The Valley Central girls’ basketball team was not bothered by the early start to the 2019-20 season.

The Vikings came out of the gates strong and opened the 20th annual Corinne Feller Memorial Tip-Off tournament with a 52-24 win over the Middletown Middie Bears on Saturday.
The tournament will end at 2 p.m. Saturday when the Vikings face the Burke Catholic Eagles, who defeated Marlboro, 52-40, in the first game.

“Being able to come out here and win and win for our school and our Feller tournament means a lot to all of us,” said Erin Rose Cooney, who led the Vikings with 11 points.
The Vikings, who have a core of eight returning players, showed they had no trouble getting out of the blocks just 12 days after preseason opened.

“It definitely feels reassuring getting out here early,” Cooney said. “Usually we have at least two weeks of practice under our belts before we compete in a game. This definitely felt different, but I still felt we were in a good spot to play our best.”

The Vikings never trailed, and the game was only tied once. Cooney knocked down a 3 to start the game, and then Middletown’s Alyze Skyers answered with one of her own.
Skyers led Middletown with seven points.

Valley Central took the lead for good when Katie Crofoot converted a three-point play. Then, after Middletown’s Keyara Maxwell pulled the Middie Bears (0-1) to within a point, the Vikings went on a 10-run to take a 16-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“We did what we had to do,” Valley Central coach Randy Axtell said. “They came out pretty tough early. We were giving up things that we normally wouldn’t, but I was pressing our girls to mix and match different things defensively.”

Two days earlier, the Vikings scrimmaged at Our Lady of Lourdes and Axtell said the Vikings had 20 field goals and 20 assists, and without checking back at the video on Saturday’s game, he suspected a similar result.
The Vikings had 18 total field goals, including five 3-pointers on Saturday.

“I think we had quite a few assists tonight and that tells me we’re sharing the ball,” Axtell said. “They’re working for each other and we don’t have a lot of selfishness going on.”
They also have a balanced scoring attack. Cooney may have been the only player in double digits, but three players were within five points of her.

“Last year, out of our nine main players, eight of them scored over 15 points in at least one game,” Axtell said. “It just depends on who’s hot and that’s our job, to figure out who has the hot hand that night.”