Many expected that the matchup of the two and seven seeds of the Class 2A Girls State Tournament would be a good one as each team came into the contest averaging 50 points a game. On Thursday night at Bramlage Coliseum that was not the case as the Valley Falls girls won going away 52-37 over Hill City.

The Lady Dragons started off the ballgame by going 5 of 10 from the floor while holding Hill City to just 3 of 11 to take a 13-7 lead after the first quarter. Heading into the second frame leading scorer Ali Brown had not found the scoring column for Valley Falls. That quickly changed in the second as the junior dropped in 10 points while fellow junior Callie Watson added four of her own to give the Lady Dragons a 30-23 lead at the break.

Hill City then came out firing on all cylinders out of halftime and quickly trimmed the lead down to four just minutes into the third quarter. Valley Falls never panicked though and junior Lauren Harrington scored five points in the third to push the lead back to nine at 38-29 heading into the final stanza. The Lady Dragons continued to spread the wealth in the final frame and this time freshman Rachel Frakes was the beneficiary as she dropped in six points to put the game out of reach and allow Valley to advance.

The loss ended Hill City’s season with a 19-5 overall record as they shot just 27% in the contest. Amanda Conway led the Lady Ringnecks in scoring as the junior compiled 19 points while fellow junior Lexie McDowell had 10.

Valley Falls forced Hill City into 11 turnovers in the ballgame while forcing the Lady Ringnecks to take tough shots all throughout the contest. The Lady Dragons really spread the points around on the offensive side of the ball paced by Ali Brown’s 14 points. Rachel Frakes also entered double figures herself as she finished with 11 points while Lauren Harrington chipped in 9 points as well.

With the win, Valley Falls is 22-2 and will take on 22-2 Moundridge, who knocked off Chase County 47-38 on Thursday in the three-six matchup. That semifinal contest is set to tip off at 6:30 on Friday night with live coverage on KAIR 93.7 FM and online at www.mscsports.net.