Valley Looking To Get Back On Top
January 28, 2019 at 8:16 p.m.
By Aaron [email protected]
After winning the Class 3A Sectional 21 championship three straight years, Valley suffered a major injury in the tournament opener a year ago when Emily Peterson went down with a knee injury and did not return.
Valley won that game against Lakeland, but ended up falling to Wawasee in a sectional semifinal.
This year, though, Valley has one less game to worry about an injury. The Lady Vikings drew a bye, and will play the winner of Lakeland and Wawasee.
“The more games you play, the more chance you have for injury and the more chance you have to not play well, not shoot the ball well,” said Valley coach Chris Kindig. “We don’t have to play the home team (in a semifinal), so that to me, is a positive, too.”
The home team is West Noble, which Valley defeated this season. The Lady Chargers will face Fairfield, but the winner of that game will have to play NorthWood.
The Lady Panthers are the heavy sectional favorite, but Valley is not focused on them just yet.
“If you get to the sectionals (and) you start thinking ahead, you’re gonna end up losing,” Kindig said. “You’re gonna go home disappointed.”
For now, the Lady Vikings are set on playing how they did to end the season, save their 43-40 loss to Manchester Thursday in a game that decided a share of the Three Rivers Conference title.
That’s in the rearview, though, and Valley is set on continuing to shoot well from the outside while getting more from its post players, Makenzie Woodcox and Hayley Backus.
The Lady Vikings will rely on star senior Sophie Bussard, who averages nearly 22 points per game. However, with so many teams keying on Bussard, Valley will need other players to step up.
“At times we’ve had different people step up,” Kindig said. “We didn’t win 15 games by accident.”
Those other scorers have included Sidney Wagner, Jillian Walls, and Emma Craig, so Valley has multiple scorers to rely on.
Kindig is not worried about his players getting rusty with the long break due to the bye.
“Any time you get the bye, that’s a good thing,” he said. “You get a chance on Tuesday night to gauge who you’re gonna play. You still have Wednesday (and) Thursday to prepare for them, so I would take a bye any day.”
The Lady Vikings won 47-36 over Lakeland this season. They were scheduled to face Wawasee, but the game was cancelled because of weather conditions.
If they win in the semifinal, they’ll likely face NorthWood in the final. Valley fell 63-48 to the Lady Panthers earlier this season.
Still, Valley has film from that game, and has a gameplan for NorthWood.
“You gotta start with not allowing their posts to get catches five feet away from the basket and just turn and score,” Kindig said.
It may not be NorthWood the Lady Vikings face, though. Kindig said the sectional is going to be a “dogfight.”
“It can be any one of four or five teams in that sectional,” he said. “I can’t remember a year where, to me, it’s so wide open.”
After winning the Class 3A Sectional 21 championship three straight years, Valley suffered a major injury in the tournament opener a year ago when Emily Peterson went down with a knee injury and did not return.
Valley won that game against Lakeland, but ended up falling to Wawasee in a sectional semifinal.
This year, though, Valley has one less game to worry about an injury. The Lady Vikings drew a bye, and will play the winner of Lakeland and Wawasee.
“The more games you play, the more chance you have for injury and the more chance you have to not play well, not shoot the ball well,” said Valley coach Chris Kindig. “We don’t have to play the home team (in a semifinal), so that to me, is a positive, too.”
The home team is West Noble, which Valley defeated this season. The Lady Chargers will face Fairfield, but the winner of that game will have to play NorthWood.
The Lady Panthers are the heavy sectional favorite, but Valley is not focused on them just yet.
“If you get to the sectionals (and) you start thinking ahead, you’re gonna end up losing,” Kindig said. “You’re gonna go home disappointed.”
For now, the Lady Vikings are set on playing how they did to end the season, save their 43-40 loss to Manchester Thursday in a game that decided a share of the Three Rivers Conference title.
That’s in the rearview, though, and Valley is set on continuing to shoot well from the outside while getting more from its post players, Makenzie Woodcox and Hayley Backus.
The Lady Vikings will rely on star senior Sophie Bussard, who averages nearly 22 points per game. However, with so many teams keying on Bussard, Valley will need other players to step up.
“At times we’ve had different people step up,” Kindig said. “We didn’t win 15 games by accident.”
Those other scorers have included Sidney Wagner, Jillian Walls, and Emma Craig, so Valley has multiple scorers to rely on.
Kindig is not worried about his players getting rusty with the long break due to the bye.
“Any time you get the bye, that’s a good thing,” he said. “You get a chance on Tuesday night to gauge who you’re gonna play. You still have Wednesday (and) Thursday to prepare for them, so I would take a bye any day.”
The Lady Vikings won 47-36 over Lakeland this season. They were scheduled to face Wawasee, but the game was cancelled because of weather conditions.
If they win in the semifinal, they’ll likely face NorthWood in the final. Valley fell 63-48 to the Lady Panthers earlier this season.
Still, Valley has film from that game, and has a gameplan for NorthWood.
“You gotta start with not allowing their posts to get catches five feet away from the basket and just turn and score,” Kindig said.
It may not be NorthWood the Lady Vikings face, though. Kindig said the sectional is going to be a “dogfight.”
“It can be any one of four or five teams in that sectional,” he said. “I can’t remember a year where, to me, it’s so wide open.”
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