Lady Vikings Avenge Loss To NorthWoodLIGONIER – Tippecanoe Valley earned a chance at a third straight sectional title and the program’s eighth overall with a strong finish Friday in the semifinals of the Class 3A West Noble Sectional girls basketball tournament. The No. 8-ranked Vikings closed out the game against NorthWood on a 15-4 run and beat the Lady Panthers 51-38. Tippecanoe Valley (21-4) will meet Fairfield (13-9) in tonight’s 7:30 p.m. championship. Fairfield topped West Noble 56-41 in Friday’s first semifinal. The Falcons have won two sectional crowns, the last coming in 2011. Fairfield avenged a loss from a week ago. West Noble beat the Falcons 59-42 on Jan. 27. NorthWood beat Tippecanoe Valley 50-41 on the Lady Vikings’ floor Jan. 10. Fairfield did not meet Valley during the 2016-17 regular season. The Lady Vikings did best the Falcons in the 2016 sectional title game. Playing against NorthWood’s tight defense, Meredith Brouyette paced Valley with 14 points, while Sophie Bussard and Addy Miller tallied eight each. “The girls handled the pressure,” Vikings coach Chris Kindig said. They played like they’ve been in some tough tournament games before.” After the Lady Panthers (16-10) cut the deficit to two, 36-34, Tippecanoe Valley quickly widened the gap to 10 points at 44-34 with 3:17 remaining. Anne Secrest scored six of her 13 points and Hannah Dunn netted all of her six points in the final period. “They hit their free throws and made sure they got the ball to who they needed to at the end,” NorthWood coach Adam Yoder said after seeing the Lady Vikings make of 8 of 11 freebies in the fourth quarter. They were a much better team than when we played them a few weeks ago, but we’re a better team, too.” Secrest pulled down six of her team-best 11 rebounds in the final stanza. Much of the time, NorthWood frontliner Madison Payne was out of the game in foul trouble. “We took advantage of it inside,” Kindig said of the late production by Secrest and Dunn. Pleased to hold NorthWood below 40 points, Kindig did come away impressed with Savannah Feenstra, who drove her way to a game-high 15 points for the Lady Panthers. “Savannah’s strength is facing the basket and attacking off the dribble,” Yoder said. “She can compete against post players so well because they have to respect that she can shoot the ball.” Taitlyn Trenshaw finished with nine points and Mackenzie Bergman seven for NorthWood. Bergman and Taitlyn Trenshaw scored four points each for the Lady Panthers in the fourth quarter. NorthWood fell behind 23-16 in the first 2-1/2 minutes of the second half then roared back to within 23-21 thanks to a three-point play by Taitlyn Trenshaw and layup by Feenstra. Valley’s biggest lead in the last 6-1/2 minutes of the third quarter was five points — the last time at 28-23 and the Vikings took a 28-25 advantage to the fourth quarter. Brouyette scored five points and Bussard four for Valley while Feenstra tallied six and Taitlyn Trenshaw three for NorthWood in the third period. Bolstered by seven second-period points from Secrest, the Lady Vikings were up 19-14 at halftime. After three lead changes in the first two minutes of the second quarter, Valley pushed the lead to seven points at 19-12. The last bucket of the first half came from NorthWood’s Feenstra at the 1:38 mark. Feenstra netted five of the Lady Panthers’ 12 points during the second quarter. The Vikings led 5-2 at the close of the first quarter. A three-point play by Bussard in the first two minutes and a bank shot by Brouyette from the key in the final two minutes accounted for Valley’s points during the period. A layup by Feenstra at the 3:30 mark was NorthWood’s first basket of the night.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 51, NORTHWOOD 38 TV 5 14 9 23 – 51 NW 2 12 11 13 – 38 T. Valley – Anne Secrest 5-8 3-3 13, Hannah Dunn 3-5 0-0 6, Sophie Bussard 3-7 2-5 8, Addy Miller 2-5 2-2 8, Meredith Brouyette 5-6 3-3 14, Emily Peterson 0-3 0-0 0, Asia O’Connor 1-1 0-0 2. Team: 19-35 10-13 51. NorthWood – Madison Payne 2-2 0-0 4, Savannah Feenstra 6-11 2-4 15, Mackenzie Bergman 2-8 2-2 7, Nicole Flickinger 1-3 0-0 3, Taitlyn Trenshaw 2-10 2-2 9, Neely Trenshaw 0-1 0-0 0, Erin Graber 0-0 0-0 0, Kira Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Emily Demitruk 0-0 0-0 0. Team: 13-35 9-12 38. Three-pointers – Valley 3-7 (Miller 2, Brouyette), NorthWood 3 (Feenstra, Flickinger, Bergman); Rebounds – Valley 25 (Secrest 11), NorthWood 17 (Feenstra 6); Turnovers – Valley 12, NorthWood 10; Fouls – Valley 15, NorthWood 15; Fouled out – none; Records: Valley 21-4, NorthWood 16-10
