By Lori Brown
GRAHAMSVILLE — December 21, 2007 — The Tri-Valley Lady Bears took an early lead on Tuesday night in their non-league basketball game versus the visiting Roscoe Lady Blue Devils.
And the Lady Bears never surrendered that lead on their way to posting a 53-45 victory.
With the win, T-V improved its record to 3-2. Roscoe fell to 1-4 on the season.
The Lady Bears started off strong in the first quarter, opening with an 8-0 scoring run. Roscoe’s Sky Dutcher put her team on the scoreboard with a breakaway layup.
At the end of the period, T-V held an 11-8 advantage.
T-V’s Laurel Wilsen started off the second quarter with a basket.
But Amanda Ladenhauf responded with a basket and then sunk a foul shot to close the Lady Blue Devils’ deficit to only two points, 13-11.
With three minutes left in the frame, the Lady Bears scored two straight baskets. Right after the second score, Roscoe Coach, Becky Ahart called a timeout to get her players back on track.
The timeout worked, as the Lady Blue Devils scored six points  in those final three minutes. Roscoe’s Taylor DeVantier scored the final two points with just 13 seconds remaining, bringing her team to with one point.
But with only five seconds left until halftime, T-V’s Kelly McNamara scored to give her team a three-point lead at the intermission.
In the first seconds of the third period, Roscoe’s Amanda Huggins swished a jump shot to cut the T-V advantage to 20-19.
Later in the frame, Roscoe’s Paige Clancy swished a 3-pointer and made a free throw to bring the visitors to within two points, 32-30 heading into the final quarter.
The Lady Bears dominated the beginning of the fourth period by scoring nine points in two minutes before Ahart called a timeout. Following the timeout, Roscoe’s Sky Dutcher scored a basket. Near the four-minute mark, she scored four more points.
T-V Coach Karen Andrews called a time out to slow the game down.
Roscoe narrowed its deficit to three points before the Lady Bears started getting more aggressive on their way to an eight-point victory.
“During the second half of the game we changed our defense to man-to-man and did better,” Ahart said.
“The girls are coming along,” she added. “We have a very young team this year.”
Dutcher was Roscoe’s top scorer with 15 points. Ladenhauf added 11 points for the Lady Blue Devils.
“The girls did a good job on press defense throughout the entire game,” Andrews said. “At the beginning of the fourth quarter they had fast breaks and took it to the basket. They had good passes and looked for teammates.”
T-V’s Jakki Pugh had a team-high 11 points, along with seven rebounds, seven steals and four assists.
Kathryn Schneyer and Kelly McNamara each netted 10 points for the Lady Bears. Schneyer scored all of her points in the second half. McNamara also grabbed nine rebounds.
Also helping T-V record its victory were Kaylie Ackerley and Amanda Martin. Ackerley had four assists and Martin made eight steals.
“We are outsized this year, so we use our speed to compensate for our height disadvantage,” Andrews said.
“We have a very young team, but we have some returnees this year,” she continued. “We will do alright this season. We will practice harder, too.”