Southington downs Mustangs

ORWELL - It hasn't been a season to remember for the Grand Valley girls.

The Mustangs' 1-17 overall record and 0-11 Northeastern Athletic Conference slate will attest, but there have been moments when Grand Valley has put things together fairly well.

Monday night against the visiting Southington Wildcats was one of those moments. The Mustangs hung with the Wildcats early, but couldn't sustain the momentum and fell to Southington, 38-29.

Getting and holding a lead has been a rarity for the Mustangs this year. After nearly a minute and a half against the Wildcats, who drilled GV earlier by a 74-30 count, Kristen McClintock's 3-pointer propelled GV into a 3-0 lead. The Mustangs held a 5-4 advantage the next 3 minutes of the game.

A free throw by Southington's Breanna Smith brought the score to that point, then Miranda Gallo hit a short baseline jumper to energize the Wildcats (10-7, 8-3) into a 14-5 run early in the second quarter.

Taylor Schimley's short jumper for the Mustangs at the 3:08 mark of the second quarter - ending a nearly 8-minute scoring drought for GV. The Mustangs got within eight during the second half, but Southington was too much to overcome.

"I'm really proud of how our girls played tonight," GV coach Kim Triskett said. "They had clobbered us by 44 the first time around, but in practice, we have worked hard to force teams to work the ball more around the perimeter in order to force outside shots.

"Southington pounded us inside before and had a few good looks in the first half tonight, but we made some adjustments to picking up the cutter in the second half, the girls executed them very well, and stayed active in their zones all the way to the end. We moved the ball well, got it inside more for better looks, but just had trouble knocking the shots down. This was one of our better games this season, and I'm glad the girls are keeping on working hard toward the end of the season and then tournaments."

Southington coach Melissa Wilthew was impressed with the effort put forth by the Mustangs, but not with the same thing from her girls.

"This game wasn't our best moment of play," she said. "We beat them by 44 before, and this isn't a very satisfying win for us. We have four seniors who start for us, and we didn't get the effort we need to have to be successful."

Kaylynn Barco, one of four seniors starting for the Wildcats, was the only double-digit scorer in the game, tallying eight of her 13 points in the second half. She was joined by a trio of teammates who scored six points each. They were Gallo, Rebecca Wolke, and Smith.

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