AKRON -ÊThe third time's a charm for Tippecanoe Valley's girls basketball team. At least when it comes to the Tippecanoe Valley Thanksgiving Classic, that is.

The Viking girls picked up a 62-43 win over Fort Wayne Elmhurst Saturday night in the championship game of the tournament to win the Thanksgiving Classic for the third straight year.

The Vikings took the lead early and never looked back. Abby Shafer netted the first basket of the game, and Kara Kramer added two more baskets to put the Valley squad up 6-0 with 6:01 left in the first quarter.

Valley took an 18-6 lead after Holli Jackson netted a basket at the 3:16 mark, but Elmhurst fought back.

Keshia Kennedy scored a basket and a free throw, and then Brandi Stuckey hit a basket and a free throw to cut Valley's lead to six, 18-12, going into the second quarter of play.

"I thought we did an excellent job pushing the ball up the court," said Valley coach Gary Teel. "We had some very good passes, especially in the first four minutes of the first quarter."

Jenna McFadden put an abrupt end to the Elmhurst run when she nailed a three-pointer at the 7:31 mark in the second frame.

Then Heather Rathbun aced two free throws to put the Vikings up 23-12 at the 7:01 mark.

Valley outscored Elmhurst 14-11 through the second quarter to take a 32-23 lead into the halftime break.

Rebekah Parker opened the scoring charge in the second half, netting two free throws and a three-pointer to expand Valley's lead to 14, 37-23.

Elmhurst's Corrie Brooks answered Parker's trey with one of her own for the Trojans' first basket of the half.

Then Shafer rattled off two three-pointers of her own to extend Valley's lead to 43-26.

Elmhurst outscored Valley 10-5 in the final four minutes of the third quarter to make the score 49-36 going into the final quarter of play.

The Vikings outscored the Trojans 13-7 in the last quarter to pick up the 66-41 win.

"This tournament was important for us," said Teel. "We wanted to play well, and we got to see two possible sectional opponents in Elmhurst and Peru. To play well against those two teams was important as far as the mental aspect of the game."

Parker led al scorers with 26 points on a 7-of-16 shooting performance. She also pulled down 10 rebounds and hit 9 of 10 free throws in the game.

Shafer chipped in 12 points for the Vikings, while Kramer added 10.

Elmhurst saw two players score in double figures, as Kennedy and Stuckey pitched in 13 points each.

"I give Elmhurst a lot of credit, they are a good ball club," said Teel. "Stuckey and Kennedy are good kids, and they played well."

The win puts the Vikings at 4-0 on the season, and they face off against Plymouth Thursday in Plymouth. Elmhurst falls to 4-2.

TIPPECANOE VALLEY THANKSGIVING CLASSIC

Championship Game

TIPPECANOE VALLEY 62, ELMHURST 43

Elmhurst 12 11 13 7 - 43

Valley 18 14 17 13 - 62

Elmhurst FG FT R S Pts.

Kennedy 5-9 2-3 1 2 13

Darnell 1-7 0-0 0 2 3

Stuckey 6-10 1-3 6 1 13

Gayday 1-3 1-1 3 0 3

Wright 1-5 0-0 2 0 2

Brooks 2-2 1-2 0 1 6

Rogers 1-2 0-0 0 0 3

Moore 0-2 0-0 0 1 0

Totals 17-40 5-9 12 7 43

Valley FG FT R S Pts.

Jackson 2-2 0-0 3 1 4

Shafer 4-11 2-2 1 3 12

Patterson 0-2 1-2 6 0 1

Kramer 4-7 2-3 4 1 10

Parker 7-16 9-10 10 2 26

Rathbun 1-2 4-4 2 0 6

McFadden 1-1 0-1 3 0 3

Rohrer 0-1 0-0 2 0 0

Howard 0-0 0-1 0 0 0

Moore 0-1 0-0 0 1 0

Totals 19-43 18-23 31 8 62

Three-point goals -ÊElmhurst 4-13 (Kennedy 1-5, Darnell 1-6, Brooks 1-1, Roger 1-1), Valley 6-14 (Shafer 2-7, Kramer 0-1, Parker 3-5, McFadden 1-1). Turnovers -ÊElmhurst 15, Valley 13. Fouls - Elmhurst 17, Valley 10. Fouled out - None. [[In-content Ad]]