The Hidden Valley girls basketball team was looking to bounce back from a low-point in last week’s River Ridge District semifinal matchup with Blacksburg that saw the Lady Bruins down Hidden Valley and prevent a district championship showdown with Salem.
Tuesday night on the same Titan court, Hidden Valley made sure there was no repeat performances as the Lady Titans ran away with the 56-32 win in the Region IV Division 4 first round game.
The win gave Hidden Valley the opportunity for a rematch with Salem Wednesday night at Cave Spring, with the winner guaranteed to advance to the state quaterfinals next week.
The Lady Titans wasted no time taking charge Tuesday night. Hidden Valley used a tenaceous defense to open with a 13-1 run. Blacksburg’s first field goal came with 1:00 left in the opening frame.
The Lady Bruins closed to within 13-11 before Titan head coach Randy Bush called a timeout with 4:42 left in the first half. Hidden Valley came out of the timeout with a full-court trap press that gave Blacksburg fits before the teams went to the locker room with Hidden Valley up 19-13.
The Lady Titans stayed with the press to start the third quarter and Blacksburg had no answer. Hidden Valley led 39-26 after three quarters and pushed its advantage to 23 after a 12-2 run to start the fourth.
Key in the second half run was the three-point shooting of senior guard Kelly King and the slashing drives from freshman guard Hailey Singleton that resulted in Titan baskets or trips to the free throw line. Singleton finished with a team-high 15 points for Hidden Valley.
“We were a little more focused tonight,” Bush noted of the big turnaround from a week ago. “Getting beat last week worked wonders. Our seniors came to play tonight. King hit the big perimeter shots in the second half and we only had one turnover after halftime. A really good win.”
“We had a different mentality tonight and took it to them,” Singleton said afterward. “My dad told me to take it to the basket and take it up strong. Now, we need to be ready for Salem.”
In addition to Singleton’s performance, King added 12 points and senior captain Kelsi Bailey tossed in ten points to lead Hidden Valley.
by Bill Turner
