GRAHAMSVILLE, NY — As the Lady Bears of Tri-Valley (9-10) closed out their regular season of hoops against the James I. O’Neill Lady Raiders (9-7) on February 23, both coaches described their respective girls’ varsity bucketeers as “scrappy.”

The game was a bit lopsided, as the visitors outpaced the home team in all four periods (19-11, 9-6 when the Lady Bears briefly rallied, 13-7 and 17-2) on the way to a 58-26 victory.

Robert McIvor, coach of the Lady Raiders, said his team made the sectionals a couple of weeks ago by defeating Eldred.

He said about the Lady Raiders, “We’re scrappy, we don’t go away, we work hard, and we’re resilient. We rise to challenges, the girls fight, and in the sectionals, we’ll get after it again.”

Jason Closs, helmsman of the Tri-Valley team, also referred to the Lady Bears as scrappy, as he explained about the team’s modus operandi. “That’s our MO—play tough, scrappy defense, and use our defense to make our offense.”

Reflecting on the regular season, Closs said, “It was a tough battle—a lot of bigger schools this year, between A and AA, seven bigger schools [versus] five last year—but that should help us going into the playoffs.”

The team is a scrappy bunch, he said. They’ll “play tough, play a lot of transitional basketball, and use our athleticism to our advantage.”