If the Surprise Valley Hornets were feeling good off their 69-34 takedown of the Dunsmuir Tigers last Wednesday, their most recent game may have dampened their spirits a bit. Surprise Valley fell just short of Dunsmuir by a score of 57-54. Surprise Valley was given a dose of their own medicine in this game as Dunsmuir apparently hadn't forgotten their loss the last time these teams played.
Surprise Valley's loss on Friday came despite strong showings from Casey Grove and Iina Nabahe-Henry. Grove scored 28 points, while Nabahe-Henry scored 18 points. Grove has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last three times he's played.
Michael Kellar continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Dunsmuir, scoring 35 points along with eight rebounds and five assists. That makes it 14 consecutive games in which Kellar has scored at least a third of Dunsmuir's points. Another player making a difference was Desean Pistorius, who dropped a double-double on 11 points and 24 rebounds.
Surprise Valley's defeat was their third straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 8-11. As for Dunsmuir, their victory ended a six-game drought at home and bumped them up to 2-17.
Surprise Valley will take on Hayfork at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Hayfork will roll in looking for their tenth straight win, something Surprise Valley surely won't give up without a fight. As for Dunsmuir, they will head out on the road to square off against Butte Valley at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Hopefully Dunsmuir focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 11 on Friday.
