Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
PERU - The Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball team did Saturday in the opener of the 3A Peru Regional against NorthWood what they'd done all year.
They fought and scrapped.
It wasn't enough however as the Vikings fell to NorthWood 45-38 in the Tig-Arena at Peru High School.
Eleven first-half turnovers by Valley turned in easy baskets for NorthWood as the Panthers jumped out to a 27-15 lead after 16 minutes.
"NorthWood brought a lot more defensive intensity," said Viking head coach Gary Teel. "Our kids had trouble with that in the first half and had some turnovers that led to easy scores for them."
NorthWood's Mandy Yoder and Amanda Bechtel were the main culprits as the duo combined for 21 points and seven steals in the first half.
Yoder scored nine points in the first quarter while Bechtel took over in the second with eight.
The game became sloppy on both ends in the second quarter as both teams looked about as sharp as expected for a 10 a.m. road game.
While the Vikings trailed by 12 points at halftime and by as many as 15 points in the third quarter, Valley fought back with a 7-0 run to end the quarter.
Senior Jennifer Hathaway, a move-in from Warsaw, played the game of her career and helped spark the Vikings' comeback.
Hathaway hit a 17-foot running bank shot that highlighted the 7-0 run.
Hathaway went 7 of 12 from the field en route to a team-high 17 points. The 5-foot-8 guard also pulled down five rebounds.
"Jen did have an outstanding game," said Teel of Hathaway. "She gave us a lot of leadership and helped us get back in it today."
With the Vikings down just six points to start the fourth quarter, neither Valley nor NorthWood was able to take the game over.
The Panthers' Mackenzie Lechlitner finally broke a scoring drought with a jumper two minutes into the finial period to put NorthWood up by eight a 37-29.
Viking junior Chelsy Rhoades nailed a deep three-pointer with less than a minute left in regulation to draw Valley to within five at 41-36.
After NorthWood's Casey Bough made 1 of 2 free throws, Valley reserve guard Kayla Newman hit two free throws to make the score 42-38 in the Panthers' favor.
NorthWood went just 4 of 8 from the charity stripe in the final 1:05 of the game but it was just enough as the Vikings connected on just one field goal in the final two minutes of regulation.
"We had it down to four points in the last 25 seconds," said Teel. "We just missed some shots. But give credit to NorthWood. They made us fight for everything we got."
The Vikings shot 14 of 43 (33 percent) from the field for the game but also held NorthWood to 17 of 48 (35 percent) from the field.
"Valley has made people play like that all year," said NorthWood head coach Steve Neff. "They get teams to play that helter-skelter style and we got into that today. We started playing sloppy at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth."
The Panthers were led by Yoder with 17 points while Bechtel was the only other Panther to finish in double digits with 10.
In the second game of the day, Fort Wayne Bishop Luers defeated Jay County 54-42. Luers then advanced to the semistate with a 39-32 win over NorthWood.
While Hathaway led the Vikings in scoring with 17, sophomore Hannah Krueger added eight and Rhoades finished with five.
Rachel Sitts and Kayla Newman rounded out the Valley scoring with four each.
Hathaway and Lela Rohrer are the only two seniors on a 12-player roster for the Vikings.
Valley finished its year with a record of 11-12 overall.
NORTHWOOD 45, VALLEY 38
T. Valley 7 8 14 9 - 38
NorthWood 17 10 8 10 - 45
T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.
*Hathaway 7-12 1-2 5 0 17
*Rohrer 0-5 0-0 1 1 0
*Rhoades 2-8 0-0 0 1 5
*Krueger 3-11 0-0 8 6 8
*Sitts 2-4 0-0 8 0 4
Newman 0-1 4-4 3 0 4
Sparkman 0-1 0-0 5 0 0
Hoffer 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 14-43 5-6 30 8 38
NorthWood FG FT R S Pts.
*Bechtel 4-15 0-1 4 5 10
*Yoder 8-11 1-2 4 6 17
*Lechlitner 2-6 2-2 6 1 7
*Bough 2-7 2-4 7 1 6
*Schiefer 1-7 3-4 5 0 5
Stutzman 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Hall 0-2 0-0 2 0 0
Kurtz 0-2 0-0 1 0 0
Heeter 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 17-48 8-13 31 14 45
Three-point goals - T. Valley 5-13 (Hathaway 2-3, Krueger 2-5, Rhoades 1-4), NorthWood 3-11 (Bechtel 2-8, Lechlitner 1-2). Turnovers - T. Valley 18, NorthWood 14. Fouls - T. Valley 16, NorthWood 10. Fouled out - None.
