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The Lady Broncs varsity girls’ team had a chance to take the crown on Friday night as they entertained Rosamond. The Lady Roadrunners were the only ones to put a blemish on Kern Valley’s HDL mark.
The showdown, did not start well for the Lady Broncs. The turnovers, combined with struggling in the offensive end led to Rosamond taking the early lead. When the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter Kern Valley was trailing 16-10. The offensive woes continued for the Lady Broncs as the two teams took the court for the second quarter. Rosamond was able to put some points on the board, they would score 11. Kern Valley on the other hand went ice cold from the field. Two points in the quarter saw them lose touch with their opponent and trail at the break by 15 points at 27-12.
Things continued to go bad coming out of the locker room for the second half. When Rosamond wen ton a 9-0 run, Kern Valley had no answers. When the third came to an end it was now 48-23 for the Lady Roadrunners. The Lady Broncs were outscored 21-11 in the third. Heading to the final quarter it was close to being in the bag for Rosamond. A 10-8 advantage for the Lady Roadrunners put the game in the books. With that the HDL standings were all knotted at the top with identical 11-2 marks.
Jessie Bunting was able to secure a double-double in the matchup. She led the Kern Valley squad in scoring with 13 points. She completed the double-double by grabbing 21 rebounds. Her final tally on the night was handing out a pair of assists. All the scoring for Elli Jeans came from behind the three-point arc. She hit three times for her nine points. Jeans dished put three assists and grabbed four boards. Ava Elliott followed with five points. She collected 12 rebounds and was credited with a pair of steals. Leenah Troller and Scarlett Russell finished off the scoring for the Lady Broncs with two points apiece.
Other stat lines for Kern Valley were Troller had three rebounds. Jayda Bushling finished the night with five boards, three assists, and four steals. Ashley Plante had two rebounds and one assist, while Emmalyn Bechtel had one board, one assist, and one steal. Russell recorded one steal, while Naomi Tapia and Jade Montes each had one rebound.
Head coach Bill Gallis said, “Very tough night. Rosamond is an extremely talented team, and they are well-coached. They had all the answers tonight and seemed to be everywhere on the court. When they’re knocking down those three-pointers, they are a tough team to defend. The girls are upset, but I told them we still have the league title in sight on Tuesday and the playoffs coming up on Friday. We’ll be ready to bounce back come Monday.”
Earlier in the week Kern Valley was at home versus Frazier Mountain. The Lady Broncs put on a dominating performance as the clobbered the Lady Falcons 75-22. Frazier Mountain hit a three-pointer in the first quartet to go up 3-2. That would be the last time they would lead in the game. And it would be their only score in the first quarter. When it was over the first quarter score was 29-3 for Kern Valley. By halftime the increase was a 43-14 score.
The rest of the way the Lady Broncs kept dropping in shots, while Frazier Mountain struggled their way through the second half. In the end the Lady Falcons were held to eight second-half points. Kern Valley scored 32 points to run away with the lop-sided victory.
Kern Valley scoring: Elliott 27, Troller 13 (2-three-pointers), Montes 10 (3-three-pointers), Bunting 9 (three-pointer), Jeans 7 (three-pointer), Tapia 6, Russell 3. Assists: Troller 5, Tapia 4, Jeans 4, Bunting 3, Montes 2, Bechtel 2. Rebounding: Montes 11 (completes her double-double), Bunting 8, Elliott 8, Troller 7, Bechtel 5, Russell 5, Jeans 4, Tapia 2.
Gallis said, “The girls did a good job of looking to make the extra pass tonight. We had girls cutting to the basket all game long and converted numerous easy buckets. It was a good tune-up game for Friday with Rosamond coming to town.”
The Lady Broncs concluded their regular season on Tuesday when they took on Cal City at home.
