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Samuels, Metea Valley find their range at Neuqua Valley

A 3-pointer in the final minute for a team trying to protect a 5-point lead might not always seem like the best decision, but it was the right choice for Metea Valley on Tuesday.

Needing something to stop Neuqua Valley's furious rally from a 16-point fourth quarter deficit, Jada Samuels' 3-pointer with 37.9 seconds left did the trick. Metea Valley walked away with a 47-39 DuPage Valley Conference road victory.

Metea Valley (7-6, 1-1) seemed to have a comfortable 39-23 lead to start the fourth quarter, but with 50.8 seconds left Neuqua Valley forward Claudia Gallegos cut the lead to 44-39. When Metea Valley beat the Neuqua Valley pressure up the court, Samuels found herself unguarded with the ball at the 3-point arc. Her fourth 3-pointer of the night ended the scoring.

"We're comfortable with her. We needed some points. We were stuck for a while. We trust her with that shot," Mustangs coach Keith McIntosh said.

Samuels admitted she had some hesitation about taking that shot.

"It was an iffy shot for me too, but I knew that I was kind of hot at the end, so I just took it," she said.

Samuels, a 5-foot-1 junior guard finished with a personal-best 16 points.

"Jada played well tonight. I would like to see her drive the ball more. ... But she's a big key for us because she opens up the floor with outside shots," McIntosh said.

"The last couple of games I've been struggling," Samuels added, "but I focused today on my shot and I found my stroke eventually. The first two shots didn't go in. I didn't hold my head down, kept shooting the ball and eventually they fell."

Neuqua Valley coach Mike Williams substituted five at a time down the stretch depending on whether the Wildcats (7-8, 0-1) had the ball.

"Maybe that's something we have to do, the rotation part, because we get too tired," he said. "It's a tough situation to figure out right now. It's up and down, it's inconsistent. We've talked about this before. We're our worst enemy. We inflict our own wounds. We make a great comeback at the end, but at the same time it's a little too late."

The Wildcats were led by junior forward Jada Devine, who scored 13 of their first 15 points and assisted on the other 2 points. She finished with 15 and 7 rebounds.

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