The No. 5 Danville Blue Devils won their first two rounds of the Division IV Central 1 Sectional/District Tournament, taking the Sectional title against No. 8 Ridgedale after an opening round win over No. 14 Liberty Christian.
“This is our 11th consecutive sectional championship, so the experience of making a tournament run can be a huge advantage,” said Coach Proper. “Moving forward, we need to continue to be disruptive and physical on the defensive end, and all of our girls need to continue to have a scorer's mindset to put pressure on our opponents' defense.”
Danville 51, Liberty Christian 21
Ella Proper hit four threes in a 51-21 win over Liberty Christian, leading the Blue Devils to the first round win and becoming the Blue Devil leader in threes for a season.
Proper started off the scoring for the Blue Devils with a three from the top of the arc to put Danville up 3-0. They tacked on another point, and then Grace Gronberg displayed some great rim protection skills with a block on a baseline jumper. The Blue Devils put up four more points, and Gronberg then continued to show more defensive prowess with her second block of the game. Danville continued to roll through the opening quarter, and went up 20-2 on a back-to-back threes by Proper. Danville had a 22-4 lead after one quarter.
In the second quarter, Proper drilled another shot from deep to go up 29-7. They continued to dominate the game, and made it s 33-7 game when Kylee Hess scored on a fast break coming off a steal and assist by Proper. The scoring barrage continued with Jaylyn Smith stealing the ball and racing to the basket for a fast break layup to go up 39-7 with 1:55 left in the half. Danville outscored Liberty Christian 17-5 in the second quarter, and it was as 39-9 lead at the end of two quarters.
“Our pressure forced Liberty into a lot of turnovers early and we went into the half up 39-9,” Coach Proper said. “We backed things off a bit in the 2nd half in terms of defensive pressure.”
Proper scored on a fast break layup to go up 43-11 in the third quarter with 5:30 left. Danville outscored Liberty Christian 9-2 in the third quarter to take a commanding 48-11 lead after three. In the fourth quarter, Ashley Smith hit a three pointer to go up 51-15. Liberty Christian scored the next six points but Danville held on for a huge opening round win.
Danville shot 34% and 28% from three, while holding Liberty Christian to 24% and no threes. They led 17-2 in assists and 23-1 in steals.
Proper led all scorers with 18 points in the win. She also had five steals, four assists, three rebounds and a block.
Gronberg had 11 points, six boards, two steals, two blocks and an assist. Hess scored six points, and also tallied six assists, four steals and three rebounds.
“It was a great team win with every one of our players getting quality minutes,” Coach Proper said.
Danville 52, Ridgedale 33
Proper led the scoring charge again with a 15 point showing that included three makes from downtown in a 52-33 win over the Rockets in the second round of the tournament.
Danville went up 6-2 in the first quarter when Proper sank a wide open three. She then had a steal, which ultimately led to a Broegan Staats three from the corner to make it a 9-2 game. Moments later, Proper recorded her second steal of the game, and it was clear that Danville was in the driver’s seat. They led 12-8 at the end of one quarter.
In the second quarter it was a 13-5 advantage for the Blue Devils, who went up 25-13 at halftime. They didn’t let up in the third quarter with a 13-4 advantage, and the Blue Devils were able to cruise to a 19 point win.
“I thought our defense caused Ridgedale a lot of problems all night,” Coach Proper said. “We were fairly disruptive and physical, which never allowed them to get into an offensive flow.
Proper led all scorers with 15 points, doing an excellent job getting to the line and making free throws going 6-for-9. She also had five boards, five assists and four steals. Hess had nine points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal. Smith added eight points, six boards, an assist and a steal in the win.
“Ella once again hit some big shots when we needed them, and her and Kylee did a nice job of hitting their teammates with great passes for scores,” Coach Proper said.
