This past Friday was an exciting night filled with lots of tension fueled by rivalry. Both the PV boy’s and girl’s basketball teams played against long time rival Bettendorf High School, and both teams fought to the end in close games.
The PV boys lost a close one, falling 51-42 and going 1-2 in the MAC. Brian Dayman, one of PV’s leading scorers, said they knew it was going to be close, but they just couldn’t put in any shots. “We just have to make shots, and shots weren’t falling that night,” Dayman said. “The 13 of us knew that we could win the game. The coaches had a good game plan, we just didn’t execute it as well as we needed to.” Dayman said the game being a rivalry game helped the team try and step up, saying, “it’s definitely a different feeling than every other game. Everyone tries to step up their game a bit because most of the town will be there watching.”
The PV girls won a close game that night, edging the Bulldogs 37-34 and improving to 4-1 in the MAC. Ellie Spelhaug, one of the leading scorers for the girls that night, noted their defense that night was outstanding. “We focused on our defense and bringing out energy right away,” Spelhaug said. “We held a team to 34 points that averages about 58 points a game and forced them into 20 turnovers.” Spelhaug added that their defense is probably what kept them in the game. “We have a bunch of hard working girls willing to do the dirty work on defense and get things done.” As for motivation to win, Spelhaug said the fact they were playing Bettendorf was enough. “Bettendorf is always a big game for PV no matter what sport. We don’t need many motivation other than that we play Bettendorf. I think our performance is always there for rivalry games.”
The next game for the boys will be on Dec. 20 at Muscatine. The girls will play Muscatine on Dec. 20 as well at home. Let’s get out there and cheer on the Spartans through the rest of their season!