Lady Tigers Pull Away From Valley In Second Half
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
After the game was tied at 11-11 at halftime, the host Lady Tigers (3-0) outscored the Lady Vikings (1-1) 28-3 until midway through the fourth quarter, going on to win 39-26.
“The big thing we talked about at halftime was coming out and putting pressure on them, but putting pressure on them the right way,” Warsaw coach Michelle Harter said. “Not trying to go for steals every time they’re dribbling. Get in our spots, force them to the sideline. Get them in a trap and when we do, trace the ball and don’t try to steal it and let them split us, because you can get a five-second count and get us the ball back.”
Warsaw surpassed its offensive output from the first half in the first 2:34 of the third quarter, shaking off its 5-of-27 shooting in the opening 16 minutes.
Coming out flat, Warsaw missed its first six shots, four of which were layups, and didn’t get its first field goal until sophomore Pam Miller scored with seven seconds remaining in the first quarter.
“They came out tonight very lackadaisical, like we did against (Fort Wayne) Bishop Luers (Tuesday),” Harter said. “We missed four layups right off the bat and that just kind of kills your momentum. Then the girls start looking at each other and question what it is they’re doing.”
The struggles continued in the second quarter, when Warsaw made 4 of 17 field goals, but did tie the contest on a bucket by junior Nikki Grose with six seconds remaining.
The field goal knotted things at 11-11, which Tippecanoe Valley coach Chris Kindig was pleased with, in a way.
“If you would have told me before the game that we would allow Warsaw to score 11 points, I would have been ecstatic, because I would have thought we’d score 15 or 20,” he said.
Instead of holding a lead, his team was struggling too, hitting just 5 of 26 first-half field goal attempts to Warsaw’s 5-of-27 shooting.
However, all that was forgotten when Warsaw came out hot in the third.
“Once they got rolling a little bit there in the third quarter, in terms of hitting a couple threes, they were able to get into their press,” Kindig said.
“Grose also played pretty well there in the third quarter. She had eight points and hurt us a little bit.”
Grose ended up leading Warsaw with 12 points and 12 rebounds, but she wasn’t the only Lady Tiger to step up as Toledo University-bound Lindsay Baker and Kentucky Wesleyan-bound Jennifer Walker-Crawford were relegated to four points each.
Coming off the bench, junior Brooklyn Harrison scored seven points, while senior Melanie Holladay had five points and Miller netted four points and had five rebounds.
“You have to have that when your two leading scorers aren’t putting the ball in the basket for you,” Harter said. “You have to have someone else step up. Melanie Holladay stepped up and hit some big shots, Brooklyn played some great defense and got some layups in the lane. We made some great passes to find open players and that’s what you have to have.”
Kindig’s bench was also scoring the majority of his team’s points, netting 19 of the 26.
Leading the way was sophomore Taylor Trippiedi’s eight, followed by junior Cara Hoffman’s seven and sophomore Sara Alexander’s four.
Trippiedi’s three-pointer in the third quarter was Valley’s only points of the quarter and her next one in the fourth sparked a 12-0 run by the Lady Vikings that closed out the game.
“I just said, let’s just settle down and let’s try to outplay them this last five or six minutes,” Kindig said about his message during a timeout with 6:11 to play. “We did. We settled down, we started playing our game a little bit more and didn’t try to rush things.”
Upset with the loss, Kindig couldn’t be too down on his team’s defense.
“I thought, if we hold them under 40, we’re going to win the basketball game,” he said. “We just got out of sync and out of sorts there in the third quarter.”
While Kindig was learning about what his defense can do, Harter was learning what can happen to her offense when it isn’t focused.
“Tippecanoe Valley came out with a good game plan, coming out in a box-and-one (defense) and we kind of stood around a little bit,” she said. “We didn’t set screens for Lindsay, didn’t flash into the open spots. There were some things to learn and take away from tonight and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Warsaw is at Whitko Friday night, while Valley hosts its own tournament on Nov. 24, facing Munster at 10:30 a.m. in Akron.
WARSAW 39, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 26
TV 7 4 3 12 – 26
W 3 8 20 8 – 39
Warsaw – Melanie Holladay 2-9 0-2 5, Eryn Leek 1-2 0-1 3, Jennifer Walker-Crawford 1-8 2-2 4, Lindsay Baker 2-10 0-1 4, Nikki Grose 6-15 0-0 12, Sarah Ray 0-1 0-0 0, Brooklyn Harrison 2-10 3-4 7, Pam Miller 2-2 0-1 4. Totals 16-57 5-11 39.
Valley – Danielle Bussard 0-4 0-0 0, Caylie Teel 1-6 1-2 3, Kelsey Ball 1-6 2-2 4, Courtney Newsome 0-1 0-0 0, Connor Fraser 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor Trippiedi 3-12 0-0 8, Cara Hoffman 3-7 0-0 7, Sara Alexander 2-7 0-0 4. Totals 10-44 3-4 26.
Three-point goals – Warsaw 2-12 (Leek, Holladay), Valley 3-8 (Trippiedi 2, Hoffman); Team Fouls (fouled out) – Warsaw 10, Valley 15 (Bussard); Turnovers – Warsaw 16, Valley 28; Rebounds – Warsaw 36 (Grose 12), Valley 32 (Ball 10); Assists – Warsaw 4 (Leek 2), Valley 6 (Teel 6); Steals – Warsaw 13 (Walker-Crawford 3, Grose 3, Harrison 3), Valley 9 (Bussard 3, Ball 3); Blocks – Warsaw 4 (Grose 4), Valley 2 (Alexander 2)
Records: Warsaw 3-0, Valley 1-1
JV – Warsaw 27, Valley 9[[In-content Ad]]
After the game was tied at 11-11 at halftime, the host Lady Tigers (3-0) outscored the Lady Vikings (1-1) 28-3 until midway through the fourth quarter, going on to win 39-26.
“The big thing we talked about at halftime was coming out and putting pressure on them, but putting pressure on them the right way,” Warsaw coach Michelle Harter said. “Not trying to go for steals every time they’re dribbling. Get in our spots, force them to the sideline. Get them in a trap and when we do, trace the ball and don’t try to steal it and let them split us, because you can get a five-second count and get us the ball back.”
Warsaw surpassed its offensive output from the first half in the first 2:34 of the third quarter, shaking off its 5-of-27 shooting in the opening 16 minutes.
Coming out flat, Warsaw missed its first six shots, four of which were layups, and didn’t get its first field goal until sophomore Pam Miller scored with seven seconds remaining in the first quarter.
“They came out tonight very lackadaisical, like we did against (Fort Wayne) Bishop Luers (Tuesday),” Harter said. “We missed four layups right off the bat and that just kind of kills your momentum. Then the girls start looking at each other and question what it is they’re doing.”
The struggles continued in the second quarter, when Warsaw made 4 of 17 field goals, but did tie the contest on a bucket by junior Nikki Grose with six seconds remaining.
The field goal knotted things at 11-11, which Tippecanoe Valley coach Chris Kindig was pleased with, in a way.
“If you would have told me before the game that we would allow Warsaw to score 11 points, I would have been ecstatic, because I would have thought we’d score 15 or 20,” he said.
Instead of holding a lead, his team was struggling too, hitting just 5 of 26 first-half field goal attempts to Warsaw’s 5-of-27 shooting.
However, all that was forgotten when Warsaw came out hot in the third.
“Once they got rolling a little bit there in the third quarter, in terms of hitting a couple threes, they were able to get into their press,” Kindig said.
“Grose also played pretty well there in the third quarter. She had eight points and hurt us a little bit.”
Grose ended up leading Warsaw with 12 points and 12 rebounds, but she wasn’t the only Lady Tiger to step up as Toledo University-bound Lindsay Baker and Kentucky Wesleyan-bound Jennifer Walker-Crawford were relegated to four points each.
Coming off the bench, junior Brooklyn Harrison scored seven points, while senior Melanie Holladay had five points and Miller netted four points and had five rebounds.
“You have to have that when your two leading scorers aren’t putting the ball in the basket for you,” Harter said. “You have to have someone else step up. Melanie Holladay stepped up and hit some big shots, Brooklyn played some great defense and got some layups in the lane. We made some great passes to find open players and that’s what you have to have.”
Kindig’s bench was also scoring the majority of his team’s points, netting 19 of the 26.
Leading the way was sophomore Taylor Trippiedi’s eight, followed by junior Cara Hoffman’s seven and sophomore Sara Alexander’s four.
Trippiedi’s three-pointer in the third quarter was Valley’s only points of the quarter and her next one in the fourth sparked a 12-0 run by the Lady Vikings that closed out the game.
“I just said, let’s just settle down and let’s try to outplay them this last five or six minutes,” Kindig said about his message during a timeout with 6:11 to play. “We did. We settled down, we started playing our game a little bit more and didn’t try to rush things.”
Upset with the loss, Kindig couldn’t be too down on his team’s defense.
“I thought, if we hold them under 40, we’re going to win the basketball game,” he said. “We just got out of sync and out of sorts there in the third quarter.”
While Kindig was learning about what his defense can do, Harter was learning what can happen to her offense when it isn’t focused.
“Tippecanoe Valley came out with a good game plan, coming out in a box-and-one (defense) and we kind of stood around a little bit,” she said. “We didn’t set screens for Lindsay, didn’t flash into the open spots. There were some things to learn and take away from tonight and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Warsaw is at Whitko Friday night, while Valley hosts its own tournament on Nov. 24, facing Munster at 10:30 a.m. in Akron.
WARSAW 39, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 26
TV 7 4 3 12 – 26
W 3 8 20 8 – 39
Warsaw – Melanie Holladay 2-9 0-2 5, Eryn Leek 1-2 0-1 3, Jennifer Walker-Crawford 1-8 2-2 4, Lindsay Baker 2-10 0-1 4, Nikki Grose 6-15 0-0 12, Sarah Ray 0-1 0-0 0, Brooklyn Harrison 2-10 3-4 7, Pam Miller 2-2 0-1 4. Totals 16-57 5-11 39.
Valley – Danielle Bussard 0-4 0-0 0, Caylie Teel 1-6 1-2 3, Kelsey Ball 1-6 2-2 4, Courtney Newsome 0-1 0-0 0, Connor Fraser 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor Trippiedi 3-12 0-0 8, Cara Hoffman 3-7 0-0 7, Sara Alexander 2-7 0-0 4. Totals 10-44 3-4 26.
Three-point goals – Warsaw 2-12 (Leek, Holladay), Valley 3-8 (Trippiedi 2, Hoffman); Team Fouls (fouled out) – Warsaw 10, Valley 15 (Bussard); Turnovers – Warsaw 16, Valley 28; Rebounds – Warsaw 36 (Grose 12), Valley 32 (Ball 10); Assists – Warsaw 4 (Leek 2), Valley 6 (Teel 6); Steals – Warsaw 13 (Walker-Crawford 3, Grose 3, Harrison 3), Valley 9 (Bussard 3, Ball 3); Blocks – Warsaw 4 (Grose 4), Valley 2 (Alexander 2)
Records: Warsaw 3-0, Valley 1-1
JV – Warsaw 27, Valley 9[[In-content Ad]]
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