West Valley varsity girls to start playoffs on Thursday; JV team wins and loses in final week

The West Valley varsity girls basketball team cruised to a 61-28 victory over Brocton on Feb. 13. Head Coach John Arbogast said that the Wildcats “dominated” their opponents throughout the game, nailing a 33-17 lead at halftime.

Megan Hewlett led the team in scoring that evening, finishing the night with 17 points. She was followed by Alyssa Cizdziel and Chelsea Dashnaw, who each had 10 points in the match.

The varsity girls traveled to Panama on Feb. 16 and lost to the Panthers by a score of 53-23. Expressing his discontent over the game’s outcome, Arbogast said, “It wasn’t a good night. Nothing went right.” By the end of the match, Megan Bailey was the team’s leading scorer, as she concluded the evening with 5 points.

The next game for the Wildcats is a home playoff match versus Ripley. Should the Wildcats come out victorious, they will play the Clymer Pirates on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 2 p.m.

In discussing the team’s chances in the playoffs, Arbogast called the Lady Wildcats a “dark horse,” as he said that it is “not out of the realm” for the team to defeat Clymer if they beat Ripley. Arbogast cited the team’s two “close games” against the Pirates this season as a reason he believes West Valley can be a contender in the post-season. The coach said that, if West Valley can play through all four quarters and contain Clymer talent Dani Reinwald, then “we can upset.”

In the junior varsity girls match against Brocton on Feb. 13, West Valley topped the Bulldogs 35-22. Coach Kristopher Fuller reported that “the Wildcats raced out to a 22-2 halftime lead and controlled every aspect of the game.”

During that match, Stephanie Schweickert led West Valley with 12 points, followed by Larissa Hill and Macie Kagelmacher, who each had 6 points. Trisha Thomas had 4 points that evening and Kaitlyn Snayczuk had 3. Jordan Seltzer and Alycia Currie both finished the night with 2 points.

The girls played in Panama on Feb. 16 and lost 45-34 against the Panthers. Thomas and Snayczuk finished the evening as the team’s leading scorers with 10 points. They were followed by Seltzer, who had 7 points, Schweickert, who had 5 and Kagelmacher, who had 2 points.

The girls concluded their season with a 44-21 victory over North Collins on Feb. 18. During the match, Thomas was the top scorer with 16 points. Schweickert finished the game with 9 points and Kagelmacher completed it with 8. Other scorers include Snayczuk and Seltzer, who had 4 points, Hill, who had 2 and Currie, who had 1 point.

The girls swept their series with both North Collins and Brocton this year and finished the season with an 8-4 record in their division and a 13-5 record overall.