WABASH – From start to finish, Wabash and Tippecanoe Valley played a tough, physical girls basketball game Saturday night. The difference was the Class 3A No. 8 Lady Vikings found a way to knock down shots and keep the home team from doing likewise. The end result was Valley taking a 10-point lead by the end of the first quarter and eventually running away with a 59-26 Three Rivers Conference win. The toughness from the home team was exactly what Valley head coach Chris Kindig expected from Wabash. “I told the girls before the game ‘you’re gong to have to play extremely hard tonight, ‘cause they’re going to play hard, and sometimes crazy hard,’” he said, “If we didn’t come out and play hard, we were going to have a hard time here tonight. “At times, we’ve come to Wabash and not played very well. I thought the girls came out with the right intensity. It was a rough game and they had to wake up pretty quickly. It’s a good start for us, 2-0 in the conference, and it’s good to get this one out of the way. Last year Wabash gave us a tussle for a while at home, so it’s a good win for us tonight, and I’m proud of our girls.” Wabash had only one field goal in the second quarter, a buzzer-beating three from senior Katie McCauley, who came off the bench to score all four of her team’s points in the frame and finish with a team-high 10. Valley used the opportunity to expand its lead to 30-13 by halftime. Still, Kindig said he was concerned about a Wabash comeback. “We were up by 17 at the half, but I didn’t feel comfortable. We talked at halftime about how we need to match their physicality,” he said. “I thought we did a better job of that in the second half. In the first two or three minutes of the third quarter we went from 17 to thirty-something real quickly. “That’s something you want to do; if you have someone down you want to keep ‘em down, and we did a very good job of that in the first two or three minutes of the second half.” With senior Karis Tucker out with a knee injury, Kindig looked to develop balance among the remaining nine players. While all-everything junior Anne Secrest had another double-double (14 points, 16 rebounds), the head coach wants to insure the Lady Vikings have the balance to repeat last year’s postseason run. Of the nine players that dressed for the game, eight scored. “We want to gain some confidence in some of those bench players. With Karis out, we’re down to nine, basically. So we need to find out who can do what, and (Saturday) was a real good night to do that,” Kindig said. “We need to get some balance. Obviously Anne’s going to do what she’s going to do. She’s going to get you double figures in rebounds and scoring every night. The key is who are those other two or three players who are going to step up every night and get it done for us? And really, when we made that tournament run last year, that balance was where it was at. That’s what it’s going to take the rest of this year with some of these players that are coming along.” Addy Miller had a pair of three-pointers and finished with 10 points in the win. Meredith Brouyette, who also hit two treys, and Hannah Dunn scored eight points each for the Lady Vikings. Valley will take its 7-1 record to the Trojan Trench in Bourbon Thursday night to take on Triton.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 59 WABASH 26 TV 16 14 17 12 – 59 W 6 7 4 9 – 26 Valley – Olivia Trippiedi 2-3 0-0 4, Meredith Brouyette 3-8 0-0 8, Addy Miller 4-6 0-0 10, Sophie Bussard 2-5 3-3 7, Brynda Krueger 3-4 0-0 6, Asia O’Connor 1-3 0-2 2, Morgan Brazo 0-0 0-2 0, Hannah Dunn 3-4 2-4 8, Anne Secrest 4-7 6-9 14. Totals 22-40 11-20 59. Wabash – Sabrina Wagner 0-3 0-0 0, Jaycee Parrett 0-4 0-0 0, Madison Barden 3-8 0-1 6, Bailey Yoakum 2-16 3-6 7, Sydni Mullett 0-3 0-0 0, Kaitlyn Dowdal 0-1 0-0 0, Kristin Cromer 1-4 1-2 3, Katie McCauley 4-9 1-2 10. Totals 10-48 5-11 26. Three-pointers – Valley 4 (Brouyette 2, miller 2), Wabash 1 (McCauley); Rebounds – Valley 32 (Secrest 16), Wabash 25 (Barden 5, Yoakum 5) ; Turnovers – Valley 12, Wabash 14; Fouls – Valley 14, Wabash 18; Fouled out – none; Records: Valley 7-1 (2-0 TRC), Wabash 6-3 (1-1 TRC) JV – Valley 30, Wabash 16 Valley scoring – Sarah tucker 7, Abbi Miller 5. Taneisha Brown 4, Asia O’Connor 4, Kilee Slone 4, Tori Miller 2, Hannah Gibbons 2, Jalyssa House 2
