LIVINGSTON MANOR — To close out the 2024 Audra Sipple Spath Tournament, Sullivan West and Tri-Valley faced off in the Championship round at Livingston Manor. The game was a grueling slugfest between the two squads with neither defense willingly giving up points throughout the game. Sullivan West was able to build an 11-point lead by halftime and never looked back as they went on to win 31-20.

Tri-Valley opened with the first bucket of the night, but they would relinquish their only lead early on as Sullivan West outscored the Bears 10-4 in the first quarter. Sullivan West’s defense kept the Tri-Valley offense out of rhythm, and the Bulldogs were able to get some long range shots to fall to give them the six-point lead after the first.

Buckets came at a premium all night, with Sullivan West converting just four shots from the floor in the second quarter. Tri-Valley, however, was only able to convert three shots from the floor as Sullivan West extended their lead to 21-10 by halftime.

The game remained a much lower scoring affair for both teams in the second half, with Tri-Valley adding just two points to their total in the third, while Sullivan West added nine, taking a 30-12 lead into the fourth quarter.

Sullivan West’s offense was unable to do much in the fourth, content with using their possessions to drain the shot clock as they only added one point in the final frame. Tri-Valley attempted a late comeback bid, but the deficit was too large to overcome, and the game ended 31-20.

Sullivan West’s Nicole Reeves led all scorers with 15 points. Tri-Valley’s scoring was spread out with seven players scoring, but none totaled more than four points.

“It’s always a scrappy, physical game when we play Sullivan West,” Tri-Valley Coach Jason Closs said. “Sullivan West hit some shots early and they are a good team, they’ll do well in the post season. Today, they just played better. Bottom line.”

“We knew what they had and we game-planned around that,” Sullivan West Coach Pat Donovan said. “Our defense did a good job and we rebounded well today. It’s always fun to play these guys. We’ve come a long way since we played them earlier this year and so have they.”