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Vinton County Lady Vikings Defense Smothers River Valley Raiders

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When you force more turnovers than there are minutes in the game, the score should turn out in your favor, and for the Vinton County Lady Vikings it did just that. The Vikings were able to come away from their game against the River Valley Lady Raiders with a 55-42 win.

From tip-off the Lady Vikings played a relentless full court press that aided in River Valley turning the ball over 33 times. Harassing defense from Cassie Bentley and Erin Jones helped set the tone early as Vinton County would take a lead they would never look back from. While the game was sloppy from both teams, (Vinton County had 17 turnovers) the moment Vinton County hit their first shot, the outcome never seemed to be in doubt. While the final score was only 13 points, the Vikings were up 34-13 at half time with the lead being around 20 for most of the game.

The press will likely become a staple of the Lady Vikings game plan.

“Our goal was to play up-tempo, early in the season we played slow we didn’t like it, so we changed it,” said Coach Rod Bentley.

A change was more than instrumental to the Vikings who had at times struggled to find a second scoring option behind Cassie Bentley, as Sammy Thompson was unusually quiet with only five points, sitting out much of the third quarter. Erin Jones and Darian Radabaugh had 13 and 14 points, respectively, helping add to another solid stat line from Cassie Bentley. Bentley had 17 points and 15 rebounds, keeping the ball in Viking hands for most of the night.

For the Lady Raiders, Erin Jackson paced them the entire night, having more than half of their points with 23. Jackson was tasked with running much of the River Valley offense and defense, making many late plays to make the score line look closer.

Vinton County improved 5-7 on the year. Next they play Maysville, followed by a huge TVC-Ohio matchup with Nelsonville-York next Thursday. River Valley dropped to 2-11, they look to turn their season around next at South Gallia.