Knapp, Strickland help Lady Bobcats pull away from Lady Vikings to advance to district finals

LUCASVILLE — A much needed scoring run in the third quarter and a dominant rebounding performance gave the Green Lady Bobcats what they needed to beat the upset minded Symmes Valley Lady Vikings 65-51 in the Division 7 district semifinals on Wednesday night at Valley High School.

In a way, the game mirrored last season’s meeting between the two teams in this exact same round of the tournament. The Lady Vikings hung close in a low-scoring game and even led going into the final quarter.

Fast-forward to this season and the game was shaping up to be the same after one half of basketball.

"There was no flow to that game. I felt that we played in spurts," said Green coach Melissa Knapp. "The same thing happened last year when we played in this same game."

The first half saw Symmes Valley control the pace of the game and got huge scores from its cast of players.

Tibbs scored 9 points in the opening quarter to keep things nearly even. Then Aly Haydon gave Symes Valley (11-12) its only lead of the game with two free throws to make it 13-12 with 1:23 remaining in the opening quarter.

Green would take the lead back just 15 seconds into the second quarter on a putback from Strickland.

The Lady Bobcats (17-4) began to finally get some distance between themselves and Symmes Valley in the latter stages of the first half.

A key sequence of plays to close out the half began to swing the momentum towards the Lady Bobcats.

Tibbs closed the gap with a pair of free throws to make the score 24-22. Green’s Sydney Bainer then knocked down a 3-pointer on their ensuing possession and Knapp sank a pair of free throws on the next possession.

And despite a runner from Saunders in the final minute left, Green still held a 29-24 lead at the break and had the momentum shifted in their direction.

In the third quarter, a key sequence turned out to be what the Lady Bobcats needed to start taking control of the game.

Saunders hit a jumper to pull the Lady Vikings to within 35-30, the closest they'd been since the second quarter.

But a string of 3-pointers would begin to widen the lead out and get the Lady Bobcats rolling the rest of the night.

Addison Blizzard would swing a pass to a wide open Bainer and the junior knocked her shot down from long range. One possession later, Elizabeth McBee would find the bottom of the net with a trey to give Green its first double digit lead of the night.

Finally, a wide open Blizzard would hit from behind the arc to push the lead out to 46-34 for Green.

Those shots not only wiped out Symmes Valley's chances at keeping the game close, but coach Knapp also felt that her role players got some needed confidence.

"That was huge. That gave them the confidence they needed. I'm sure I was giving a bad vibe up until then and the girls never really looked back from that point,” said coach Knapp.

With the win out of the way, coach Knapp quickly turned her attention to Saturday with Notre Dame and she knows how dangerous of a team the Lady Titans are.

"It's hard to beat a team three times. So we've got two days of practice and we cannot underestimate (Notre Dame). They've been in every game with us and they've gotten better down here towards the end,” said coach Knapp.

"We need to come in and play confident like we're the defending district champions.”

Green improves its record to 17-4 overall and now moves onto the district championship game on Saturday to face the Notre Dame Lady Titans, who won their semifinal game against Portsmouth Clay in the second game of the night. Symmes Valley finishes the season 11-12 overall. 

Symmes Valley 13 11 11 16 = 51

Green 12 17 19 17 = 65

SYMMES VALLEY (11-12): Lydia Saunders 7 1 5-10 22, Alyssa Anthony 2 0 0-0 4, Aly Haydon 3 0 2-2 8, Brenna Tibbs 4 1 4-8 15, Evan Sells 0 0 0-0 0, Chole Mount 0 0 0-0 0, Navaeh Holbrook 1 0 0-0 2, Addison Berry 0 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 17 2 11-20 51; Rebounds: (O-17, D-16) 33 (Haydon 10, Tibbs 6, Saunders 4). Assists: 3. Steals: 12 (Saunders 6, Anthony 3). Blocks: 1 (Tibbs). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 26. Fouled out: Saunders (4th, 2:38) Anthony (4th, 0:00).

GREEN (17-4): Sydney Bainer 0 2 0-0 6, Addison Blizzard 0 1 0-0 3, Laney Strickland 5 1 4-6 17, Addy Christian 0 0 0-0 0, Elizabeth McBee 0 1 5-10 8, Olivia Blevins 0 0 0-0 0, Abbie Knapp 10 0 11-20 31; TOTALS 15 5 20-36 65. Rebounds (O-14, D-27) 48 (Knapp 23, Strickland 12). Assists: 3. Steals: 6 (Knapp 3, Strickland 2). Blocks: 7 (Knapp 5, McBee 2). Turnovers: 17. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None.