LUCASVILLE — The dominant inside presence of Valley's Jordan Arbaugh, Kassie Cox and Shelby Ellis took care of business Thursday night against the visiting Lady Pirates. Along with Whitney Bear returning from injury for a solid performance, the Lady Indians controlled three of four quarters in a 53-40 win over Wheelersburg.

"We knew tonight, it wasn't going to be just another game. Burg always comes out and gives us a good game," Arbaugh said. "We were a little bit slow coming out in the second half, after we had controlled the first half..., but we pulled it together right when it mattered."

Bucket for bucket the teams matched one another in the opening quarter. Three consecutive 3-pointers, two by the Lady Pirates, tied the score at eight mid-way through the quarter. The score was tied at 14 after the first eight minutes but it was Valley who owned the next eight.

"We did a nice job in the second quarter with the press. We made some nice passes and the shots were falling for us...," Valley coach Mark Merritt said. "Our defense tonight sparked our offense. When our defense wasn't working Wheelersburg made the adjustment, and we couldn't get our offense going. Wheelersburg's intensity was higher than ours in the third quarter and they made a nice game of it. Give Wheelersburg credit."

The Lady Indians gained an edge in the second quarter by increasing their defensive pressure, which helped their offense take shape. A 7-2 run stretched the home team lead to five in just two and a half minutes, but the scoring did not stop there.

"We hustled our butts off. We knew they were faster than us and that we had to get up and down the floor," Cox said. "I think the small things, hustling up and down the court and getting back on defense, are what won the game for us."

Cox, Valley’s center, posted seven points of her 14 total in the second while power forward Arbaugh tacked on eight in the quarter, on her way to a game-high 18 points. Valley was ahead 33-19 at the half.

"Jordan did a nice job as our floor leader and she really did a nice job on the press...," Merritt said. "We were impressed with her tonight. Whitney Bear and Michelle Mains really came through for us in the fourth quarter, I think they were a combined seven of eight from the foul line."

Mains finished with five points and five assists while Bear tallied 11 points and eight rebounds.

Defense and rebounding were the decisive factors for the Lady Indians. Ellis helped her team with 14 rebounds while Arbaugh had eight and Cox grabbed six. The three post players combined for six blocked shots in the contest.

"They have so much size underneath," Wheelersburg coach Dusty Spradlin said. "It is so tough to get a lot of shots off because of that great size that they have underneath."

The roles reversed to begin the second half, it was the Lady Pirates who held Valley to just two field goals and a free throw while posting 16 points of their own.

"We were trying to make it a full court game... We were hoping that with the pace of the game we could get some jump shots and get some things in transition" Spradlin said. "The kids did a nice job of creating steals here and there. That kind of got us back into it. But as it all settled down, it still came down to can you run something offensively in a half court set. We struggled with that."

Molly Knapp came through for Wheelersburg as she hit two triples and made a perfect 4-for-4 from the line in the third. Knapp finished with 16 points (6-for-6 on foul shots), five rebounds and three steals.

"Molly has had some games before where she has been really good for us," Spradlin said. "And I don't know that she shot the ball as well as she can tonight... I was really pleased with how she played. I was pleased with everybody's effort. If (only) we could have just stayed together to execute something offensively. It turned into too much helter-skelter."

Kalyn Bailey pulled down 10 rebounds from her guard position while pitching in five points. Erica Schmidt added nine points for the Lady Pirates.

This is the first league loss for Wheelersburg while Valley improved to 4-0 in the SOC II and 6-0 overall. Merritt knows that the work does not stop here, improvements still need to be made for the Lady Indians.

"We are in good position but we need to continue to improve on matching intensity and taking care of the ball," Merritt said. "With a 14-point lead we should have been able to run a more potent offense, instead of relying on our defense."

Both teams take on league opponents on Monday as Wheelersburg hosts South Webster and Valley travels to West.

ALI KEATON can be reached at alikeaton_pdt@hotmail.com

Wheelersburg 14 5 16 5 — 40

Valley 14 19 5 15 — 53

Wheelersburg — Barrick 1 0 3, K.Knapp 2 0 4, Schmidt 3 2 9, M.Knapp 5 6 16, Bailey 1 1 3, Ruby 2 0 5. Total 14 9 40.

Valley — Mains 1 3 5, Cox 5 4 14, Arbaugh 7 4 18, Ellis 2 1 5, Bear 3 4 11. Total 18 16 53.

3-pointers — Wheelersburg 5 (M.Knapp 2, Schmidt, Barrick, Ruby); Valley (Bear)

Records — Wheelersburg 3-2 (3-1); Valley 6-0 (4-0)