I-A GIRLS: Harris, Spring Valley hold off Clark

Don’t mind Spring Valley freshman Kayla Harris if she plays with a chip on her shoulder. She has something to prove.

After coming in third in the voting for Sunset League Most Valuable Player — behind Faith Lutheran’s Haley Vinson and Clark’s Bobbi Floyd — Harris is using what she feels was a snub to hoist the Grizzlies on her shoulders in the Division I-A Southern Region tournament.

That was evident Thursday, as Harris scored 18 points and tightened her team’s defense by guarding Floyd in the second half, to help lead the Grizzlies to a 67-60 home win.

Spring Valley (27-1) will face Faith Lutheran (22-5) in the region final at 6 p.m. Saturday at Spring Valley.

Essence Booker, also a freshman, led Spring Valley with 24 points.

“Essence led us offensively, but Kayla, it was her defense that really did it for us,” Spring Valley coach Billy Hemberger said. “Credit to Bobbi, she was incredible and unstoppable in the game, but Kayla is using the postseason voting as an edge right now.”

Said Harris: “They’re seniors, I understand that, but I push myself as hard as they do, or even harder because I’m a freshman. And I want this as bad as they want it.”

Floyd scored 29 points to lead the Chargers (12-14). Shyanne Carter-Wade added 16 points for Clark.

Ahead 29-26 at the half, the Grizzlies used a 13-6 run to start the second half. But it was the decision to switch Harris defensively, and put her on Floyd, that helped keep Clark’s scoring to a minimum.

After scoring 13 in the first half, Floyd managed just one field goal in the third quarter.

“In the locker room at halftime, I told coach ‘I got Bobbi,’” Harris said. “In order to make the game big, you have to go at the best player. And me putting the team on my back, putting defense on her, she got frustrated quickly. I just had to push my team and push myself in order to guard her.”

The plan worked, as the Grizzlies outscored the Chargers in the third quarter, 17-9, to open up a commanding 46-35 lead.

“At halftime we talked about our defense,” Hemberger said. “We were taking the easy way out, reaching on everything. They earned every single one of those fouls. We fouled them every moment; we kept bailing them out. I told my girls we needed to go back to basics, play defense.

“I reminded them at halftime that if we don’t win this game, we’re going home. And we don’t want to ‘go home’ on our floor, specifically. So they came out doing what we do, and that’s press and run. We wear people down, and we’re a pretty deep team with athletes.”

The Chargers struggled to break Spring Valley’s press, and ended up shooting just 18 of 55 (32.7 percent) from the field. They also made just 24 of 45 (53.3 percent) from the free-throw line.

The Grizzlies shot worse, hitting just 22 of 68 (32.3 percent), but made 20 of 29 free throws (68 percent).

Faith Lutheran 59, Chaparral 37 — Vinson scored 22 points to lead the Crusaders to victory over the Cowboys.

The Crusaders used a 17-2 second quarter run to put the game out of reach, taking a 33-13 lead into the locker at halftime.

Morgan Hill had 15 points for Faith Lutheran.

Marcia Hawkins had 16 points to lead the Cowboys (19-7).