Dawgs defense key to dumping Marian

HEGINS - Tri-Valley's identity, no matter the offensive talent of its girls' basketball players, has always been its defense under Bob Felty.

Their January 20 defensive gem against Marian was an effort that had both junior point guard Juli Weber and Felty himself raising their eyebrows and saying, "Wow!"

The unbeaten Dawgs forced the Fillies into 33 turnovers in nearly completely suppressing Marian's offense in a 54-21 Schuylkill League Division II-III crossover victory.

"I don't even know who scored for us tonight because I was so proud of our team defense tonight," Felty said. "I actually had to look in the book to see who scored points for us because I was so proud of our defensive effort that offense really didn't matter."

For the record, center Tara Nahodil led Tri-Valley with 14 points, with Taylor Troutman adding 12 and Weber scoring 10.

In fact, everyone who appeared in the game scored for the Dawgs (16-0, 8-0 D-II).

"We have some talented players, but regardless of that we've always tried to have our identity be our defense," Felty said. "And, the girls have bought into it."

Offensively, Tri-Valley may not have been completely crisp. Chalk that up to a Marian program that also prides itself on its defense.

The Dawgs made just 16-of-48 (.333) from the field. The foul line was a different story, as Tri-Valley connected on 20-of-22 from the charity stripe.

Meanwhile, the Fillies (11-4, 7-1 D-III) could do next to nothing against the Dawgs' man and trap alignments.

"Their defense was superlative," Marian coach Paul Brutto said. "We couldn't do anything offensively. Very aggressive, but on the same token always in the right spot and helping. At times, not many times, we made some nice cuts. There was always someone on backside helping."

Marian was right in it following the first quarter, trailing Tri-Valley 10-7. However, the Dawgs cranked up the defense after Danielle Tristani connected on a 3-pointer with 2:41 left in the first quarter to give the Fillies their only lead of the game at 7-6.

Tri-Valley went on a 33-2 run that lasted until the 6:56 mark of the third quarter. Tristani's driving bucket with 6:40 left in the second quarter was Marian's only field goal over a 19-minute, 45-second span.

The Fillies turned the ball over 23 times in the middle quarters as Weber (6) and Troutman (5) combined for 11 of Tri-Valley's 16 steals in the contest.

"Our defense has been coming along so great lately," Troutman said. "We work together well. It's been great. We come to play and hopefully go to the next level."

Added Weber: "They're a great team. Every single day at practice all we do is defense, defense, defense. We forced back doors. They're a great team offensively."

Any thoughts of a Marian comeback were erased by Weber early in the third quarter as she hit three jumpers - two triples - in 1 minute, 37 seconds of action. By the time the horn sounded to end the third frame, the Dawgs led 39-9.

"Even at halftime he was like, expect them to come back," Weber said. "They never let up. We just put the pressure on. We never let up. It was a great team effort."

The win keeps Tri-Valley two games ahead of Lourdes and three games in front of Minersville in the Division II standings. Tri-Valley has loftier goals than simply a division title or a big regular-season win over a league rival like Marian.

"I told them that I was very proud of our effort because we beat a very good team," Felty said. "But if at the end of the year, the highlight of our season was Game 16, then we didn't achieve our goals for the season."

Meanwhile, Marian held a two-game lead in Division III over Nativity, which beat Schuylkill Haven 51-22.

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