MONTICELLO – Ellenville took an early lead after some quick inside the paint passing to score open layups. It seemed like Ellenville was utilizing specific and infrequent passing meanwhile Tri-Valley relied on solid ball movement, but both teams looked to be evenly matched in their different strategies. Ellenville held a slight lead going into the second quarter, but the game could go either way. Tri-Valley was able to close Ellenville’s lead to within one basket early in the 2nd quarter. It became a game of score with each team matching basket for basket from the opposing side. With a foul line jump shot, Allyson Chevalier of the Bears helped her team take the lead for the first time in the game. Tri-Valley went into halftime up 18-17 over Ellenville. 

Both teams came out of the locker room with even more hustle. The game was still very close and going back and forth, but Tri-Valley held a slight edge. Ellenville wasn’t going down easy, and in the middle of the 3rd quarter, they were able to score 9-points off of back-to-back steals and convert the possessions into scoring. The Blue Devils took a tight 28-25 lead. Unfortunately for Ellenville, the Bears responded with a 12-point run of their own to end the quarter up 37-30. With just four minutes left, Ellenville again closed the gap to tie Tri-Valley at 39. With just 1 minute left, Tri-Valley was again able to take a multiple-basket lead, but this time it was for good. With only 30 seconds left, it didn’t look hopeful for Ellenville. Tri-Valley finished out the game with a 51-45 win over the Blue Devils. After their win, Tri-Valley Coach Jason Closs said, “It was a good, scrappy game; we had opportunities to push out and take the lead, but they kept catching us. We had opportunities to make foul shots late in the game to put it away.”