COLUMBIA CITY - Tippecanoe Valley junior Tory Keirn looked to be on a mission Tuesday night in the opening game of Class 3A Sectional 21 at Columbia City High School.
Scoring 19 points and hauling in 14 rebounds, the 5-foot-8 Keirn led the Tippecanoe Valley Lady Vikings (5-14) to a 58-37 win over the Lakeland Lady Lakers (3-16), advancing them to Friday's semifinals against Wawasee (13-6)."I kind of had the feeling she was going to be ready to play tonight," Valley coach Chris Kindig said about Keirn. "She had that look before the game, that she really wanted to play and really wanted to play well. She did that. She was really a difference maker tonight. She really was - on both ends of the floor."
Keirn opened the game scoring Valley's first four points, helping the Lady Vikings off to a 13-4 lead.
"Getting that early lead got our confidence up," Kindig said. "Some of these kids who didn't have sectional experience, that gave them time to relax."
With 13 points and eight rebounds in the opening half, Keirn's effort enabled Valley to hold a 29-19 halftime.
Against the three-win Lady Lakers, Valley never trailed.
"I was more concerned with us than I was Lakeland," Kindig said. "We had the 10-day layoff, probably only had four practices. So, I wasn't sure what we were going to get tonight."
What he got was a good team effort, as Keirn's all-around game was accompanied by junior Staci Groom's 26-point performance, going 14 of 14 from the free-throw line.
Defensively, Kindig's team limited his biggest concern, senior Jamie Coffman, to four points, but saw senior Danielle Riley score all 18 of Lakeland's points in the second half. The 18 points were also what Riley ended up with for the game.
"We really didn't feel like she was going to hurt us," Kindig said about Riley. "Obviously, she did there in the second half."
Against Wawasee, Kindig is hoping for another strong defensive performance, this time against sophomore KiLee Knafel, the 2010-11 Times-Union Area Player of the Year.
In a 41-29 loss in Syracuse on Jan. 25, Tippencaoe Valley limited Knafel to nine points, nine points below her average, but Groom also struggled, scoring just eight points, 11 below her average.
"Defensively (we did well), especially with the Knafel girl having only one field goal and going 7 of 8 from the free-throw line," Kindig said. "A normal game out of Groom and we win that game. If we can have the similiar kind of defensive effort and get what we did out of Keirn tonight and get a normal game out of Groom, it might be a real interesting game."
The teams will square off at 6 p.m. Friday, with the winner moving on to Saturday's 7:30 p.m. championship bout.
"I hope we're a tough out Friday night," Kindig said. "I really do."
