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Brandon Valley junior guard Alyvia Padget saw her before anyone else did.
With the Lynx leading Pierre T.F. Riggs 8-6 less than four minutes into the first quarter, Padgett caught an inbounds pass deep on the left wing. She held the ball for a couple seconds then used her crossover to create separation near the 3-point line before zipping a pass between four Governor defender to a wide-open Gracie Salter who laid the ball up and in.
Padgett found Salter consistently in the halfcourt and in transition for easy buckets throughout Brandon Valley's 69-36 quarterfinal win, but it was Salter who used her speed and 5-foot-11 frame to overpower her defenders. Salter scored 17 points on an efficient 8-of-10 shooting and hauled in nine rebounds.
“She just brings a ton of effort,” Brandon Valley girls basketball coach Mike Zerr said of Salter. “She's a super humble kid. She’s not somebody that seeks the spotlight. She just wants to do her best and do her job for the team.”
The junior forward’s buckets made up the majority of Padgett’s six assists. Padget also scored 16 points.
“We’ve been playing together for a while, so we know when we're open,” Padgett said of the connection with Salter. “And we always see each other, and we trust each other.”
Salter echoed Padgett’s sentiment.
“Yeah we have a connection,” she said. “I don't know how to explain it, but we just know.”
Brandon Valley opened the game with an aggressive press that forced eight turnovers in the first quarter alone.
“(Our full court press) speeds up the opposing team,” Salter said. “We just get steals and layups, and that's where a lot of our points come from.”
It was a point of emphasis to start in a full-court press but as the game went on the Lynx backed off just a bit. Brandon Valley created 26 total turnovers against Pierre and scored 30 points off turnovers. The fastbreaks also allowed Brandon Valley to dominate the paint, outscoring the Governors down low 34-12.
“With the athletes that we have, that's an opportunity we have that gets us up, gets us engaged in what's going on,” Zerr said. “And I think it leads to even more activity in the halfcourt for us too.”
The Lynx was excellent in the halfcourt as well. Although they surrendered some open jumpers from the perimeter, Brandon Valley kept the pressure on Pierre’s outstanding shooters. The Lynx held the Governors to just 29% shooting from the field and 26% from three.
“We really wanted to make it hard for them if they were going to shoot it,” Zerr said. “Sometimes with great shooters like that, it's like, hope they miss, you know but again, that all starts with just our energy and stuff that we can control defensively, and our communication.”
Brandon Valley will face Washington in the semifinals at 7:45 p.m. MT.
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Brandon Valley girls basketball beats Pierre to advance to state semis
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