When the Lady Silver Knights traveled to Pine Grove to play Valley Dec. 17, it was hard for anyone to get an idea for how the game would go.

After all, it has been years since the two schools have faced each other on the basketball court in the regular season. The Class A Lumberjills came into the game undefeated while the Class AA Lady Knights were still searching for their first win.

Starting off the game, it appeared as Consolidated would play a strong game as they raced out to an early 11-2 advantage in the first five minutes of the game. That included a couple of 3-pointers from Christy Jones and Tiffany Lohri.

Even so, the ‘Jills made the most of their time left in the quarter, going on a 11-3 run.

Tyler Consolidated tried to build its lead up again in the second quarter, but Valley hung with them and evened up the score at 24-24 going into the break.

The story changed from there, as Valley made adjustments and started off strong in the second half, scoring the first six points and forcing Coach Matt Kinnard to call a time out. Valley would go up by as many as 13, at 41-28, before the Knights made their valiant comeback attempt, scoring the next 10 points.

That would be the closest Tyler Consolidated would get as Valley pulled away, little by little, preventing the visitors from getting within a single possession the rest of the way. When the clock reached zeros, the final score read 59-54 in favor of the Lumberjills.

“They took the early lead on us, but we’ve seen that before,” said Valley’s Head Coach Larry Weekley. “We kept our poise, moved the ball, had a couple runs on them, pushed the lead, and then just tried to hold on.”

According Kinnard, it was the turnovers that hurt the Knights the most. “Twenty turnovers is a killer,” he noted. “We had 12 steals and 20 turnovers. That needs to be the other way around. That’s the reality of it. Our turnovers are getting better, but not where they need to be. I want to see five or six turnovers a game.”

Weekley, despite being unhappy about his team’s performance, as well in some aspects, was happy overall about the result.

“Our foul shooting was atrocious tonight [Wednesday]. Thirteen for 34, if we make those, the game is over,” Weekley said. “But we had to hang on. It was a good win for us. Anytime we can beat a school that is bigger than us, it’s a good win.”

Lesta Kocher led the way for Valley with an excellent all-around game with 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Aly Weber was the other ‘Jills player in double figures with 10 points. Hannah Shaw added eight, followed by Jackie Greathouse with seven. Brittany Guthrie scored six, Morgan Starkey finished with five, while Tiffany Hayes and Lauren Ueltschy contributed four points each.

Jones and Heather Suter both scored in double figures for the Silver Knights, finishing with 14 and 12 points, respectively. Lohri netted seven points, followed by Chelsea Musgrave and Sami Jones with five points each.

Lynsey Casteel and Allison Clegg scored four points with Keri Suter netting three to round out the team.

Clegg pulled down nine rebounds and Musgrave had four steals.

“I tell you what, for a rebuilding year, this Tyler outfit is a solid ballclub,” said Weekley. “They hit the boards hard. They out-rebounded us tonight and they out-hustled us.”