Valley uses second quarter explosion to down Borden County, advance to regional finals

LEVELLAND — The first quarter of the Class 1A regional semifinal between Valley and Borden County was about as competitive as you expect a girls basketball regional semifinal to be.

Then the second quarter started and the Lady Patriots reminded everyone why they're ranked 1st in the state.

Valley outscored the Lady Coyotes by 14 in the second period, shook off a slow start to the third quarter and sealed the deal with a 62-32 win over Borden County on Friday at the Texan Dome at South Plains College. Valley now advances to play the defending state champions in Nazareth.

The game was ultra tight early with neither team separating themselves. Turkey Valley led 14-11 after the first eight minutes. From there, however, it was all Lady Pats as they outscored the Lady Coyotes 17-3 in the second period to take a 31-14 edge into the locker room.

Credit BC for fighting. They got the lead down to just 10 in the opening minutes of the third before Valley got it together. They led 44-25 entering the fourth before closing out the victory.

"Our game plan was to slow things down," head coach Amy Bowles said. "We still wanted to transition but we knew that if we slowed down the game and stayed in control we'd be able to execute a little bit better. ... I'm proud of where we're at, they've worked hard for it and I'm excited for tomorrow."

Reese Cruse led Valley with 21 points Trinity Schlueter added17 and Anna Ferrel had 11. Nazareth, which ended Valley's season last year in the regional quarterfinals, will play the Lady Patriots at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Texan Dome in Levelland.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Valley uses second quarter explosion to down Borden County, advance to regional finals