Squires Clinch Share Of TRC Title
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
NORTH MANCHESTER - Though a perfect season fell by the wayside, Manchester was still able to salvage a conference crown.
The Squires clinched a share of the Three Rivers Conference title Saturday night with a 43-37 win over visiting Tippecanoe Valley in girls basketball action.
"We treated our last few games as if we were in the sectionals. If you lose the game you are done. We wanted our name on that conference trophy," said Squire head coach Mark Underwood.
Manchester appeared as though it was going to run away with the game in the first quarter.
They jumped out to a 9-2 lead midway through the opening quarter. Valley had trouble getting off some good shots during that stretch of the game.
Using a small run of their own along with defense the Vikings began to claw their way back in to the game. Led by Hannah Krueger, Valley outscored Manchester 7-4 the rest of the quarter to close the game within four at 13-9.
Valley began the second quarter with a full court press that threw the Squires off their game. The Vikings held Manchester scoreless. The Squires shot 0 of 7 from the floor and committed several turnovers.
Valley scored seven points in the quarter to take a 16-13 halftime lead.
"I am not taking anything away from Tippecanoe's press, but I know our girls can handle the pressure better than we did. I think we just lost our focus," said Underwood.
Underwood continued, "In practice we work heavily on using the backboard when we have close shots. Tonight we lost that focus in the first half."
Valley scored the first five points of the third quarter to stretch its lead to 21-13. Manchester clawed its way back into the game to tie the score at 26 late in the third quarter.
Lela Rohrer stole the ball and went coast to coast to take the lead at 28-26 with just over a minute left in the third. Valley had the ball with seconds left when a call by the referee gave the ball back to the Squires.
Manchester went down the court with 17 seconds left in the quarter. Manchester's Sarah Purdy lofted a three-point shot that went in at the buzzer to give the Squires a 29-28 lead going in to the final stanza.
"I thought we were going into the fourth quarter with at least a four-point lead. I thought that Manchester was going to be called for a foul and instead they got the ball back for their final possession. Purdy hit that shot and we went into the fourth one down," Valley coach Gary Teel said.
"We came out in the third quarter and began to get our focus back. You can't be deceived by Valley's .500 record. They played an extremely difficult schedule. They lost some close ball games," said Underwood.
Rohrer stole the ball and scored on a layup in to give Valley a 30-29 lead to start the fourth.
Manchester tied the score at 30-30 with a free throw by Caroline Andersen. The Lady Squires took a 32-30 lead on a basket by Purdy.
Chelsy Rhoades hit a jumper to bring Valley to within two at 34-32. That would be the closest the Vikings would get the rest of the game.
Manchester went on a 6-0 run led by a three-pointer from Purdy to take an eight-point lead at 40-32 with 1:31 left and held on for the win and a conference crown.
"My congratulations go out to Coach Underwood and Manchester for their winning the TRC. Our girls played some tough basketball tonight and we came up short. This was a great atmosphere for our kids to play in tonight as well as a learning experience," Teel said.
"We definitely played in a playoff atmosphere here tonight. We will learn a lot from our mistakes as we go into the sectional play. This will give our team a taste of what will come in the sectionals. We will have to continue to play a game of win or die," said Underwood.
Purdy led all scorers with 13 points for Manchester while Kruger led the Vikings with 12 points.
Manchester, 17-1 overall and 6-1 in the TRC, travels to South Adams today for a 6 p.m. JV start.
Valley, 8-10 overall and 4-3 in conference, travels to Peru tonight for a 6 p.m. JV start.
MANCH 43, VALLEY 37
Manchester 13 0 16 14 - 43
Valley 9 7 12 9 - 37
Valley FG FT R S Pts.
*Rohrer 2-6 3-4 1 4 7
*Rhoades 3-12 0-0 3 1 7
*Krueger 4-15 3-6 4 2 12
*Sitts 1-3 3-4 6 1 5
*Hathaway 2-4 0-0 3 2 6
Hoffman 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Sparkman 0-0 0-0 3 0 0
Totals 12-41 9-14 21 10 37
Manchester FG FT R S Pts.
*Thomas 1-3 0-0 3 1 3
*Purdy 5-10 1-2 2 0 13
*Pattison 3-5 0-0 9 0 6
*Siebrase 3-6 5-6 3 1 11
*Peden 2-5 3-5 4 1 7
Eash 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Bowers 0-3 0-0 4 1 0
Andersen 1-5 1-2 5 1 3
Totals 15-38 10-15 30 5 43
Three-point goals - Valley 4-15 (Hathaway 2-2, Krueger 1-5, Rhoades 1-7), Manchester 3-10 (Purdy 2-5, Thomas 1-2). Turnovers - Valley 11, Manchester 17. Fouls - Valley 16, Manchester 13. Fouled out - None.
JV - Manchester 18, Valley 16
Manchester scoring - Lockhart 4, Lahman 3, Patrick 2, Johnson 2, Zile 2, O'Brien 2, Seifert 2
Valley scoring - Vogle 5, Rice 4, Newman 3, Hoffer 2, Sparkman 2 [[In-content Ad]]
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NORTH MANCHESTER - Though a perfect season fell by the wayside, Manchester was still able to salvage a conference crown.
The Squires clinched a share of the Three Rivers Conference title Saturday night with a 43-37 win over visiting Tippecanoe Valley in girls basketball action.
"We treated our last few games as if we were in the sectionals. If you lose the game you are done. We wanted our name on that conference trophy," said Squire head coach Mark Underwood.
Manchester appeared as though it was going to run away with the game in the first quarter.
They jumped out to a 9-2 lead midway through the opening quarter. Valley had trouble getting off some good shots during that stretch of the game.
Using a small run of their own along with defense the Vikings began to claw their way back in to the game. Led by Hannah Krueger, Valley outscored Manchester 7-4 the rest of the quarter to close the game within four at 13-9.
Valley began the second quarter with a full court press that threw the Squires off their game. The Vikings held Manchester scoreless. The Squires shot 0 of 7 from the floor and committed several turnovers.
Valley scored seven points in the quarter to take a 16-13 halftime lead.
"I am not taking anything away from Tippecanoe's press, but I know our girls can handle the pressure better than we did. I think we just lost our focus," said Underwood.
Underwood continued, "In practice we work heavily on using the backboard when we have close shots. Tonight we lost that focus in the first half."
Valley scored the first five points of the third quarter to stretch its lead to 21-13. Manchester clawed its way back into the game to tie the score at 26 late in the third quarter.
Lela Rohrer stole the ball and went coast to coast to take the lead at 28-26 with just over a minute left in the third. Valley had the ball with seconds left when a call by the referee gave the ball back to the Squires.
Manchester went down the court with 17 seconds left in the quarter. Manchester's Sarah Purdy lofted a three-point shot that went in at the buzzer to give the Squires a 29-28 lead going in to the final stanza.
"I thought we were going into the fourth quarter with at least a four-point lead. I thought that Manchester was going to be called for a foul and instead they got the ball back for their final possession. Purdy hit that shot and we went into the fourth one down," Valley coach Gary Teel said.
"We came out in the third quarter and began to get our focus back. You can't be deceived by Valley's .500 record. They played an extremely difficult schedule. They lost some close ball games," said Underwood.
Rohrer stole the ball and scored on a layup in to give Valley a 30-29 lead to start the fourth.
Manchester tied the score at 30-30 with a free throw by Caroline Andersen. The Lady Squires took a 32-30 lead on a basket by Purdy.
Chelsy Rhoades hit a jumper to bring Valley to within two at 34-32. That would be the closest the Vikings would get the rest of the game.
Manchester went on a 6-0 run led by a three-pointer from Purdy to take an eight-point lead at 40-32 with 1:31 left and held on for the win and a conference crown.
"My congratulations go out to Coach Underwood and Manchester for their winning the TRC. Our girls played some tough basketball tonight and we came up short. This was a great atmosphere for our kids to play in tonight as well as a learning experience," Teel said.
"We definitely played in a playoff atmosphere here tonight. We will learn a lot from our mistakes as we go into the sectional play. This will give our team a taste of what will come in the sectionals. We will have to continue to play a game of win or die," said Underwood.
Purdy led all scorers with 13 points for Manchester while Kruger led the Vikings with 12 points.
Manchester, 17-1 overall and 6-1 in the TRC, travels to South Adams today for a 6 p.m. JV start.
Valley, 8-10 overall and 4-3 in conference, travels to Peru tonight for a 6 p.m. JV start.
MANCH 43, VALLEY 37
Manchester 13 0 16 14 - 43
Valley 9 7 12 9 - 37
Valley FG FT R S Pts.
*Rohrer 2-6 3-4 1 4 7
*Rhoades 3-12 0-0 3 1 7
*Krueger 4-15 3-6 4 2 12
*Sitts 1-3 3-4 6 1 5
*Hathaway 2-4 0-0 3 2 6
Hoffman 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Sparkman 0-0 0-0 3 0 0
Totals 12-41 9-14 21 10 37
Manchester FG FT R S Pts.
*Thomas 1-3 0-0 3 1 3
*Purdy 5-10 1-2 2 0 13
*Pattison 3-5 0-0 9 0 6
*Siebrase 3-6 5-6 3 1 11
*Peden 2-5 3-5 4 1 7
Eash 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Bowers 0-3 0-0 4 1 0
Andersen 1-5 1-2 5 1 3
Totals 15-38 10-15 30 5 43
Three-point goals - Valley 4-15 (Hathaway 2-2, Krueger 1-5, Rhoades 1-7), Manchester 3-10 (Purdy 2-5, Thomas 1-2). Turnovers - Valley 11, Manchester 17. Fouls - Valley 16, Manchester 13. Fouled out - None.
JV - Manchester 18, Valley 16
Manchester scoring - Lockhart 4, Lahman 3, Patrick 2, Johnson 2, Zile 2, O'Brien 2, Seifert 2
Valley scoring - Vogle 5, Rice 4, Newman 3, Hoffer 2, Sparkman 2 [[In-content Ad]]