Viking Girls Win Ugly Battle Of State-Ranked Teams

July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.

By DALE HUBLER, Times-Union Sports Writer-

BOURBON - As the old saying goes, a win is a win.

And as Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball coach Gary Teel put it Wednesday evening, he'd "rather win ugly than lose playing good."

Win ugly is just what the Class 3A No. 1 Vikings did Wednesday evening, topping 1A No. 7 Triton 57-39 in a battle marred by poor shooting and turnovers.

"We really struggled shooting the ball tonight," said Teel. "We struggled at times moving the ball. We seemed awful sluggish from the get-go. It's not what we wanted to happen, but that's what happened. You can't come out and play perfect basketball every night. This stuff happens, and tonight it happened to us."

While Valley struggled from the onset, the host Trojans jumped out to a 6-0 lead and led 8-2 when Carly Feldman scored her second basket of the game with 5:01 left in the first quarter.

For three minutes it looked as if the Trojans could hold their own against Valley, but 30 turnovers later and the top-ranked Vikings went back to Akron with an 18-point win.

"We haven't had more than 20 turnovers in a game all year," Triton coach Mark Heeter said. "This is a better team than we've seen, but still, you can't turn the ball over 30 times. We convert on half our turnovers and it's a different game. We look for better shots and we're 10 points away from this team."

The win improved Tippecanoe Valley to 7-0, while Triton had its six-game winning streak snapped and fell to 6-2.

After trailing 6-0 early in the first quarter, the Vikings outscored the Trojans 15-3 and took a 15-9 lead into the the second stanza when senior guard Abby Shafer hit a three-pointer with six seconds remaining.

Valley opened the second quarter with a three-pointer from junior Holli Jackson and led 31-16 at the half.

The Vikings led anywhere from 15 to 20 points the rest of the way.

Though the scoreboard indicates an impressive 18-point win for Valley, the Vikings did it by shooting 23 of 56 (41.1 percent) from the field and 5 of 20 from the three-point arc.

Senior Rebekah Parker struggled the most of the Viking shooters, hitting just 5 of 16 shots from the field, including an 0-of-7 effort from three-point range.

Parker, wearing a black brace on her right knee, finished the game with 13 points and needs just 66 to tie the school's career scoring mark of 1,238 set in 1978 by Cathy (Welch) Conrad, the only Viking player to make the Indiana All-Star team.

Shafer led the Vikings with a game-high 18 points, drilling four three-pointers, while junior Kara Kramer added 12, Jackson five, Caty Patterson four, Heather Rathbun three and Lela Rohrer two.

The Trojans were led in scoring by senior Holly Heckaman, who was 2 of 2 from the arc and finished with nine points. Lindsay Stutzman, Kelly Feldman and Carly Feldman scored six each, while Emily Sauer added five, Cally Feldman three and Kristen Dean and Kelly Rettinger two each.

Triton continues to play without senior starter Terrin Meister, who broke her hand the first week of the season. Heeter said she could come back as early as the Whitko game on Jan. 2.

Triton is in action again Friday at Northern State Conference rival Bremen, while Valley travel to Three Rivers Conference foe North Miami Saturday.

NO. 1 (3A) TIPPECANOE VALLEY 57,

NO. 7 (1A) TRITON 39

T. Valley (7-0) 15 16 13 13 - 57

Triton (6-2) 9 7 9 14 - 39

T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.

* Jackson 2-3 0-0 1 2 5

* Kramer 5-12 2-2 1 4 12

* Shafer 7-15 0-0 1 1 18

* Parker 5-16 3-5 1 2 13

* Patterson 2-5 0-2 5 2 4

McFadden 0-0 0-0 1 0 0

Rohrer 1-2 0-0 2 0 2

Anglin 0-1 0-0 0 0 0

Howard 0-1 0-0 3 1 0

Moore 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Rathbun 1-1 1-2 2 0 3

Totals 23-56 6-11 17 12 57

Triton FG FT R S Pts.

* Stutzman 2-5 2-2 3 1 6

* Dean 0-1 2-2 0 1 2

* Heckaman 3-4 1-2 3 1 9

* Cr. Feldman 3-8 0-1 11 1 6

* K. Feldman 3-5 0-0 5 0 6

Riewoldt 0-1 0-0 0 0 0

Rettinger 1-3 0-0 2 1 2

Sauer 2-5 0-0 2 1 5

Cl. Feldman 1-1 1-2 0 0 3

Totals 15-33 6-9 26 6 39

Three-point goals - Valley 5-20 (Shafer 4-11, Jackson 1-1, Parker 0-7, Howard 0-1), Triton 3-9 (Heckaman 2-2, Sauer 1-4, Stutzman 0-2, Riewoldt 0-1). Fouls - Valley 10, Triton 10. Fouled out - none. Turnovers - Valley 11, Triton 30.

JV - Tippecanoe Valley 37, Triton 18

Valley JV scoring - Rhoades 11, Sitts 6, Ramsey 5, Hartle 5, Kindig 3, Stoll 2, Royer 2, Prater 1

Triton JV scoring - Pranger 4, Speicher 3, Clemens 2, Ganshorn 2, Newton 2, Woudema 2, Mason 2, Baker 1 [[In-content Ad]]

BOURBON - As the old saying goes, a win is a win.

And as Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball coach Gary Teel put it Wednesday evening, he'd "rather win ugly than lose playing good."

Win ugly is just what the Class 3A No. 1 Vikings did Wednesday evening, topping 1A No. 7 Triton 57-39 in a battle marred by poor shooting and turnovers.

"We really struggled shooting the ball tonight," said Teel. "We struggled at times moving the ball. We seemed awful sluggish from the get-go. It's not what we wanted to happen, but that's what happened. You can't come out and play perfect basketball every night. This stuff happens, and tonight it happened to us."

While Valley struggled from the onset, the host Trojans jumped out to a 6-0 lead and led 8-2 when Carly Feldman scored her second basket of the game with 5:01 left in the first quarter.

For three minutes it looked as if the Trojans could hold their own against Valley, but 30 turnovers later and the top-ranked Vikings went back to Akron with an 18-point win.

"We haven't had more than 20 turnovers in a game all year," Triton coach Mark Heeter said. "This is a better team than we've seen, but still, you can't turn the ball over 30 times. We convert on half our turnovers and it's a different game. We look for better shots and we're 10 points away from this team."

The win improved Tippecanoe Valley to 7-0, while Triton had its six-game winning streak snapped and fell to 6-2.

After trailing 6-0 early in the first quarter, the Vikings outscored the Trojans 15-3 and took a 15-9 lead into the the second stanza when senior guard Abby Shafer hit a three-pointer with six seconds remaining.

Valley opened the second quarter with a three-pointer from junior Holli Jackson and led 31-16 at the half.

The Vikings led anywhere from 15 to 20 points the rest of the way.

Though the scoreboard indicates an impressive 18-point win for Valley, the Vikings did it by shooting 23 of 56 (41.1 percent) from the field and 5 of 20 from the three-point arc.

Senior Rebekah Parker struggled the most of the Viking shooters, hitting just 5 of 16 shots from the field, including an 0-of-7 effort from three-point range.

Parker, wearing a black brace on her right knee, finished the game with 13 points and needs just 66 to tie the school's career scoring mark of 1,238 set in 1978 by Cathy (Welch) Conrad, the only Viking player to make the Indiana All-Star team.

Shafer led the Vikings with a game-high 18 points, drilling four three-pointers, while junior Kara Kramer added 12, Jackson five, Caty Patterson four, Heather Rathbun three and Lela Rohrer two.

The Trojans were led in scoring by senior Holly Heckaman, who was 2 of 2 from the arc and finished with nine points. Lindsay Stutzman, Kelly Feldman and Carly Feldman scored six each, while Emily Sauer added five, Cally Feldman three and Kristen Dean and Kelly Rettinger two each.

Triton continues to play without senior starter Terrin Meister, who broke her hand the first week of the season. Heeter said she could come back as early as the Whitko game on Jan. 2.

Triton is in action again Friday at Northern State Conference rival Bremen, while Valley travel to Three Rivers Conference foe North Miami Saturday.

NO. 1 (3A) TIPPECANOE VALLEY 57,

NO. 7 (1A) TRITON 39

T. Valley (7-0) 15 16 13 13 - 57

Triton (6-2) 9 7 9 14 - 39

T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.

* Jackson 2-3 0-0 1 2 5

* Kramer 5-12 2-2 1 4 12

* Shafer 7-15 0-0 1 1 18

* Parker 5-16 3-5 1 2 13

* Patterson 2-5 0-2 5 2 4

McFadden 0-0 0-0 1 0 0

Rohrer 1-2 0-0 2 0 2

Anglin 0-1 0-0 0 0 0

Howard 0-1 0-0 3 1 0

Moore 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Rathbun 1-1 1-2 2 0 3

Totals 23-56 6-11 17 12 57

Triton FG FT R S Pts.

* Stutzman 2-5 2-2 3 1 6

* Dean 0-1 2-2 0 1 2

* Heckaman 3-4 1-2 3 1 9

* Cr. Feldman 3-8 0-1 11 1 6

* K. Feldman 3-5 0-0 5 0 6

Riewoldt 0-1 0-0 0 0 0

Rettinger 1-3 0-0 2 1 2

Sauer 2-5 0-0 2 1 5

Cl. Feldman 1-1 1-2 0 0 3

Totals 15-33 6-9 26 6 39

Three-point goals - Valley 5-20 (Shafer 4-11, Jackson 1-1, Parker 0-7, Howard 0-1), Triton 3-9 (Heckaman 2-2, Sauer 1-4, Stutzman 0-2, Riewoldt 0-1). Fouls - Valley 10, Triton 10. Fouled out - none. Turnovers - Valley 11, Triton 30.

JV - Tippecanoe Valley 37, Triton 18

Valley JV scoring - Rhoades 11, Sitts 6, Ramsey 5, Hartle 5, Kindig 3, Stoll 2, Royer 2, Prater 1

Triton JV scoring - Pranger 4, Speicher 3, Clemens 2, Ganshorn 2, Newton 2, Woudema 2, Mason 2, Baker 1 [[In-content Ad]]

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