Courtney Petersen (20) reaches for an entry pass
from Aly James (2) against English Valleys.

E-V Bears find space, hit shots and win 
Jan. 13, 2012

You can expect the Montezuma Bravettes to work on sharpening their saw in practice.

That saw has been their defense, which has wandered the local universe like one of those black holes in outer space. Something drawn into that realm doesn't come out, at least not intact.

But the English Valleys Bears came out more than intact, hitting key fourth quarter shots and scoring a 43-38 win over the Bravettes on Friday evening, Jan. 13.

"The difference for us tonight was foul trouble and a little bit of lack of intensity, especially on the defensive end of the floor," said Montezuma coach Keith Sietstra.

Bravette posts Emily Long and Brynna Steele picked up three first half fouls each. They're Montezuma's two leading scorers and they combined for just one field goal after halftime. They were on the bench for long stretches of second half play.

Montezuma's defenders "were not where they were supposed to be" several times, Sietstra said, and English Valleys shooters took advantage.

Post forward Kelsie Holeton had a tremendous game for the Bears, scoring 18 points, including 13 after halftime, at which point her team trailed 20-17.

Holeton nailed a pair of three-balls in the second half and Madison Parmenter hit one as the Bears, up 28-26 through three quarters, kept extending their lead out to four points.

They had to do that more than once because Montezuma made some shots during the stretch run.

Aly James hit a pair of second half treys. So did Carly Steele, who led her team with 10 points.

The clinching points came when the Bears' Lauren Miller hit both ends of a one-and-bonus with 18.8 seconds left, making it a three-possession game.

Miller scored 9 points and Rylee Voss had 8 for English Valleys, which ended a four-game losing skid. The Bears are 7-7 overall and 6-7 in South Iowa Cedar League play.

"We got some really big minutes out of both Mackenzie James and Courtney Petersen tonight," said Sietstra. "I thought they both stepped onto the floor and did a great job."

Petersen led the Bravettes with 7 rebounds and Mackenzie James made a couple of important first half baskets.

The Bravettes were guilty of 19 personal fouls, compared with 9 by the Bears, continuing a recent Montezuma trend. "I'm not sure what it is. Maybe we get a little too excited," Sietstra said.

Another trend continued for Montezuma - turnovers. The Bravettes made 24, which was 7 more than English Valleys. "And they didn't press," said Sietstra.

"When we would get defensive stops, we were slow to push the ball up the court," the coach said.

"We wound up shooting 22 three-point attempts, which is way more than we would shoot normally," Sietstra said. "But with Emily and Brynna in foul trouble, we had to find some ways to create offense. Fortunately, Carly and Aly knocked down some shots and we needed for them to do that."

The Bravettes fell to 10-6 overall and to 9-5 in league play.

Iowa Valley, the team the Bravettes started the night tied with for third place in the SICL race, lost 40-35 to Belle Plaine.

UP NEXT - The Bravettes host BGM on Tuesday and travel to Lynnville-Sully on Friday. There's a chili supper on Tuesday starting at 5 p.m. with proceeds going to After-Prom.

OUCH! - Emily Long had her head bounced off the floor when a girl fell on her with 3.3 seconds left to play. Long  came off the floor under her own power. An intentional foul was called on another Bravette on the play, who may have collided with the girl who wound up landing on Long, who was already down. Regardless, it was a bruising finish.

WATCH IT! - at 1 and 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with Keith Brake and Zach Price bringing home the acton.

ROYALTY - Hoopsters Brady Losure and Alexis Ferguson were crowned Winter Sports King and Queen after the boys' game. Students did the voting. The contest was sponsored by the cheerleaders.

SCORE BY QUARTERS
English Valleys    9    8   11   15  -  43
Montezuma         6   14    6   12  -  38

ENGLISH VALLEYS (43): Mikayla Morrison 1, 1-2, 0, 3. Shannon Steffen 0, 0-0, 0, 0. Rylee Voss 4, 0-5, 3, 8. Madison Parmenter 2, 0-0, 1, 5. Kelsie Holeton 6, 4-9, 3, 18. Lauren Miller 1, 7-8, 2, 9. TOTALS: 14, 12-24, 9, 43.

MONTEZUMA (38): Aly James 2, 0-0, 2, 6. Alexis Ferguson 0, 2-4, 4, 2. Carly Steele 5, 0-0, 2, 10. Courtney Petersen 1, 0-0, 2, 2. Mackenzie James 2, 0-0, 0, 4. Brynna Steele 2, 1-2, 5, 5. Emily Long 3, 2-3, 4, 9. TOTALS: 14, 5-9, 19, 38.

Three-point goals: English Valleys 3 (Holeton 2, Parmenter 1). Montezuma 5 (A. James 2, C. Steele 2, Long 1).
Fouled out: Montezuma (B. Steele, :18.8, 4th qtr.)
Turnovers: English Valleys 17, Montezuma 24.
Bravettes rebound leaders: Petersen 7, Ferguson 4, A. James 4, B. Steele 4, Long 4.
Assists leaders: Ferguson 3, C. Steele 2, A. James 2.
Steals: C. Steele 3.
Blocks: Long 5.

Line score legend: Field goals made, free throws made-attempted, personal fouls, total points.

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