MidValleySports.Com

(Pasadena) – A suffocating defensive effort in the second quarter enabled Valley Christian to outscore Maranatha 18-4 to easily improve to 4-0 in the Olympic League with a 56-41 win.

“The pre-season schedule prepared us for league,” said Crusaders Head Coach Katie Hardeman. “I feel that the tough schedule has the girls ready.”

Kari Korver scored a game-high 29 points that included four three-pointers to help Valley Christian to its 11^th win of the season.

The Minutemen couldn’t buy a field goal for a better part of six minutes in the second quarter and watched its three point lead turn into a 12-point deficit with 1:43 remaining in the half.

If not for Mian Dingle’s four points in the quarter, Maranatha would have been blanked. Dingle who came into the game averaging 20 points a game was held to just 12 points prior to fouling out early in the fourth quarter.

Valley Christian relied on the quick play of Jelissa Holder on the defensive side of the ball to cause chaos for the Minutemen’s two leading scorers in Dingle and Kaila Turner. Turner ended the game with 16 points with 12 of those points coming late in the final quarter.

Holder managed to score 15 points with her best play coming in a two minute segment in the third quarter when she went coast-to-coast on a steal and on the very next possession stole the pass and led a two-on-one break which was ended by Korver’s lay-up.

“Jelissa was key to our defense tonight,” said Hardeman. “Our other guards did a good job as well reading and anticipating.”

The third quarter became a bigger nightmare for Maranatha as they failed to get a field for four and half minutes and its only point’s came from trips to the charity stripe before Dingle scored.

With the Crusaders up by as many as 20 points early in the fourth quarter, the Minutemen made one final attempt at a comeback cutting the lead to 13 points.