Leopards extend winning streak

By Jose Negron

jnegron@yourmvi.com

Belle Vernon overcame a rough shooting performance to escape with a 44-33 road victory over Yough in Section 3-4A play Monday night. 

While the win pushed the Leopards’ winning streak to three games, they struggled to get things going from the perimeter and were limited to under 45 points for the third time in four games. 

“We’ll definitely take the win on anyone’s court, but I think we settled for way too many threes out there,” BVA head coach Kaitlyn Slagus said. “I believe we’re a good shooting team, so I don’t want to pull back, but I think we have to realize that when shots aren’t falling from the perimeter, we have to get the ball inside and make something happen.” 

Though the Leopards (4-2, 3-1) struggled to consistently generate offense, sophomore Viva Kreis served as a spark on the offensive end of the floor. 

Kreis was the lone BVA player in double figures with a game-high 18 points. She scored eight of BVA’s first 10 of the second half and was clutch late in the first when she collected five points in the final 22 seconds to push BVA’s lead to 29-19 at halftime. 

“I think she’s a little spark of energy that gets the team going,” Slagus said. “If she can rally the team around her as a sophomore, I think that’s only going to benefit us over the next two and a half seasons.” 

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