Paint Valley's Lady Bearcats are walking in rare territory for their girls basketball program after winning the Division 4 Sectional Championship Saturday with a 55-38 decision over Manchester. The title is the first for the Lady Bearcats since 2011.
Paint Valley junior Abbi Stanforth blistered the nets for a game-high 19 points, including three treys, while also defensively locking-down Manchester's 6'0 senior star player Brooke Kennedy. The Thomas Moore University signee was held to only 6 points and 5 rebounds after coming into the game averaging 18 points and 13 rebounds, while also having eclipsed 1,000 points and rebounds in her high school career.
Hannah Uhrig also connected on three treys and scored 13 points, follqwed by Kendal Dye's 9 points and 7 rebounds. Olivia Smith set an SVC and Ross County season rebounding record, grabbing 16 boards in the contest while also contributing 7 points. Averi McFadden added 6 points and Kara Free had 1 point.
The Lady Greyhounds were led by Emily Sweeny with 8 points.
The foul line was a big key in Paint Valley's win, going 12/17 while Manchester was only 1/2. The Lady Bearcats shot 18/46 from the field- including 7/21 from the arc for 39%. Manchester was 17/38- including 3/8 from the arc for 45%.
Paint Valley's defense forced 21 Manchester turnovers, while PV had 16. Paint Valley won the rebounding battle 20-19.
The black and gold led at the end of each quarter at 14-8, 26-21, 44-28 and 55-38.
Paint Valley improves to (15-8) on the season and plays at #3 seed Trimble in the District Semis, February 25th at 7pm. Manchester falls to (6-12).
Listen to the WKKJ game replay with Mike Smith and Tom Beard, including post-game interviews with Coach Tristan Norman and the Lady Bearcats in our podcast link located below....