Mike Walters must feel like Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day."

In that movie, Murray lives the same day - Groundhog Day - over and over.

Walters is reliving last year's season all over this year.

Last year, his Tippecanoe Valley basketball team was 2-5 after seven games. The Vikings beat Triton 50-45 in their eighth game and went 9-2 their last 11 games.

This year, Valley was 2-5 after seven games. Guess who showed up on Valley's schedule last night? Triton. Valley won. The Vikings are 3-5, the same record they had after they beat Triton last year. The score was almost identical - Valley won 48-45 this time.

"Every game we've played so far is exactly the same as last year," Walters said.

Like last year, Triton (5-2) turned out to be the cure for what ails the Vikings.

Valley's Bonnie Bickel made sure the Vikings took their medicine. Bickel was the Valley offense the fourth quarter, scoring nine points to lift the Vikings over Triton.

A Bickel field goal pushed Valley ahead 47-45 with 49 seconds left. Triton had the ball with the chance to tie or take the lead. With 22 seconds left, Valley's Kelly Walters picked off a Triton pass.

Still, the Vikings left the door open. Walters missed two free throws with 19 seconds left. Triton again had the ball. Again Valley came up with a steal, this time by Rhonda Doud with 11 seconds left.

The Trojans fouled Doud. She hit her first free throw with six seconds left. She missed her second attempt.

But by the time the Trojans got the ball up the court, all Chris Wanemacher had time to do was heave a desperation three-pointer. She missed, and Valley got the win.

Afterward, Triton coach Mark Heeter didn't blame the last quarter for the loss. No, he blamed the first three quarters. The Trojans took 37 shots in those quarters. They hit but seven.

"We definitely had our opportunities to win the ball game," Heeter said. "I thought we gave it away in the first half. We missed a bunch of easy shots we normally hit. We missed seven or eight bunnies. We hit anything, we win the game.

"The bottom line is, we didn't score when we should have. That was the game. And we had some turnovers that were costly. There at the end, we threw the ball away with 20 seconds to go and a chance to tie the game."

Walters agreed with Heeter.

"You know, they had pretty good shots," he said. "It just seemed like they had a lid on the basket. I think a lot of it's psychological. I think when they come down here, it's kind of like us maybe going someplace else.

"It's in your mind. If you put it in your mind, it's probably going to happen."

Triton finished the game 13 of 51 (26 percent) from the field. The Trojans also had 23 turnovers. Bad shooting and too many turnovers on the same night. Not good.

"Good Lord, you won't beat anybody shooting 25 percent with 25 turnovers or whatever," Heeter said. "Especially at Valley. Valley's a good team.

"Ah, it's just the little things," Heeter groaned.

The Vikings have played several teams even after three quarters, only to lose in the fourth quarter.

This time, the Vikings won the game in the fourth quarter.

"We've been there (close games) before," Walters said. "We were there with Caston (56-54). I think back to the North Miami (71-62) game. It was at the same point. But we would make turnovers at the wrong time.

"Again, we made turnovers here at the end at a critical time. But Bonnie Bickel was able to save our tails. She had nine points in the last quarter. Every basket she had was a big basket. She was our only one with any field goals."

Bickel led Valley with 16 points. Wanemacher scored nearly half of Triton's points, finishing with 22 on 7-of-16 shooting from the floor. Her teammates were a combined 6 for 35.

The Vikings didn't light up the nets, but they shot better than Triton. They hit 18 of 54 (33 percent), and they finished with 21 turnovers.

Triton, 3-0 in the Northern State Conference, hosts a 6:30 p.m. Wednesday game with Bremen.

Not all went bad for Triton.

"I thought we played a good defensive game," Heeter said. "We rebounded. We ran when we had the chance."

But?

"We couldn't hit SQUAT."

Valley, 0-1 in the Three Rivers Conference, has a 6 p.m. Wednesday game at Winamac.

"I think this gives us a little momentum going over there," Walters said. "We needed to win a close game against a quality team."

Now, Walters he re-lives last year's 9-2 record to close out the season. Ten and one would better. Eleven and zero better yet.

"We hope the same thing happens," Walters said. "We hope that's contagious and carries over this year." [[In-content Ad]]