Kuhn Pushes Lady Warriors Into Sectional Final
February 3, 2018 at 7:35 a.m.
Kuhn Pushes Lady Warriors Into Sectional Final
By Dale [email protected]
Not an illness that kept her out of practice Thursday night.
Not a facemask she’s wearing after breaking her nose for the second time this season.
And not an 11-point deficit to No. 6 Tippecanoe Valley.
In Friday night’s semifinal matchup against the Lady Vikings, a rematch of a game Wawasee lost 46-33 in Akron on Jan. 23, Kuhn scored a game-high 12 points and hit the game winner in the lane with five seconds left to lift the Lady Warriors to a thrilling 40-39 triumph.
Trailing 39-38, Wawasee missed a shot with 14 seconds left but earned possession after the ball went of bounds off a Valley player.
With time winding down and the Lady Warriors’ season in jeopardy, the 5-foot-2 Kuhn came up big when she split Valley seniors Addy Miller and Olivia Trippiedi on her way to the hoop.
The Lady Vikings had just enough time to put the ball in play after Kuhn’s bucket, but junior Sophie Bussard’s desperation heave was off the mark and Valley’s hopes of a fourth straight sectional title were squashed.
“My head was just spinning, my mind was racing, and I was thinking about my teammates and everybody who has supported me throughout the season,” Kuhn said of the emotions of making the winning shot.
“I wanted to do it for them. I didn’t have it set in my mind that I had to make this shot, I just let God take over my body and whatever happened was gonna happen, and it just so happened to go in. Give credit to Valley, they contested me, it was great defense, nothing they did wrong. I don’t know, God just let it go in.”
With the win, which set off a frenzied Wawasee celebration, the Lady Warriors improved to 13-10 and advanced to tonight’s 7 p.m. championship game against No. 3 Fairfield, a 40-32 winner over NorthWood in Friday’s second semifinal.
“Before you talk about the big shot, because obviously that’s the highlight, I think we need to understand where she’s coming from,” Wawasee coach Matt Carpenter said of Kuhn.
“She broke her nose for the second time about three weeks ago, and she played the last three conference games with a facemask. She’s been sicker than a dog this week. She went home (Thursday) and wasn’t able to practice. She came to today to get in a routine.
“That’s the type of girl we’re talking about. And really, that’s all of our seniors. Between Hannah-Marie Lamle, Kabrea Rostochak and Aubrey Kuhn, that’s their fight, that’s their mentality that I knew we had the whole time. It’s awesome for the girls to be able to get a reward like that for how hard they fight.”
The Lady Warriors, who have won four of their last five games, are trying to win their first sectional title since 2011.
Valley, playing without junior starter Emily Peterson after she suffered a knee injury in Tuesday’s sectional-opening win over Lakeland, ended the season with a 20-4 record.
The Lady Vikings led Wawasee 12-8 after one quarter of play, 20-15 at halftime and 36-29 heading into the final frame.
After scoring the first six points of the second half, Valley led 26-15 – its largest lead of the game.
Wawasee outscored the Lady Vikings 11-3 in the fourth quarter to capture the win.
“I thought the girls played hard, but obviously we didn’t make some plays down the stretch,” said Valley coach Chris Kindig. “We had opportunities to win the basketball game. There was a 1-and-1 (free throw opportunity) that was pretty critical, and then we had a rebound with 10 seconds to go and we threw the ball away. All we need to do there is just kind of hang on to it and let them foul us.
“You can always look back on a game like this when you lose by one and there’s a lot of things you think you could have done differently or whatever. But I’m proud of these girls, and I thought we showed some toughness, and we just didn’t make the plays down the stretch that we needed to.”
Lamle complimented Kuhn’s performance with 11 points and five boards, while junior Casey Schroeder tallied nine points and two assists, and Rostochak made all three shots she took en route to six points.
Bussard and Miller scored nine points each for Valley, while senior Asia O’Connor finished with eight points, and Trippiedi and sophomore Jillian Walls tallied six and five points, respectively.
Bussard and O’Connor grabbed eight rebounds each for the Lady Vikings.
WAWASEE 40, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 39
W 8 7 14 11 – 40
TV 12 8 16 3 – 39
Wawasee – Kabrea Rostochak 3-3 0-1 6, Hannah-Marie Lamle 4-6 3-4 11, Casey Schroeder 4-8 0-0 9, Aubrey Kuhn 3-6 4-5 12, Caitlin Wortinger 1-6 0-0 2, Hannah Lancaster 0-0 0-0 0, Danielle Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-30 7-10 40.
Valley – Olivia Trippiedi 3-5 0-0 6, Emma Craig 0-0 0-0 0, Jillian Walls 2-3 0-0 5, Addy Miller 2-11 3-4 9, Sophie Bussard 4-12 0-2 9, Asia O’Connor 3-5 2-5 8, Makenzie Woodcox 1-3 0-2 2. Totals 15-39 5-13 39.
Three-pointers – Wawasee 3 (Kuhn 2, Schroeder), Valley 4 (Miller 2, Walls,?Bussard); Turnovers – Wawasee 16, Valley 16; Fouls – Wawasee 10, Valley 11; Fouled out – none; Records: Wawasee 13-10, Valley 20-4
Other semifinal: Fairfield 40, NorthWood 32
Not an illness that kept her out of practice Thursday night.
Not a facemask she’s wearing after breaking her nose for the second time this season.
And not an 11-point deficit to No. 6 Tippecanoe Valley.
In Friday night’s semifinal matchup against the Lady Vikings, a rematch of a game Wawasee lost 46-33 in Akron on Jan. 23, Kuhn scored a game-high 12 points and hit the game winner in the lane with five seconds left to lift the Lady Warriors to a thrilling 40-39 triumph.
Trailing 39-38, Wawasee missed a shot with 14 seconds left but earned possession after the ball went of bounds off a Valley player.
With time winding down and the Lady Warriors’ season in jeopardy, the 5-foot-2 Kuhn came up big when she split Valley seniors Addy Miller and Olivia Trippiedi on her way to the hoop.
The Lady Vikings had just enough time to put the ball in play after Kuhn’s bucket, but junior Sophie Bussard’s desperation heave was off the mark and Valley’s hopes of a fourth straight sectional title were squashed.
“My head was just spinning, my mind was racing, and I was thinking about my teammates and everybody who has supported me throughout the season,” Kuhn said of the emotions of making the winning shot.
“I wanted to do it for them. I didn’t have it set in my mind that I had to make this shot, I just let God take over my body and whatever happened was gonna happen, and it just so happened to go in. Give credit to Valley, they contested me, it was great defense, nothing they did wrong. I don’t know, God just let it go in.”
With the win, which set off a frenzied Wawasee celebration, the Lady Warriors improved to 13-10 and advanced to tonight’s 7 p.m. championship game against No. 3 Fairfield, a 40-32 winner over NorthWood in Friday’s second semifinal.
“Before you talk about the big shot, because obviously that’s the highlight, I think we need to understand where she’s coming from,” Wawasee coach Matt Carpenter said of Kuhn.
“She broke her nose for the second time about three weeks ago, and she played the last three conference games with a facemask. She’s been sicker than a dog this week. She went home (Thursday) and wasn’t able to practice. She came to today to get in a routine.
“That’s the type of girl we’re talking about. And really, that’s all of our seniors. Between Hannah-Marie Lamle, Kabrea Rostochak and Aubrey Kuhn, that’s their fight, that’s their mentality that I knew we had the whole time. It’s awesome for the girls to be able to get a reward like that for how hard they fight.”
The Lady Warriors, who have won four of their last five games, are trying to win their first sectional title since 2011.
Valley, playing without junior starter Emily Peterson after she suffered a knee injury in Tuesday’s sectional-opening win over Lakeland, ended the season with a 20-4 record.
The Lady Vikings led Wawasee 12-8 after one quarter of play, 20-15 at halftime and 36-29 heading into the final frame.
After scoring the first six points of the second half, Valley led 26-15 – its largest lead of the game.
Wawasee outscored the Lady Vikings 11-3 in the fourth quarter to capture the win.
“I thought the girls played hard, but obviously we didn’t make some plays down the stretch,” said Valley coach Chris Kindig. “We had opportunities to win the basketball game. There was a 1-and-1 (free throw opportunity) that was pretty critical, and then we had a rebound with 10 seconds to go and we threw the ball away. All we need to do there is just kind of hang on to it and let them foul us.
“You can always look back on a game like this when you lose by one and there’s a lot of things you think you could have done differently or whatever. But I’m proud of these girls, and I thought we showed some toughness, and we just didn’t make the plays down the stretch that we needed to.”
Lamle complimented Kuhn’s performance with 11 points and five boards, while junior Casey Schroeder tallied nine points and two assists, and Rostochak made all three shots she took en route to six points.
Bussard and Miller scored nine points each for Valley, while senior Asia O’Connor finished with eight points, and Trippiedi and sophomore Jillian Walls tallied six and five points, respectively.
Bussard and O’Connor grabbed eight rebounds each for the Lady Vikings.
WAWASEE 40, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 39
W 8 7 14 11 – 40
TV 12 8 16 3 – 39
Wawasee – Kabrea Rostochak 3-3 0-1 6, Hannah-Marie Lamle 4-6 3-4 11, Casey Schroeder 4-8 0-0 9, Aubrey Kuhn 3-6 4-5 12, Caitlin Wortinger 1-6 0-0 2, Hannah Lancaster 0-0 0-0 0, Danielle Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-30 7-10 40.
Valley – Olivia Trippiedi 3-5 0-0 6, Emma Craig 0-0 0-0 0, Jillian Walls 2-3 0-0 5, Addy Miller 2-11 3-4 9, Sophie Bussard 4-12 0-2 9, Asia O’Connor 3-5 2-5 8, Makenzie Woodcox 1-3 0-2 2. Totals 15-39 5-13 39.
Three-pointers – Wawasee 3 (Kuhn 2, Schroeder), Valley 4 (Miller 2, Walls,?Bussard); Turnovers – Wawasee 16, Valley 16; Fouls – Wawasee 10, Valley 11; Fouled out – none; Records: Wawasee 13-10, Valley 20-4
Other semifinal: Fairfield 40, NorthWood 32
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