Stillman Valley stymies Lady Red Devils

ROCK FALLS — Scouting an opponent on tape can give a good indication of what to expect, but doesn’t always tell the full story.

In a 63-30 loss to senior-laden Stillman Valley in the Rock Falls 2A Sectional, the Spring Valley Hall girls basketball team found out how true that can be.

“When we scouted them, in the two games we saw, they couldn’t make an outside shot to save their life,” Hall senior Jaclyn Kain said. “This game we were taught to pull back and get a hand in their face but let them shoot the open shot. We wanted to stop the drive, not the shot. This time, they couldn’t miss a shot.”

Actually, Stillman Valley did a miss a few shots, but it sure didn’t seem like it. Out of 14 first-quarter shots in the first quarter, they made 11, including going 4-for-4 on 3-point shooting.

And, on those rare misses, the more aggressive Lady Cardinals were out-rebounding Hall.

“We got out-hustled and that usually doesn’t happen,” said Hall coach Dave Kain, who had an exasperated look on his face as things got even worse in the second quarter.

After the hot-shooting performance in the first quarter, Stillman turned the heat up even more with its full-court defensive pressure. From the six-minute mark of the first quarter until the third quarter began, Hall failed to score a single point and trailed 44-10 at halftime in the midst of a 36-0 Stillman Valley run.

“Most definitely, that was the best half all season for us,” said Stillman Valley’s 5-10 all-state candidate, Jessica Gerig, who led all scorers with 18 points. “It was one of those nights that we were clicking on all cylinders. Everything was flowing.”

In the opening minutes, Hall kept the game close, trailing only 8-6, after baskets by Liz Mossbach and Becca Herman and two free throws by Kelle Nett. Then, as Nett later related, the game got away from Hall.

“We wanted to come back, but they were making all their shots,” Nett said. “It got away from us and it affected us mentally.”

Stillman’s point guard, Samantha Hellyer, was particularly damaging to Hall, by scoring 16 first-half points on a variety of shots.