Published: November 11, 2009 09:28 am      

Era cruises past Valley View in season opener

By DARIN ALLRED

Register Sports Editor



ERA — The Era Lady Hornets jumped out to an 11-0 lead and never looked back en route to a 57-32 win over the Valley View Lady Eagles Tuesday in the season opener for both teams.

The win also marked the first career victory for new Era head coach Steven Campbell, who is also the head coach of the Lady Hornet cross country team that will run at the UIL State meet Saturday.

Era (1-0) did plenty of running against Valley View, using their man-to-man pressure defense to force several turnovers. The Lady Hornets led 17-5 after the first quarter and were up 34-9 late in the first half.

Era had a 6-0 lead less than two minutes into the game after buckets by Cheree Kiser, Carlee Black and Cortney Seay. Later, Shea Knabe had a field goal and Kiser followed with a 3-pointer to make it 11-0.

Valley View's first point came at the 4:17 mark on a free throw by Taylor Felderhoff, who will also be running at the UIL cross country meet this weekend. After a steal and a layup by Knabe made it 13-1, the Lady Eagles (0-1) fnally got their first field goal on a bucket by Lauren Holt with 2:05 remaining in the opening period. Kenzie Pierce later added a basket, but Era got layups by Kiser and Black to lead 17-5 after one.

The lead grew to 23-5 early in the second as Kiser got a steal and a layup, and Leah Doughty and Jacy Steelman each added buckets for Era. Valley View post Taylor Dowd got her first points of the game midway through the second quarter, but Era answered with buckets by Dana Schumacher and Doughty to increase their lead to 20 (27-7).

After two free throws by Valley View's Chelsea Chloer, Era went on a 7-0 run that included a free throw and layup by Seay, layup by Schumacher and a steal and easy layup by Knabe to push the lead to 34-9. Valley View closed out the half with a basket by Pierce and free throws by Dowd to make it 34-13 at halftime.

The Lady Eagles stayed cold in the third quarter, not scoring a bucket until the 1:22 mark by Elizabeth Anding. The only other offense they could muster were free throws by Dowd, Pierce and Haley Leflore.

Era, meanwhile, got 3-pointers by Knabe and Kiser, and buckets by Black and Steelman to push their lead to 30 (50-20) at the end of the period.

Valley View finally got their offense working early in the fourth period as Holt had a pair of buckets and Anding had another to make it 50-26. The two teams traded field goals after that. Casey Hudson had a bucket, Seay swished a 3-pointer and Knabe hit two free throws for Era. For Valley View, Dowd had a bucket in the lane, and Pierce and Katie Hinzler each added baskets.

Kiser led Era with 18 points, while Knabe added 9, Black and Seay each had 8, Doughty, Steelman and Schumacher all scored 4, and Hudson added 2.

For Valley View, Dowd had 8, Pierce scored 7, Holt pitched in 6, Anding had 4, Leflore, Hinzler and Cloer each scored 2 and Felderhoff added 1.