AKRON - The Northfield Lady Norse traveled to Tippecanoe Valley Friday evening to take on the Lady Vikings in a Three Rivers Conference game.

Tippecanoe Valley held off the Lady Norse 64-45.

The Lady Vikings outscored Northfield 6-1 to start the first quarter. After a bucket by Northfield, the Lady Vikings went on a 13-2 run to finish the quarter with a 19-5 lead. Chelsy Rhoades led the Vikings with 4-of-4 shooting, including a three-point goal. She finished with nine points.

"We came out with a new and different defensive strategy in the first quarter to add to their confusion. Our goal was to contain (Courtney) Reed. She is one of their better players," Viking Coach Gary Teel said.

Jennifer Hathaway was 2 of 2 from the floor and 1 of 1 from the line to add five points. Hannah Krueger also added four points on 2-of-4 shooting. The Lady Vikings held Northfield to just 2-of-11 shooting from the floor in the quarter.

"I am proud of the ladies tonight. They played a great defensive quarter," Teel added.

The Viking defense continued to confuse Northfield in the second quarter. With a man-to-man defense, Valley held the Lady Norse to four points. Northfield made only two shots out of 14 attempts. All four Norse points were scored by Audrey Mast.

Rhoades scored five points in the second quarter to lead a balanced scoring attack. Kruger added three points on 3-of-4 shooting from the charity stripe. Hathaway, Lela Rohrer, Jessica Rice and Whitney Sparkman added two points each.

"The first half was by far our best half of the year. We need to make the other team beat us and not ourselves. It was great to see us play so well and together," Teel said.

The Lady Norse came out in the third quarter scoring the first five points. Kassi Dyson led Northfield in the quarter on 2-3 shooting with both being three point goals for a total of six. Mast added five points and was 3 of 4 from the free throw line. Kristen Kline and Melissa Eltzworth each added three points.

Northfield outscored the Lady Vikings 17-8 to cut the lead to 41-26 after three. "When they started hitting the three point shots they appeared to be turning the game around," Teel said.

Krueger scored seven points in the third. She shot 3 of 7 from the field, including a three-pointer. Rohrer added one point on 1-of-2 shooting from the charity stripe. Valley ended the quarter by shooting of 13 from the floor.

"Tonight we had several of our players step up for us. When some of us were down or off someone else came through when we needed them. If they didn't score they made a big rebound or a great steal. We are improving each game," Teel said.

Northfield cut the Viking lead to 10 at 49-39 early in the fourth quarter. Kline hit two more three-point shoots to cut the lead. She ended the game on 3-of-9 shooting with all three baskets three-point goals. Reed scored all six of her points in the fourth. She was 1 of 9 from the field and 4 of 4 from the line.

Valley finished the game on a 15-6 run. The lady Vikings improved to 6-7 overall and 3-1 in conference play. Northfield drops to 6-5.

Melody Hoffer came off the bench to go 3 of 3 from the field, scoring six points to lead the fourth. Rohrer went 3 of 3 from the line and 1 of 1 from the field. Rhoades and Krueger added four each. Hathaway and Newman each scored two.

"We've improved to 3-1 in conference play tonight and that is good sign. We lost a one-point game the other night and we came back tonight with this kind of game. We are definitely on the right track now," Coach Teel said.

Rhoades led all scorers with 18 points and added 8 rebounds. Kruger contibuted with 16 points and 9 rebounds. She also had four steals. Hathaway and Rohrer had nine points each.

T. VALLEY 64, NORTHFIELD 45

Northfield 5 4 17 19 - 45

T. Valley 19 14 8 23 - 64

T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.

Rhoades 6-12 4-6 8 4 18

Krueger 5-11 5-8 9 4 16

Rohrer 2-7 5-7 5 0 9

Sitts 0-5 0-0 1 0 0

Newman 0-0 2-2 1 2 2

Vogel 0-1 0-0 0 0 0

Hoffman 3-3 0-0 3 0 6

Hoffer 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Rice 1-2 0-0 3 3 2

Sparkman 1-1 0-0 0 0 2

Totals 16-42 16-23 30 13 64

Northfield FG FT R S Pts.

Kline 3-9 0-0 1 1 9

Hammel 1-3 0-0 1 0 2

Reed 1-9 4-4 3 5 6

Dyson 3-9 0-3 1 4 8

Elzroth 1-5 0-1 1 2 3

Penner 0-2 0-0 0 1 0

Aud. Mast 4-8 4-6 3 3 12

Ali Mast 2-8 1-2 1 5 5

Bryant 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Totals 15-33 9-15 11 21 45

Three-point goals - Northfield 6 (Kline 3, Dyson 2, Eltzroth 1), T. Valley 3 (Rhoades 2, Krueger 1). Turnovers - Northfield 18, T. Valley 18. Fouls - Northfield 19, T. Valley 16. Fouled out - Sitts, Kline, Reed

JV -ÊT. Valley 35, Northfield 29

T. Valley scoring -ÊWhitney Sparkman 13, Melody Hoffer 10, Jessica Rice 8, Kayla Newman 3, Kayla Vogel 1 [[In-content Ad]]