jkkreutzer

PaNDA thanks, as always, for the great pictures, and the nice words.

The last time Villa won the conference and had a chance at regionals was the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 seasons. Both times they blew it by losing in the preliminary rounds in districts, mainly because they did not have the experience at playing better teams. One major difference between those teams, however, and this year's team is that the teams 8 years ago were composed of girls who were three and four sport athletes and had never concentrated on basketball. The three dominant Villa seniors have been playing AAU ball since 4th grade, have successfully played in super regional and national tournaments, therefore, they have much more experience against tough opponents than Villas's teams in the past. While it normally provides an appropriate level of competition for Villa playing in the third division, it was a shame that for the past several years when the team had a few better players, Villa did have to play at least 12 games a year against the conference opponents which, except for Ludlow, provided not much competition. I think it will be a closer game than many think and that it really doesn't matter who wins Monday night (it's not like Villa can make a serious run beyond the second round of regionals) because this team has achieved its goals for the year. Go Villa!

Anybody have the final score?

Anyone out there know who won?

Villa Madonna has been honoring the other team's seniors with flowers on senior night since the late 1990s

:dancingpa:dancingpaSenior Chelsea Case scored her 1000th point in the first quarter of Villa Madonna's victory over Calvary Christian Thursday evening. The monumental point was on the second of two free throws, quite fitting for the player who led Kentucky in free throw percentage last year. She joins fellow seniors and best buds Kim Schroer and Amy Kreutzer in scoring their 1000th point this year. Villa won the game easily, which culminated an undefeated conference season. Congratulations, Chelsea!!!: :clap:

Villa led the entire game and won every quarter. They managed to hold Janzen to 4 in the first half, 14 for the game. Villa's scoring was pretty evenly spread between the usual top-scorng three seniors with Schroer having 18, Case 17 and Kreutzer 14. The win makes Villa the top seed for the 34th district tournament, which means that they will probably face St. Henry again for the district championship. The team is also looking at its :dancingpafirst ever appearance in the Regional tournament. Congrats to Coach Don Shields.

In the same game as Amy's 1000th, Chelsea Case set a new school record for career blocks. She presently ileads the state in blocks. Moreover, she is 98 points from 1000 and is on track to make that in about 5-6 games. That would mean that three seniors from VMA (Amy, Chelsea and Kim Schroer) will have made the "1000 point club" this season, which is quite fitting considering the number of years they've played together.

I think there is a more even balance among more of the teams in the 9th this year than in the past. I think the semi-final games will be NCC v. Villa and Holy Cross v. St. Henry and both of those games should be fun to watch. Finals: NCC v St. Henry and NCC comes out on top.

One interesting aspect of this matchup is that three top-scoring seniors from Villa (Blue Lightning, by the way)--Schroer, Case and Kreutzer, have played for the past 6-7 years on the same AAU team (Club Cougars) as Gamm and Janzen of St. Henry. So, obviously, these players know each other very well.

Villa moves to 4-0 with an easy win in it's second conference and first district win. Outstanding defense held Ludlow scoreless in the second quarter and to two points in the fourth quarter, while the scoring was pretty evenly spread betwen four of Villa's starters, Kiley Stoll, Kim Schroer, Chelsea Case and Amy Kreutzer.:dancingpa:dancingpa

Way to go, Kim! I'm sure I speak for all of your Villa Madonna and Club Cougars teammates and parents in congratulating you on this accomplishment. And, as always, it was done with style and class!

Villa Madonna cruised through the competition today to take the Ninth Region championship beating Dayton, Heritage, Ludlow and Bellevue in pool play and then beating Dayton in the semi-finals and Ludlow in the finals--without losing a single game. Villla has now posted 14 straight wins with its only loss in its first game vs. St. Henry. It will be interesting to see how they do in this week's games vs. Beechwood on Tuesday and Highlands on Thursday!

Villa may surprise some people this year. They were definitely intimidated in their first game of the season vs. St.Henry, but they beat Bishop Brossart very easily last night. Wtih Coach Kitchen's years of experience along with some new talent from some younger players combined with the experience of four senior starters, they have a good chance at winning the Division III conference and more.

Thanks for posting the pix. It was a great game and all the players and coaches should be proud.