Behrends' hot shooting propels CV girls

PEETZ, Colo. – Who would know better than a coach's daughter that practice makes perfect?

Riding the hot hand of senior Jill Behrends, the Creek Valley High girls' basketball team (3-4, 1-1) stormed into Carlile Gymnasium in Peetz and cruised to a 54-38 win Tuesday night over the hometown Bulldogs (3-4, 1-1).

Behrends, the daughter of Creek Valley boys' coach Roger Behrends, clicked at an impressive 43 percent from behind the arc on her way to scoring a game-high 22 points. Jessie Straber and Allie Blackwelder reched double figures also with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

"I practiced a lot over the weekend and I was hitting a lot of shots," Behrends said. "Making all those shots over the weekend gave me a lot of confidence coming in today. Usually I'm thinking, 'I hope I make some.' Tonight I was thinking, 'They're going to go in.' "

Mallori Bjerke was tops on the Bulldogs' scoring sheet with 15 points, while Jodi Schumacher added 11.

Despite the explosive night from Behrends, the Bulldogs stayed close in a high-scoring opening quarter. There were three ties and six lead changes in the opening eight minutes. When the dust settled, the score stood at 17-17 after the first quarter.

The girls from Chappell gained the upper hand in quarter two. When Behrends drained her first two shots from downtown and Hannah Schievelbein added a free throw, the Storm quickly gained a seven-point lead and never again trailed.

"In the lockerroom, we told the girls we had to know where (Behrends) was all of the time," said Bulldogs' head coach Janelle Cass. "We still have to cut down on our turnovers. That's still a big problem for us. But I was very proud of how the girls shot from the free-throw line."

The Bulldogs shot 80 percent from the line on 16 of 20 shooting. After their high-octane offense of the first quarter, however, Peetz grew cold from the field in the second. The Dogs scored just four points in the frame, while the Storm kept up the pressure with a 29-21 lead at the half.

"We have a lot of mental things to work on and as a senior that's something I should be able to help with," Bjerke said. "But I think we really have a strong group here that will continue to improve as the season goes along."

Creek Valley gained a 15-point lead on multiple occasions in the third quarter. But a layup by Schumacher and a buzzer beating three-pointer off the glass by Bjerke narrowed the gap to 39-29 after three quarters.

"The younger kids really stepped up tonight," Storm head coach Bill Wilber said. "We used three teams tonight. Since we had a lot of girls with colds, I was trying to get them as much rest as possible. We're still making a lot of those little mistakes though. I told them how good we could be if we just cleaned a few things up."

Behrends opened the final quarter with her sixth trey of the game. The Storm finished the job with a 15-9 advantage in the fourth.

Peetz takes to the road for their next contest when it travels to meet the Brgiggsdale Falcons on Friday The Storm hope to win their third contest in a row on Saturday when they host Minatare.