After making waves in Class A girls basketball by beating the #2 ranked West Central Trojans in the Region 3A tournament, the magical run for the Tri-Valley Mustangs came to an end in the SoDak 16 against the Winner Warriors on Thursday, March 4th. The Warriors defeated Tri-Valley 50-35 in Wagner.
The Mustang game plan was a slow-paced tempo, and it worked as Tri-Valley held Winner to the second lowest point total of the season. But the Warriors used a strong cull-court pressure defense to spark a game-clinching run in the third quarter.
Tri-Valley took an early 5-2 lead in the first quarter, but Winner went on a 7-4 run tying the game 9-9 at the end of the quarter. The Warriors then outscored the Mustangs 19-10 in the second quarter for a 28-19 halftime lead.
Winner scored the first three points of the third quarter for a 31-19 lead. Tri-Valley went on a 7-0 run to cut the Warrior lead to 31-26, but the Mustangs weren’t able to score again in the third quarter. Winner finished the quarter on a 6-0 run for a 37-26 lead. They also scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to push the lead to 41-26. That 10-0 run was enough to secure the victory for Winner.
Tri-Valley’s season ends with a record of 13-10.