Ark Valley News - Hornets fall to Newton at home

Kassie Kinniburgh shoots over Newton's DesiRay Kernal Dec. 12. Kinniburgh finished with five points and 11 rebounds.

Hornets fall to Newton at home
By Randy Fisher
Last Updated: December 14, 2017

It was a busy week for the Valley Center High School girls basketball team. The Hornets went 1-2 and took second place in the Kingman tournament Dec. 7 through 9. They followed that with a home loss Dec. 12 to Newton. Valley is 2-3 on the season.

With three track stars on its roster, Newton was just too quick for the Valley. The Railers pulled away in the second half to win 52-41.

“I thought we did a good job of containing their quickness in the first half," Valley coach Trent Preheim said. “In the second half, I think their quickness wore us out."

Ellie Shank kept the Hornets in the game by scoring their first six points. A 3-pointer by Aysia Arrowood gave Valley its first lead at 9-8. The Railers eased in front 12-10 at the end of the quarter.

Newton extended its advantage to six, 18-12, early in the second quarter. A dipsy-doo by Zayda Perez and a Taylor Rowley free throw cut the deficit to 18-15. A trey by Alyssa Turner tied the game at 20. After a Railer free throw, Perez drove the lane and scored at the buzzer for a 22-21 halftime lead.

The Railers flexed their muscles in the third quarter by going inside to their 6-foot-1 post, DesiRay Kernal. She scored six of her game-high 11 points in the quarter, as Newton outscored the Hornets 11-4 to take control of the game, leading 38-26 at quarter's end.

Despite seven points from Rowley in the fourth quarter, the Hornets could get no closer than nine points, 47-38, with three minutes to play.

Newton's speed forced Valley's guards to be more perimeter oriented.

“They (guards) are looking for an outlet to get rid of the ball and you don't get your eyes inside," Preheim said. “I think if we'd got more post touches, I think we'd been able to get some better shooting opportunities."

Shank scored 10 points for the Hornets, and Rowley added eight. Kassie Kinniburgh led Valley to a slight advantage on the boards with a game-high 11 rebounds.

Having lost three straight games after starting 2-0, Preheim says the young Hornets are still upbeat.

“Nobody's losing any faith," he said. “We're not panicking at all."

The Hornets opened the Kingman Classic Dec. 7 with a 56-39 win over the Sterling Black Bears, who upset Class 3A's top-ranked team two nights earlier.

Leading 20-18 in the second quarter, Valley went on a 13-0 run that carried over into the third quarter to put this game away.

Sterling twice got to within single digits in the fourth quarter but no closer than seven.

Perez had 12 and Kinniburgh 10 for the Hornets.

Valley lost 41-35 to Kingman Dec. 8 in a game that decided who would advance to the championship.

Three-pointers by Rowley, Turner and Shank kept the Hornets in the game, as Kingman led 14-11 after the first quarter.

The Eagles outscored Valley 10-4 in the second quarter to go up nine at halftime.

The Hornets crept back into the game, trailing 31-29 after three quarters. But Kingman pulled away in the final eight minutes for the win.

Perez scored 11 and Turner nine for the Hornets.

Kingman's victory created a three-way tie in this pool. Valley claimed the tiebreaker, which was the least number of points allowed, and advanced to the championship game.

The Haven Wildcats downed Valley Center 48-39 on Dec. 9 for the title.

Shank's 3-pointer gave Valley a 15-13 lead after the first quarter. Haven opened the second quarter with 10 straight points to take the lead for good.

Down 27-20 at halftime, the Hornets could get no closer than seven in the third quarter. Haven took a 41-30 lead into the final quarter.

Perez led the Hornets with eight points.

Rowley and Perez were named to the all-tournament team.

JV 1-2 at Kingman — Results of Valley's JV contest with Newton were not available at press time.

Down 13-3 after the first quarter, Valley could never catch up and lost 49-34 to Haven.

Arrowood scored 15 points for the Hornets.

The Hornets outlasted Kingman to win 38-32. Riley Ranzau scored 11 points and Arrowood 10 for Valley Center.

Trailing by 12 at halftime, Valley's second-half rally fell short in a 40-35 loss to Sterling. Abbigail Wolf had 12 points for the Hornets.

C team loses — Valley lost 55-15 to Newton. Lindsey Isham scored seven for the Hornets. Cimara Rice, Olivia Niedens, Zoey Taylor and Makayla Hayden each scored two.

Newton 52,

Valley Center 41

NEW 12 9 17 14 — 52

VC 10 12 4 15 — 41

Newton — Simmons 0-0 4-6 2-4 10, Bacon 1-2 2-3 3-4 10, Kernal 0-2 5-11 1-3 11, Berry 0-2 2-8 4-5 8, Brewer 0-0 3-6 0-0 6, Anderson 0-0 1-1 0-0 2, Bartel 0-0 2-3 1-1 5, Nichols 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Antonowich 0-0 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 1-6 19-38 11-17 52.

Valley Center — Perez 0-2 2-3 2-2 6, Rowley 1-2 0-0 5-6 8, Turner 2-6 0-0 0-0 6, Shank 0-2 4-8 2-5 10, Kinniburgh 0-1 1-5 3-4 5, Ranzau 1-3 0-1 0-0 3, Arrowood 1-4 0-1 0-0 3, Wolf 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Meyer 0-0 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 5-20 7-18 12-17 41.

Valley Center 56,

Sterling 39

STR 11 7 15 6 — 39

VC 12 14 16 14 — 56

Sterling — T. Wilson 13, Ramsey 9, Schweizer 5, Comley 4, F. Rowland 2, Zimmerman 2, A. Rowland 2, Schmidt 2. 3-pt goals: T. Wilson 3. Totals 10(3) 10-19 39.

Valley Center — Perez 12, Kinniburgh 10, Shank 9, Ranzau 8, Rowley 7, Turner 5, Claussen 3, Meyer 2. 3-pt goals: Ranzua 2, Shank 2, Perez 1, Rowley 1, Turner 1. Totals 16(7) 3-4 56.

Kingman 41,

Valley Center 34

KM 14 10 7 10 — 41

VC 11 4 14 5 — 34

Kingman — Bradshaw 0-0 1-4 1-3 3, B. Bangert 2-7 5-7 4-6 20, S. Bangert 1-4 2-3 1-2 8, Krehbiel 0-0 0-1 0-0 0, Packard 0-0 1-2 1-3 3, DeWeese 0-0 0-1 0-0 0, Floyd 0-1 0-1 0-0 0, Maloney 0-0 1-2 0-1 2. Totals 4-15 11-23 7-15 41.

Valley Center — Perez 0-0 2-5 0-0 4, Rowley 2-5 1-4 3-5 11, Turner 3-8 0-0 0-0 9, Shank 1-3 0-0 1-2 4, Kinniburgh 0-0 1-1 0-0 2, Ranzau 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Arrowood 1-3 0-0 0-0 3, Claussen 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Meyer 0-0 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 7-19 5-13 4-7 35.

Haven 48, Valley Center 39

HAV 13 14 14 7 — 48

VC 15 5 10 9 — 39

Haven — Hendrixson 3-5 2-3 0-1 13, Roper 1-2 1-3 0-1 5, Barlow 0-0 4-10 0-0 8, Schmutz 0-0 5-9 0-0 10, Paramore 2-3 0-0 0-0 6, Matteson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, S. Yutzy 0-0 1-4 0-0 2, Estill 0-0 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 6-10 15-31 0-1 48.

Valley Center — Perez 1-6 2-4 1-2 8, Rowley 1-5 2-6 0-0 7, Turner 1-6 0-0 0-0 3, Shank 2-4 0- 8 0-2 4, Kinniburgh 0-0 1-3 1-2 3, Ranzau 2-4 0-0 0-0 6, Arrowood2-2 0-0 0-0 6, Wolf 0-0 0-0 0-0 0, Meyer 0-0 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 9-27 5-21 2-6 39.

Junior varsity

Haven 49, Valley Center 34

VC scoring — Arrowood 15, Wolf 6, Claussen 5, Meyer 4, Ranzau 3, Cabral 2.

Valley Center 38,

Kingman 32

VC scoring — Ranzau 11, Arrowood 10, Dawson 9, Wolf 4, Claussen 4.

Sterling 40,

Valley Center 35

VC scoring — Wolf 12, Ranzau 7, Dawson 6, Niedens 4, Turner 2, Claussen 2, Meyer 2.