Entering Thursday night, the Pymatuning Valley girls basketball team’s last loss was to Berkshire in the 2008 playoffs. 22 straight wins later the Lakers had their chance for revenge, and the Ashtabula District Semifinal game started off about as well as it could for PV. The Lakers led 29-15 at halftime, but the second half was a complete 180. Berkshire scored 6 of the first 7 points of the half and cut the PV lead to just 35-32 after 3 quarters and continued their intensity through the 4th quarter. PV struggled to score the entire second half and led just 37-36 with just over 4 minutes remaining when Kayla Landis gathered in a hustle rebound and turned it into a layup and a 39-36 lead. But the Lakers as a team woule continue to struggle offensively scoring just 3 points in the final 4 minutes as Berkshire took the lead and held on for a 45-42 win.

Pymatuning Valley’s season comes to a close with a school record 22 wins and a final record of 22-1 and a Sectional Championship.

Ashtabula - The Pymatuning Valley Lady Lakers were back in action on Thursday night facing off with rival Grand Valley and a Division III Girls Sectional Tournament title on the line. The game had all of the ingredients for an upset; PV crushed GV in the regular season, the two schools, separated by about 15 miles, are long-time rivals, and the Lakers were 21-0 and looking for a new school record of 22 wins in a season.

The 1st quarter saw the GV Mustangs jump out to an early lead with Grand Valley leading 14-10 at the end of the 1st. But a Kayla Landis 3-pointer put Pymatuning Valley ahead for good at 17-14 with 6:23 remaining in the half and the Lakers never looked back taking a 25-16 lead into the half. The Lakers made sure Grand Valley would have no reason to hope scoring the first 6 points of the 2nd half and ouscoring GV 18-4 in the 3rd quarter before continuing their dominance into the 4th quarter. When the dust settled, Pymatuning valley came away with a 65-23 victory, outscoring Grand Valley 40-7 in the 2nd half.

Pymatuning Valley was led in scoring by Rose Lane with 24 points and Constance Stech with 16 points. Up next for the Lakers, the #1 seed in the Ashtabula District Tournament, are the Berkshire Badgers, the #2 seed in the bracket. PV will be looking to build on their school record 22 wins and continue their perfect season on Thursday night, March 5th against Berkshire at Lakeside High School in Ashtabula.

Last season Ohio Sports Time followed a local high school boys basketball team all the way to the Division III boys basketball Regional Tournament when the Pymatuning Valley Lakers advanced to the Elite 8. This season the Pymatuning Valley girls basketball team is breaking records. With their win @ Campbell Memorial last week the Lakers completed a perfect 20-0 regular season for the first time since 1996-1997, and entering tonight’s first round playoff game against Badger, the Lakers were just one win away from the school record of 21 wins. The Lakers did not disappoint on Monday night as they defeated Badger for the 3rd time this season to improve to 21-0 and advance to the Sectional Finals against rival Grand Valley, a team the Lakers defeated earlier in the 2009 season.

Next Game: Pymatuning Valley vs Grand Valley - Thursday @ 6 pm, Lakeside HS, Ashtabula