Momentum went back and forth a plethora of times at Rita Price Simpson Court in Akron Thursday night as the Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball team hosted Plymouth. Four quarters weren’t enough to determine a winner in the slugfest, with overtime being needed. Both teams held leads in the extra period, but it was the Lady Pilgrims that emerged victorious with a 50-46 win.
Both teams struggled to score the basketball in the early going, with each side having trouble taking care of the ball long enough to get shots up. The first point of the game didn’t come until two and a half minutes into the contest on a Plymouth free throw, with the first field goal coming moments later on a layup by Carlee Snyder.
The Lady Pilgrims were getting plenty of extra looks thanks to some aggressiveness on the offensive glass, but the Lady Viking defense did enough on put back attempts to prevent easy twos that would have extended the lead early and often. From the jump, this was a very physical game.
Points continued to be hard to come by as the strong defense both sides were playing was quickly becoming the story. It wasn’t necessarily bad offense causing the long scoring droughts, rather smart switches and nice contests on the defensive end. Six minutes into the game, Plymouth was narrowly ahead 4-2.
Perhaps the Lady Vikings were a tad too aggressive, putting Plymouth in the bonus with a minute and a half to go in the opening quarter. After going nearly four minutes without a bucket, Hailey Stookey finally buried a midrange jumper to put Valley back on the board in the final minute. The shot ended up being the last points put up in a very low-scoring first, with the Lady Pilgrims leading 5-4.
A steal and score by Hadley Wise in the opening seconds of the second gave the home side its first lead of the night. That seemed to open the flood gates, as all of a sudden shots started falling for both sides. The total number of points scored in the first was matched just three minutes into the second, with Valley leading 10-8. Plymouth answered with five straight to jump back in front, including a transition three that led to a timeout.
It didn’t do much to stop the bleeding though, as the Lady Pilgrims were now fully in a groove. Another pair of makes that included another shot from distance made it a 10-0 run at put the visitors up 18-10. After another break, the threes started falling for the Lady Vikings, as Snyder, Stooky and Lydia Craig each hit one to inch closer. Plymouth was still answering with makes of its own, but the teams were now trading threes and twos, a transaction that worked in Valley’s favor.
The team was able to cut into the Plymouth lead heading into the half, but the Lady Pilgrims still lead 24-19 going into the break.    Tippecanoe Valley senior Carlee Snyder scores two points during the first quarter...Nieter

Valley was unable to get anything going offensively to begin the second half, being held scoreless for the first three and a half minutes of the third. The home defense was keeping them in the game, allowing just two points during this stretch. Four minutes into the quarter, no progress had been made cutting into the deficit, but the visitors hadn’t extended their lead any further either.
A minute later, Valley was able to put together the spurt it was looking for, and a three pointer by Gaby Gonzalez tied things up at 28 all. With a little under two minutes remaining in the third, a free throw by Snyder put the Lady Vikings back in front by a narrow one-point margin. Plymouth temporarily went back on top, but an and-one by Gonzalez tied things up at 31 heading into the fourth.
Gonzalez continued her great second half with five straight points to begin the final quarter to extend the team’s lead to five as well as put her in double figures scoring. Plymouth answered the run with one of their own though, scoring five straight on the other end to tie things up again with five minutes left.
Things stayed tight from there, with the two teams trading baskets to remain tied with three and a half minutes remaining. With two to go, things were still knotted up. The Lady Vikings took nearly a full minute off of the clock towards the end of the game to try and get a great look, which they did, but it rimmed out. After a particularly hectic stretch of basketball, the ball ended up back in the possession of the home team, who had a chance to win it with 14 seconds left.
Following a timeout, the ball went into the hands of Gonzalez, who was guarded well, she passed it off to Dalynne Bussard, who had an open look, but couldn’t connect. The Lady Vikings very nearly won the game on a put back, but it was missed, sending the game to overtime.
An and-one for the Lady Pilgrims up by three as the extra period began. A pair of free throws by Gonzalez brought the home side to within one, and with two minutes to go, she put her team back up with a contested floater. Another pair of free throws, this time by Plymouth, put the visitors back in front with less than a minute to go.
After the Lady Pilgrims missed a pair to keep it a one-point game, Valley had a chance to take a lead with time winding down, but a tough layup by Gonzales was no good. After an intentional foul, Plymouth split a pair to go up two, giving the Lady Vikings one final chance to tie things up with 14 seconds left.
They never got a shot up, as an offensive foul was called with nine seconds to go to give the ball back to the visitors. A nice inbounds pass led to an easy fast break layup that put things away for good.
Tippecanoe Valley (3-5) is at home against Bremen Saturday.