Creek Valley Opens Basketball Season

Creek Vallley’s Storm and Lady Storm basketball teams opened their seasons on the road against the Hyannis Longhorns Friday night, and both teams came up short to start their 2018 campaigns.

The Lady Storm started the action, and had a rough beginning to the game being outscored 20-to-4 in the first period. The Storm rallied back with a 14-to-14 effort in the second to go into the half down 34-to-18.

However, the team struggled in the second half, and were outscored 27-to-14 to fall to the Lady Longhorns by a final score of 64-to-31.

The Lady Storm’s defense struggled and were in foul trouble early, but continued to play hard throughout the contest. Creek Valley has a very young team that is gaining experience and learning to play together, and expect to improve greatly as the season progresses.

Lady Storm head coach Missy Koenen looked at the positives from the loss, saying, “We have several girls starting that don’t have much varsity experience that are learning to play together. We need to work on being more aggressive on defense without fouling so our starters can stay in the game longer. Overall I’m proud of how hard this young team played tonight and they never gave up no matter what.

Senior Chloe Mitlehner was the offensive standout for Creek Valley, hitting four three-point shots to lead the team in scoring.

Next, the boy’s teams squared off, and the Storm had a first half that saw only 15 shots and defensive lapses that put Creek Valley behind. But the second half had the Storm opening up their offense, firing off nearly 60 shots and coming within one point of tying the game. The late surge was not enough to overcome the Longhorns, and the Storm fell with a 61-to-53 final score.

Head coach Bill Wilber commented on the two halves, saying, “We just need playing time for the boys, except Sam Grabowski. Our first half was a result of first-game jitters, but we were able to settle in and have a much better performance in the second. Unfortunately two of our key players fouled out. I’m confident with time the boys will come together as a team.”

The Creek Valley basketball teams next host Potter-Dix on Friday.