitchell pushed the ball to junior center Jillian Bond time and time again. She ended up with a team-high 11 points, but did so in inefficient manner as Springs Valley held her to 3-10 shooting from the field and she hit 5-of-10 free throws. She also turned the ball over five times. Springs Valley wasn’t perfect on that end of the floor — it still allowed 12 offensive rebounds including seven to Bond alone — but the performance was still a strong one. “We always try to play this style of defense and we had to make some adjustments here tonight because I wasn’t really sure how strong (Bond) would be. She was definitely trying to carry the load, so we tried to key on her and get her shut down,” Niehaus said. “I thought the girls for the most part did a good job of that and really made her work hard for every bucket she was able to get.” Maddie Carnes led the way for the Blackhawks offensively. The freshman's mixture of length and quickness made her as troublesome for Mitchell on that end as it did at the other and it showed. She scored a game-high 14 points on 7-10 shooting to go along with two blocks, two rebounds, and three deflections. “I thought we’d be quicker than them and Maddie was definitely quicker than their inside kids. You could see that she had that quick first step and it got her some easy looks at various times throughout the game,” Niehaus said. “We were hoping we would be able to capitalize on that and we did a good job.” The win puts Springs Valley (4-2, 1-0 PLAC) in good position as it heads into the heart of the season. The Blackhawks will try to learn from losses to Class 2A No. 1 Forest Park and Rock Creek Academy and build on their wins over Wood Memorial, Shoals, North Daviess, and Mitchell. After the Thanksgiving break, they’ll get back on the court against Barr-Reeve and Class 1A No. 10 Northeast Dubois. “We knew Forest Park was going to be a tough one, but I thought we could have played a little better than we did. Against Rock Creek I thought we battled pretty well, some things just didn’t bounce our way. I think it was a good learning experience for us,” Niehaus said. “We’re pretty pleased with where we’re at at this point of time, but it’s not going to get any easier next week. We’ve got two tough games with Barr-Reeve and Northeast Dubois. We’ve got a couple of days here where we need to do what we can to get ourselves ready so we can keep it rolling.” MITCHELL BLUEJACKETS 25 3P;AFG;FT;R;PF;Pts Smith, g;0-2;1-3;1-2;1;2;3 Tanglao, g;0-1;0-6;2-2;0;0;2 Lee, f;0-0;1-2;1-1;2;3;3 Peterson, f;0-6;3-13;0-0;4;2;6 Bond, f;0-1;3-10;5-10;10;1;11 Dicks;0-0;0-0;0-0;2;0;0 Cox;0-1;0-1;0-0;0;2;0 Modglin;0-0;0-0;0-0;0;0;0 Thompson;0-0;0-0;0-0;0;0;0 Totals;0-11;8-35;9-15;20;9;25 Shooting;.000;.229;.600 SPRINGS VALLEY BLACKHAWKS 43 3P;AFG;FT;R;PF;Pts Buchanan, g;0-2;2-7;0-0;1;0;4 Eckerty, g;2-5;2-6;2-2;2;3;8 Shipman, f;0-0;1-1;1-2;4;2;3 Hall, f;0-0;3-4;2-5;7;0;8 Carnes, c;0-0;7-10;0-1;2;2;14 Bonta;0-0;0-0;0-0;1;2;0 Nottger;0-0;2-2;0-0;1;3;4 McCormick;0-0;0-1;0-2;1;3;0 Allstott;0-1;1-4;0-0;0;0;2 Totals;2-8;18-35;5-12;19;15;43 Shooting;.250;.514;.417 Mitchell (2-5);4;8;7;6—25 Springs Valley (4-2);11;12;9;11—43 TO: Mitchell 17, Springs Valley 11.