AKRON - After falling on the floor in the third quarter of play against Tippecanoe Valley Thursday, Southwood' Brooke McKee asked for a towel to dry the floor.

"She does everything," said Southwood coach Rod Cole with a grin. "She shoots, she rebounds, and she even wipes up the floor."

McKee did everything right when she scored 12 points and pulled down seven rebounds Thursday and led the Knights girls basketball team to its first win of the season 40-39 over Valley.

In the first quarter, baskets were few and far between as both teams combined for more turnovers than points. Lynette Wilcox led the Vikings, scoring six of their eight points in the period.

At the end of the first stanza, Valley held an 8-5 lead, and the Vikings and Knights had combined for 17 turnovers in the quarter.

Southwood made a comeback in the second quarter as the knights scored the first four points of the quarter to take a 9-8 lead. The score was knotted 9-9 after Sarah Kindig hit the first of two free throws.

Valley took the lead again when Jennifer Studebaker netted a basket to make the score 11-9 in favor of the Vikings. However, the lead was short-lived as the Knights tied the game at 13 with three minutes left in the first half.

The Vikings and Knights traded baskets as the lead switched back and forth for the rest of the quarter. As the buzzer sounded to end the half, Southwood held a slim 19-18 advantage over Valley.

Studebaker netted the first basket of the second half to restore Valley's lead, but soon she was called for her fourth foul and went to the bench. While Studebaker was on the bench, Southwood took advantage and built a six point lead.

At the end of three quarters, Southwood was up 32-36.

Southwood increased its lead to eight points early in the fourth quarter, but then Valley began to make a comeback. The Vikings slowly chipped away at Southwood's lead until the last minute of play when Wilcox netted a basket to reduce Southwood's lead to one, 38-37.

With 22 seconds left, Rebekah Kellam netted both ends of a double bonus to make the score 40-37 Southwood. Wilcox netted a two-point goal with 13.5 seconds to get Valley to within one point again. But when time ran out for the Vikings, the final score stood at 40-39, and Southwood had earned its first win of the season.

"This is our first win of the season, and it was a long time coming," said Cole. "It's about time. We took a big step tonight."

"This was a tough loss for us," said Valley coach Gary Teel. "We had our chances in the first half, but we missed some easy shots that would have helped us later in the game."

Wilcox led the Vikings with 16 points and six rebounds, while Studebaker added eight points and seven rebounds in the Valley effort.

"The girls played with a lot of heart, and we almost pulled it off," said Teel. "We were focused for 32 minutes tonight, and this was a fantastic effort for us."

Valley , now 4-8 and 0-2 in the Three Rivers Conference, will travel to Converse Monday where the Vikings will face the Golden Eagles.

SOUTHWOOD 40

TIPPECANOE VALLEY 39

Southwood 5 14 13 8 - 40

Valley 8 10 8 13 - 39

Southwood FG FT R S Pts.

Ashley Byerly g 0-3 1-4 4 3 1

Rebekah Kellam f 0-2 3-7 2 2 5

Hayley Bozarth f 4-9 1-3 2 4 9

Brooke McKee g 3-11 8-10 7 0 14

Annie Cly c 2-3 2-2 5 2 6

Denae Gibson 1-3 1-2 2 0 3

Ashley Keith 1-1 0-0 0 0 2

Gina Smith 0-1 0-0 1 0 0

Jessica Martin 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Amber Bowman 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 12-33 16-28 23 11 40

Valley Fg FT R S Pts.

Sarah Kindig g 1-5 1-2 4 1 3

Jamie Doud g 1-8 4-4 3 1 6

Jessica Fox f 0-1 0-0 2 1 0

Erica Pontious f 0-5 0-0 0 1 0

Jennifer Studebaker c 2-4 4-6 7 0 8

Rachel Parker 0-2 0-0 2 2 0

Lynette Wilcox 6-12 3-5 6 3 16

Jayme McCalla 1-3 0-0 1 0 2

Kathy Prater 2-8 0-0 6 2 4

Totals 13-48 12-17 31 11 39

Three-point goals -ÊValley 1 (Wilcox), Southwood 0. Total fouls -ÊValley 20, Southwood 17. Fouled out -ÊNone. Turnovers -ÊValley 20, Southwood 24.

JV - TIPPECANOE VALLEY 41, SOUTHWOOD 15

Valley leaders - Chelsea Stavedahl 2 points and 8 rebounds, Kathy Prater 8 points, Holly Green 6 points, Sherise Denny 8 points, Jenny Yeiter 3 points, Sara Zehr 2 points, Letitia Clauson 10 points and 3 steals, Beatrys Loor 2 points. [[In-content Ad]]