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MANNHEIM, Germany – Day 2 of the European Division I high school basketball tournament opened with a bang Thursday morning when the seventh-seeded Vilseck Lady Falcons upset the No. 2 Patch Lady Panthers, 48-37, in a pool-play game.“We knew our job was to shut down (All-Europe guard Janelle) Loney and (Bianca) Lopez,” Vilseck coach Jim Hall said by telephone from Heidelberg’s Patton Barracks. “We went to a triangle-2 to stop them and make the other three girls play.”The result of the strategy was a stunning turnaround from the regular-season games between the two teams Jan. 7-8 at Patch, where the Lady Panthers prevailed, 62-18 and 52-37.Thursday, Hall assigned Theresa Trevino to take on 20-plus-point scorer Loney one-on-one and Deraj’ McClinton to handle Lopez the same way. Loney, who scored 22 points in her opening game here on Wednesday (52-26 over SHAPE), managed just 13 against Trevino. Six of the 13 came too early to be decisive, Hall added.“Loney made three lay-ups in the first quarter before we took them away,” Hall said. “We knew we had to stop them from getting lay-ups. We knew if we got them into a half-court game we could handle them.”McClinton allowed Lopez, a double-digit scorer against SHAPE, a mere two points on Thursday.Vilseck’s Jamila Harvey took game-scoring honors with 19, Hall said. Her teammate Thea Dunn added 17.The victory was the eighth in their last nine games for Vilseck. Patch, which was to play No. 3 Kaiserslautern later Thursday, lost for just the third time this season.Both teams remained alive for the D-I title in this pool-play, crossover semifinals event. Vilseck, which is to take on Kaiserslautern at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Patton Barracks in Heidelberg, assured itself a place in Friday’s 7 p.m. D-I semifinals by going to 3-0 in pool play, either as the pool champ or runner-up.

The Lady Falcons downed the Division’s other Belgium-based school, International School of Brussels, 30-23, on Thursday. Patch, on the other hand, is facing must-win situations today against K-town and against ISB in Patton’s 9:15 a.m. game on Friday.

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