LUCASVILLE – Monday night was Kamryn Conaway night, at Valley High School in Lucasville, even if it wasn’t hyped as such. The six foot senior for the Valley Lady Indians shined all night long, and caused a migraine for Clay Lady Panthers defenders, as the Valley Lady Indians picked up a home win over the Lady Panthers, 55-35.
“Obviously, Kam had a game,” Valley coach Mark Merritt said with a smile on his face. “She shot the ball well, and she distributed the ball well.”
Conaway was a force to be reckoned with Monday night, as she dominated the lane on both offense and defense. Her 26 points led all players on the court, but she did so much more than score. She also earned a double-double, as she pulled down an amazing 21 rebounds, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter.
“She was looking to pass, and she was looking to distribute, and I think that’s why she scored so easily,” Merritt said. “When they doubled down, she’d find the open person.”
Conaway picked up three assists on the night, while also gaining six steals.
“She had a great night,” Merritt said.
The team as a whole had a good night. Megan Duduit put up eight points Monday, while teammates Hannah Conley and Maddie Wright scored seven and six points, to aid the Valley cause.
Merritt was very pleased with his team’s performance against Clay.
“Our man-to-man was pretty good, and we had about three mental mistakes where we let (Jensen) Warnock go down the middle of the floor wide-open, and uncontested,” Merritt said. “That was one of our game plans. She (Warnock) can’t go down there uncontested, and when she does drive we have to have defensive rotation.”
Warnock caused several headaches for the Lady Indians throughout the night. She led the Lady Panthers in scoring, as she put up 13 points for Clay.
Although Valley, overall, was successful is shutting out the inside for the Lady Panthers, Warnock was able to penetrate the defense and drive in for a layup or quick shot.
Lila Brown and Cam Delotell were a good support system for Warnock, as each scored six points against Valley.
Clay coach Scott Cayton gave the Lady Indians a lot of credit in their victory over his Lady Panthers Monday night.
“They came out and played hard,” Cayton said.
Consistency of effort has been a common talking point for Cayton this season, as he tries to continually get the same amount of effort from his kids each and every night on the court.
“We just acted like we wanted to be somewhere else tonight,” Cayton said. “We didn’t guard, we didn’t rebound, and we didn’t execute our half-court sets on offense.”
Careless turnovers plagued the Lady Panthers according to Cayton.
“It’s just one of those games where you go back to the drawing board and start over and figure out how to get better,” Cayton said.
The Lady Panthers had a successful fourth quarter. They limited Valley to only eight points in the quarter, but were unable to take a major chunk out of the Lady Indians’ lead.
“We got out of our pattern,” Merritt said. “We didn’t have very good floor balance, and that slowed us up a little bit.”
The Valley Indians will be off until December 29th. They will travel to face Huntington Ross at 6:30 p.m.
Scott Cayton’s Lady Panthers will return to the court on December 30th, as they host the South Webster Lady Jeeps. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Valley | 13 | 15 | 19 | 8 | 55 |
| Clay | 5 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 35 |
Individual Statistics
Valley – Conaway 11-4-26, Duduit 3-2-8, Conley 3-1-7, Wright 3-0-6, Howard 2-0-4, Day 1-0-2, Blair 1-0-2
Clay – Warnock 6-0-13, Brown 2-0-6, Delotell 2-1-6, Osborn 2-0-4, Artis 1-0-3, Balestra 1-0-2, Collins 0-1-1
3-point field goals – Valley 0, Clay 5 (Brown 2, Delotell, Warnock, Artis)
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