Valley Girls’ Hoops Advances to Class M Semifinals
After winning its first two games in the bracket, the Valley Regional girls’ basketball team posted a dominating 42-point victory versus Montville in the quarterfinals of the Class M State Tournament last week. The Warriors improved their overall record to 22-4 as they get ready to take on top-seeded Holy Cross in the semifinals of the tournament this week.
On March 8, No. 5 seed Valley Regional hosted No. 20 Montville for a Class M quarterfinal contest and won the game by the final score of 75-33. Valley stormed out to a 27-14 lead after the first quarter and then outscored Montville 21-4 during the second quarter to take a 48-18 lead into halftime. The Warriors had a 12-11 edge in the third quarter and then won the final frame by a 15-4 margin to finish off the lopsided win.
Junior captain Abby Bradbury recorded a double-double by scoring 14 points to go with 10 assists and 5 rebounds in the victory. Junior Lily Grow had 12 points with 7 rebounds and 4 steals, junior Elizabeth Allen scored 12 points to go with 2 steals, and sophomore Olivia Cunningham had 12 points with 8 rebounds and 4 assists for the Warriors.
Freshman Regan Grow scored 8 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for Valley Regional. Senior captain Ava Cunningham had 7 points with 5 assists and 5 steals, while fellow senior captain Bitzy Klomp also scored 7 points. Junior Siena Schaller had 3 points with 3 steals, and freshman Rubee Cecchini swiped 2 steals to help Valley win the game in convincing fashion.
Valley played No. 1 seed Holy Cross, which has a record of 25-0, in the Class M semifinals at Maloney High School in Meriden on March 14 (after press time). If the Warriors win, they will face the winner of No. 2 seed Bacon Academy and No. 3 seed East Hampton in the Class M state final at Mohegan Sun Arena on either Saturday, March 19 or Sunday, March 20.
—Chris Piccirillo