Bureau Valley loses to Riverdale, takes it as learning experience

MANLIUS - Jon Henegar and the Bureau Valley girls basketball team won their first game together on Monday.

Now, they’ve lost their first game together, falling to Riverdale 56-34 on the second night of the Bureau Valley Thanksgiving Tournament on Wednesday in the Storm Cellar.

Henegar said they will use the lessons from playing a good Riverdale team and learn from it.

“Riverdale’s a really good team. I think they won 22 games last year. They brought back a lot of the same players. they’re young, but they’re very talented,” Henegar said. “They start four sophomores and all four are really talented. I told the girls that’s the kind of team we want to play a similar style to. They get up and down the floor and they play really solid defense.”

The Rams (2-0) moved into the driver’s seat for the championship with Rock Falls (0-2) left to play on Friday.

Riverdale raced out to a quick 8-0 lead before Bureau Valley’s Libby Endress nailed a 3-pointer.

The sophomore point guard added another hoop to cap the Storm’s scoring in a 14-5 first quarter.

Endress continued to spark the Storm the rest of the game as she’s settling into the floor leader for the Storm.

“Libby does a lot of things. She’s one of those quiet leaders,” Henegar said. “She’s not going to say a lot. She leads by example. She gets on the floor. She hustles all the time. She’s got a next-play mentality. When she misses a shot, she moves on to the next play.”

Freshman Brooke Helms and Maddie Wetzell hit back-to-back 3-pointers late in the second quarter to draw the Storm within 30-18 at halftime.

Endress got the Storm started in the third quarter with a 2-pointer and a 3-pointer to draw the Storm within 30-23.

Riverdale used a 9-0 run to go up 39-23, but Endress scored on a drive and then dished to senior Bella Birkey in transition to cut the Rams’ lead to 39-27 at quarter’s end.

The fourth quarter saw the Rams outscore the Storm 17-7 to win going away.

Despite the loss, Henegar saw plenty of good things to take away from the game.

“We had some good runs. One of the keys to the game we talked about was having some composure. We knew they were going to press and i thought we handled it petty well overall,” he said. “We got a little tired there in the second half, but I thought overall we did a pretty good job of handling the pressure, getting the shots we wanted. Didn’t make as many shots we wanted to tonight, but we got the shots we wanted.

“Defensively, we’ve got some things to work on, but we had some good moments on that end of the floor, too.”

Riverdale’s Amarah Coleman led all scorers with 13 points with teammates Cayleigh Hungate adding 12 and Jillian Murray 10.

Endress and Helms each scored nine points to lead the Storm, Birkey added four points while Lesleigh Maynard, Emma Musche and Wetzell netted three each on 3-pointers.

The Storm will wrap up the tournament at 7 p.m. Friday against former Three Rivers rival Erie-Prophetstown (1-1). The Panthers beat Rock Falls in Wednesday’s opener.

“I’m excited we got this to start the year. It’s nice to have three home games to start the year against quality teams, too,” Henegar said. “All three teams this week are really good. It’s nice to get home fans here and see the girls play early in the year.”