AKRON – After playing their previous five games on the road, the Tippecanoe Valley Lady Vikings certainly enjoyed their homecoming Saturday night. In a battle of Three Rivers Conference heavyweights and state-ranked teams, the Class 3A No. 7 Lady Vikings scored early and often, making nearly every shot they took, as they built a 20-point lead in the first quarter and cruised to a 56-32 win over the Class 2A No. 5 Whitko Lady Wildcats. What was a showdown of conference frontrunners on paper didn't look anything like it on the court. Valley made 8 of 10 shots in the first quarter and 13 of 19 in the first half, while Whitko was 2 of 13 in the opening frame and 4 of 20 before the intermission. It all added up to a 24-4 lead for the Lady Vikings after one quarter of play and a 36-12 advantage by halftime. Liken it to a boxing match, and it can be said Valley delivered a first-round knockout punch. Simply put, Whitko was on its heels from the first blow the Lady Vikings delivered and never recovered. “Addy (Miller) came out real well that first quarter and hit some threes, got us going, and we got off to a 24-4 lead,” said Valley coach Chris Kindig, whose team improved to 11-1 overall and 4-0 in the TRC standings. “Those are things we've talked about all year. We're starting to come together. I saw it on the road trip these past five games, our team chemistry is coming together ... everybody is starting to understand their role, and when we get the balanced scoring we got tonight we're pretty tough to beat.” Miller, a sophomore guard, scored Valley’s first eight points and scored 11 points in the first quarter, going 3 of 3 from the arc and 2 of 2 at the charity stripe. She finished the game with 13 points, while junior frontliners Anne Secrest and Hannah Dunn scored 15 points each. Secrest, who has already committed to play at NCAA Division I Youngstown State University, completed a double-double performance with a game-high 10 rebounds. Senior Brynda Krueger, who led the defensive effort that held high-scoring Whitko junior Aly Reiff to just six points, scored six points in the win, while junior Meredith Brouyette chipped in with five points. “Just a great night ... I'm really proud of these girls,” said Kindig. “We've come a long way since Game 1 already, and if we can keep improving and playing together like we are, I think we're gonna be pretty tough down the stretch.” As impressive as the Lady Vikings were offensively, they were equally as good defensively. The 32 points Whitko scored Saturday night was its lowest offensive output of the season. The Lady Wildcats, who fell to 10-2 overall and 3-1 in the TRC standings, scored 90 points in their season opener and have scored at least 50 points in nine of their 12 games. Senior Jen Reiff led Whitko with eight points and eight rebounds Saturday, while juniors Brianna Cumberland and Aly Reiff scored seven and six points, respectively, and juniors Emily Day and Hanna Yohe chipped in with four points each. Aly Reiff, who is drawing recruiting attention from a number of Division I schools, entered Saturday's game averaging 21 points per contest. Smothered by Krueger and a Valley defense that was centered around slowing her, Aly Reiff was just 3 of 11 from the field. She scored her six points in the fourth quarter, well after the outcome of the game was decided. “(Aly Reiff) is a great player, and I'm sure she’s disappointed in her performance tonight, but I just give credit to our girls ... they were determined to not let her get going,” said Kindig. “Obviously we had some things designed to help us do that and they executed it really beautifully for us. For her (Aly Reiff), you get down like they did in the first quarter and it's really tough mentally to come back from that. I thought we were able to get up on them early and kind of put them away.” Going into play Saturday night, there were four teams undefeated in TRC play. Whitko fell to 3-1 with the loss at Valley, while Northfield fell to 4-1 with a loss to Wabash. At 4-0, Valley is atop the 10-team league, while Class 2A No. 1 Rochester is 3-0. Rochester travels to Whitko on Jan. 9 and hosts Valley on Jan. 16. The Lady Vikings are in action again Jan. 2 in a holiday tournament at West Noble. The Lady Wildcats play in the Greenfield-Central Tournament on Dec. 29. Following Saturday's 24-point loss, Whitko coach Brandon Bradley admitted his post-game interview was going to be short and simple, and admitted he didn't have his team mentally prepared. Bradley also noted that Whitko has played like that against Valley before. In his tenure with the Lady Wildcats, Whitko is 0-6 against Valley, with the Lady Vikings winning those games by an average of 21 points. Last year’s regular season meeting in South Whitley, a 42-38 Valley win, was the closest of those six games. “Simply put, I didn't have them mentally prepared for this game,” said Bradley. “So that's that. “We’ve played like this before here. Two years ago we played the same way. Three years ago we played the same way. Four years ago we played the same way. Last year was the first time we have ever really attacked them in the six games I’ve coached against them.”
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 56, WHITKO 32 Whi 4 8 9 11 – 32 TV 24 12 12 8 – 56 Whitko – Jen Reiff 4-8 0-0 8, Haley Yohe 0-3 1-2 1, Brianna Cumberland 2-11 1-3 7, Avaree Freel 0-2 0-0 0, Emily Day 2-2 0-0 4, Hanna Yohe 1-2 2-2 4, Aly Reiff 3-11 0-0 6, Kennedy Krull 0-2 2-4 2. Totals 12-41 6-11 32. Valley – Olivia Trippiedi 0-0 0-0 0, Meredith Brouyette 2-9 0-3 5, Addy Miller 4-6 2-2 13, Sophie Bussard 1-1 0-2 2, Brynda Krueger 3-3 0-0 6, Asia O’Connor 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan Brazo 0-0 0-0 0, Hanna Dunn 7-10 1-1 15, Anne Secrest 5-8 5-5 15. Totals 22-37 8-13 56. Three-pointers – Whitko 2 (Cumberland 2), Valley 4 (Miller 3, Brouyette); Rebounds – Whitko 17 (J. Reiff 8), Valley 25 (Secrest 10); Turnovers – Whitko 16, Valley 16; Fouls – Whitko 12, Valley 14; Fouled out – none; Records: Whitko 10-2 (3-1 TRC), Valley 11-1 (4-0 TRC) JV – Valley 45, Whitko 42
