Over the holiday break, Valley Central’s girls’ basketball team had Cornwall where they wanted them in Wallkill Thursday during the opening round of the 2018 Coaches VS Cancer Tournament.

“We had them up by 10 in the third quarter,” said Randy Axtell, Valley Central’s coach. “We were doing well, and we let it slip away.”

But the Lady Vikings recovered to lead 33-30 at the end of the third quarter before gaining more distance in the fourth quarter to win 47-31.

“Defensively, we turned it up a notch and did well,” said Axtell. “What was great is that we had a lot of different people playing, and everybody on the team was pulling for each other.”

Valley Central battled Cornwall’s full-court press through the afternoon, and were limited to one player scoring in double digits as Deanna Murdock led the Lady Vikings with 13 points, 9 of which were scored in the fourth quarter.

Shaina Cooney had 9 points, and Mackenzie Ross and Maddie Feller each scored 8 points.

“The girls are really coming together as a unit,” said Axtell after his team improved to 6-2, “and I like to see that.”

On Saturday, everything came together as the Vikings jumped off to a 14-4 lead in the tournament final, and beat Wallkill 51-30. Feller led the scoring with 10 points while Ross and Erin Rose Cooney had six apiece for the win. Molly O’Hare led the Lady Panthers with six points each.

Valley Central returns after break to play Kingston Thursday and O’Neill Saturday during a pair of home games. Next week, Valley Central travels to Warwick for an important league game.

“We have Warwick Jan. 9,” said Axtell. “That’s a huge game down at Warwick for us.”

Warwick and Valley Central play a second time when the Wildcats come to Montgomery Feb. 12.