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Valley Wins on Its Own Merit Against Merritt, 63-54

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Doug Michelson, Valley College women’s basketball coach, believes Merritt College has the best player in the state, but Michelson may have the best team in the state and the best team won.

His squad held Inga Marciulionis to 15 points, nearly eight below her 22.7 season average, and beat Merritt, 63-54, Thursday night at Valley to move into the state semifinals.

Valley, the second-seeded Southern team, will meet Western State Conference foe Bakersfield, the No. 4 team from the South, in an 8 p.m. semifinal tonight. Valley has won two of three games against Bakersfield this season and is making its fourth consecutive appearance in the final four.

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Valley has a wealth of tournament-tough sophomores, but a pair of freshmen made important contributions against Merritt.

Freshmen Wendy Bruse (13 points and nine rebounds) and Falicia Stanley (17 points, seven rebounds and five assists) helped picked up for team scoring leader Tisa Rush, who was held to 10 points.

Stanley was like a little sister for Merritt--always around and perpetually annoying.

At 5-foot-5, Stanley was one of the smallest players on the court yet she had three putback baskets.

“Falicia had her best game to date,” Michelson said. “She was such a spark plug for us. It’s nice to have a player of her caliber coming off the bench.”

Valley (31-4) outscored Merritt (28-7) 9-2 to begin the second half and took a 39-30 lead.

Merritt answered with six points to close the gap to three, but Valley went on another scoring binge.

Bruse scored a pair of putback baskets, and Stanley and Rush followed shortly thereafter with back-to-back three-point baskets. Rush then hit a layup to put Valley ahead, 53-38, with 10 minutes 47 seconds remaining.

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Stanley scored nine points in the final 10 minutes.

Valley out-rebounded Merritt 46-26, and Roz Linton grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds.

On defense, Valley used man-to-man and zone, but was particularly effective rotating Katina Mines, Ericka Miller and Sylvia Castaneda on Marciulionis in a box-and-one.

“I’m satisfied with the way we played defense,” Michelson said.

Said Merritt Coach Fred Brown: “When you don’t shoot well, you have to blame it on the defense.”

Marciulionis never got untracked. She scored only five points in the first half and had six other points in garbage time, after Valley had all but wrapped up the win.

Valley held a 15-2 rebound advantage in the first half and led, 30-28, at halftime.

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