Report and photo by Kevin Johnson
The Mountain View Lady Yellowjackets season ended, Saturday morning, in the Class 3A State Quarterfinals with a 36-35 loss to the Valley Springs Lady Tigers.
Both offenses struggled to get any momentum going in the first half with Valley Springs holding a slim 10-9 halftime lead.
Mountain View came out strong in the second half getting a basket from Emry Johnson and a three-pointer from Kennedy Holland to take their first lead of the game at 14-12 with 5:04 to go in the third quarter.
The Lady Yellowjackets would increase the lead to 25-20 when Aubrey Isbell hit a three-pointer to end the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Mountain View got a rebound and a putback from Holland and a short jumper from Josie Storey to take their largest lead at 29-20 with 5:13 to go in the game.
Valley Springs went on an 11-2 run to tie the game at 31 with 2:19 to go.
Isbell hit two free throws to take a two-point lead, Valley Springs would hit four free throws over the next minute to take a 35-33 lead with 1:00 to go in the game.
Chaelann Vickers would hit two free throws to tie the game at 35 with 49 seconds to go.
Valley Springs would hold the ball and miss a shot with two seconds left in the game, the ball would go out of bounds off of Mountain View on the rebound.
Mountain View would foul on the ensuing inbounds and Valley Springs’ Whitney Coffelt would hit one of two free throws to give Valley Springs a 36-35 lead with 1.7 seconds left.
Mountain View tried a long pass that was intercepted to end the game with Valley Springs advancing to the semifinals.
Mountain View was led by Isbell with 14 points, Storey added 12 points, Holland had five points, Johnson and Vickers with two points each as Mountain View’s season ended with a record of 21-4.
Valley Springs was led by Maura Moore with 11 points, Haylie Fry with eight points, Cayley Patrick and Coffelt with seven points. Valley Springs improved to 27-8.
