Terrific Trio Leads Tippy Valley To Win
January 10, 2018 at 5:34 p.m.
By Dale [email protected]
The Class 3A No. 4 Tippecanoe Valley?Lady Vikings did just that Tuesday night against NorthWood.
In a high school girls basketball game at The Pit in Nappanee, a potential Sectional 21 matchup later this month at Fairfield, Valley never trailed and posted a 56-48 win over the Lady Panthers behind the play of senior Addy Miller and juniors Sophie Bussard and Emily Peterson.
The Lady Vikings, bouncing back from a 53-52 loss to Northfield Thursday that ended their 32-game Three Rivers Conference win streak, raced out to a 15-4 lead in the first quarter and later held off the hosts after the scored was tied at 33 early in the final frame.
Bussard led Valley with a game-high 20 points, while Miller and Peterson chipped in with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Senior Asia O’Connor and sophomore Jillian Walls rounded out the Lady Vikings’ scoring with five points each.
Valley improved to 15-2, while NorthWood fell to 13-5.
“We said before the game that we needed to get off to a much better start confidence-wise because of the situation on Thursday of starting out poor ... I think we were down 10 or 11 points Thursday before we made a nice second-half comeback,” said Valley coach Chris Kindig.
“That was kind of our point of emphasis tonight, to get out and get off to a good start. We wanted to take care of the basketball, and I think we only had 10 or 11 turnovers, so we took care of the basketball fairly well.
“One of the things I thought we did a little bit better was rebound. I think the rebounding ended up being fairly close, but NorthWood starts three 6-footers. That was another point of emphasis tonight, to really rebound better.”
O’Connor grabbed six rebounds for Valley, with Bussard getting six boards.
The Lady Vikings were 20 of 47 from the field overall, 8 of 15 from three-point range, and 8 of 11 at the free throw line.
Miller and Peterson made three treys each in the win, while Walls and Bussard made one each.
Valley led 15-9 after one quarter of play, 27-20 at halftime and 33-28 going into the final frame.
A three-pointer by NorthWood’s Kenzie Bergman, followed by a rebound and bucket from Kate Rulli, knotted the game at 33 with 6:20 remaining.
Peterson gave Valley the lead again with a trey of her own, and the Lady Vikings were able to stretch their advantage again en route to the eight-point win.
“NorthWood does a good job of getting the ball down in the post, and we struggled stopping them the last three or four minutes of the game,” said Kindig.
“We were able to play with a lot more poise down the stretch tonight than we did Thursday. We knocked some free throws down and took care of the basketball. I thought the girls played hard tonight.”
Six-foot sophomore Maddy Payne led NorthWood with 15 points, while 6-foot Rulli finished with 10 points and 5-9 guard Bergman chipped in with seven.
NorthWood won the JV?game 41-29.
Haley Backus paced the Lady Vikings with 14 points.
Valley is in action again Saturday with a trip to TRC rival Rochester.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 56, NORTHWOOD 48
TV 15 12 6 23 – 56
NW 9 11 8 20 – 48
Valley – Olivia Trippiedi 0 0-0 0, Jillian Walls 2 0-0 5, Addy Miller 5 2-2 15, Sophie Bussard 8 3-5 20, Emily Peterson 4 0-0 11, Asia O’Connor 1 3-4 5, Makenzie Woodcox 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 8-11 56.
NorthWood – Neely Trenshaw 0 2-2 2, Karlie Fielstra 1 2-2 5, Kenzie Bergman 2 1-2 7, Alea Minnich 1 0-0 2, Kate Rulli 5 0-1 10, Savannah Feenstra 2 0-0 5, Kendal Miller 1 0-0 2, Maddy Payne 7 1-2 15. Totals 19 6-9 48.
Three-pointers – Valley 8 (Miller 3, Peterson 3, Walls, Bussard), NorthWood 4 (Bergman 2, Fielstra, Feenstra); Fouls – Valley 14, NorthWood 12; Fouled out – none; Records: Valley 15-2, NorthWood 13-5
JV – NorthWood 41, Valley 29
Valley – Haley Backus 14, Sidney Wagner 7, Emma Craig 4, Karian Young 4
The Class 3A No. 4 Tippecanoe Valley?Lady Vikings did just that Tuesday night against NorthWood.
In a high school girls basketball game at The Pit in Nappanee, a potential Sectional 21 matchup later this month at Fairfield, Valley never trailed and posted a 56-48 win over the Lady Panthers behind the play of senior Addy Miller and juniors Sophie Bussard and Emily Peterson.
The Lady Vikings, bouncing back from a 53-52 loss to Northfield Thursday that ended their 32-game Three Rivers Conference win streak, raced out to a 15-4 lead in the first quarter and later held off the hosts after the scored was tied at 33 early in the final frame.
Bussard led Valley with a game-high 20 points, while Miller and Peterson chipped in with 15 and 11 points, respectively.
Senior Asia O’Connor and sophomore Jillian Walls rounded out the Lady Vikings’ scoring with five points each.
Valley improved to 15-2, while NorthWood fell to 13-5.
“We said before the game that we needed to get off to a much better start confidence-wise because of the situation on Thursday of starting out poor ... I think we were down 10 or 11 points Thursday before we made a nice second-half comeback,” said Valley coach Chris Kindig.
“That was kind of our point of emphasis tonight, to get out and get off to a good start. We wanted to take care of the basketball, and I think we only had 10 or 11 turnovers, so we took care of the basketball fairly well.
“One of the things I thought we did a little bit better was rebound. I think the rebounding ended up being fairly close, but NorthWood starts three 6-footers. That was another point of emphasis tonight, to really rebound better.”
O’Connor grabbed six rebounds for Valley, with Bussard getting six boards.
The Lady Vikings were 20 of 47 from the field overall, 8 of 15 from three-point range, and 8 of 11 at the free throw line.
Miller and Peterson made three treys each in the win, while Walls and Bussard made one each.
Valley led 15-9 after one quarter of play, 27-20 at halftime and 33-28 going into the final frame.
A three-pointer by NorthWood’s Kenzie Bergman, followed by a rebound and bucket from Kate Rulli, knotted the game at 33 with 6:20 remaining.
Peterson gave Valley the lead again with a trey of her own, and the Lady Vikings were able to stretch their advantage again en route to the eight-point win.
“NorthWood does a good job of getting the ball down in the post, and we struggled stopping them the last three or four minutes of the game,” said Kindig.
“We were able to play with a lot more poise down the stretch tonight than we did Thursday. We knocked some free throws down and took care of the basketball. I thought the girls played hard tonight.”
Six-foot sophomore Maddy Payne led NorthWood with 15 points, while 6-foot Rulli finished with 10 points and 5-9 guard Bergman chipped in with seven.
NorthWood won the JV?game 41-29.
Haley Backus paced the Lady Vikings with 14 points.
Valley is in action again Saturday with a trip to TRC rival Rochester.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 56, NORTHWOOD 48
TV 15 12 6 23 – 56
NW 9 11 8 20 – 48
Valley – Olivia Trippiedi 0 0-0 0, Jillian Walls 2 0-0 5, Addy Miller 5 2-2 15, Sophie Bussard 8 3-5 20, Emily Peterson 4 0-0 11, Asia O’Connor 1 3-4 5, Makenzie Woodcox 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 8-11 56.
NorthWood – Neely Trenshaw 0 2-2 2, Karlie Fielstra 1 2-2 5, Kenzie Bergman 2 1-2 7, Alea Minnich 1 0-0 2, Kate Rulli 5 0-1 10, Savannah Feenstra 2 0-0 5, Kendal Miller 1 0-0 2, Maddy Payne 7 1-2 15. Totals 19 6-9 48.
Three-pointers – Valley 8 (Miller 3, Peterson 3, Walls, Bussard), NorthWood 4 (Bergman 2, Fielstra, Feenstra); Fouls – Valley 14, NorthWood 12; Fouled out – none; Records: Valley 15-2, NorthWood 13-5
JV – NorthWood 41, Valley 29
Valley – Haley Backus 14, Sidney Wagner 7, Emma Craig 4, Karian Young 4
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092