The Valwood Valiants travelled to Albany Tuesday night and slow starts for all three teams led to a winless road trip. 

The B-team boys lost 53-48 in the first game of the evening. Valwood fell behind early in the game, but was able to pull even just before halftime. The second half was a back-and-forth battle between the two teams with Deerfield taking advantage of opportunities from the free throw line to seal their five-point victory. Nate Williams led the Valiants with 23 points. Alec Brannen added 10 points and Dru Womack pulled down 9 rebounds.

Despite falling behind early and trailing by seven at halftime, the Lady Valiants were able to pull within two by the end of the third quarter. In the end, the 37-2 advantage the Lady Knights had in free throw attempts was too much for Valwood to overcome, and the Lady Valiants fell 54-47. Emily Taylor led the Lady Valiants with 15 points and eight rebounds. Alexis Gosier added 11 points, while Kennedy Kimbro contributed seven points, five rebounds, eight assists, and eight steals.

In the varsity boys’ game, the Knights jumped out on a 9-2 run to start the game and took a 28-16 lead into the half. Valwood was unable to pick up any ground in the second half and Deerfield maintained their 12-point lead to defeat the Valiants 58-46. Valwood’s scoring was led by Luke Eager with 17 points, Allen Harris with 10 points, and Zach Paulk with nine points.

This afternoon Valwood’s middle school boys and varsity girls will travel to Adel to take on Community Christian with the girls game starting at 5 p.m. and boys at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Valwood will travel to Thomasville to take on Brookwood with middle school games at 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. and varsity games at 3:30 and 5 p.m.