AKRON – Not that he wanted his team to lose Tuesday night, but Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball coach Chris Kindig said he’d rather the Lady Vikings beat NorthWood in the state tournament. Only time will tell if the opportunity presents itself. In what may have been a preview of a Class 3A Wawasee Sectional matchup, the 10th-ranked Lady Vikings led the first 26 minutes of Tuesday’s 32-minute game, only to see the Lady Panthers escape Akron with a 61-55 win. Valley led 21-12 after one quarter of play, 30-23 at halftime and 45-39 at the end of the third quarter. It wasn’t until Taitlyn Trenshaw hit a three-pointer in the fourth quarter that NorthWood held a lead, as the 5-foot-2 sophomore’s trey gave the Lady Panthers a 46-45 advantage. The teams traded baskets and were later tied at 53 and 55 before NorthWood scored the last six points of the game, improving to 13-5 on the season and ending Valley’s nine-game win streak. The Lady Vikings, whose only loss prior to Tuesday was a triple-overtime setback to Plymouth on Dec. 4, fell to 13-2. “NorthWood is a very good team,” said Kindig. “They’re going to be a tough team to beat in the sectional, but I hope we are too. If we’re going to get a win against them, I’d rather it be down the road instead of tonight. I definitely think we showed we can play with them.” The Lady Vikings did more than show they can play with NorthWood. Kindig didn’t have to think long when asked if he felt a win got away from his team. “There were times in the first half I thought we could have been ahead by double digits, easily,” said Kindig. “We had opportunities to push it to double digits.” Kindig went on to say that he hopes his team learns from Tuesday’s loss, and that the Lady Vikings’ focus is on Saturday’s highly-anticipated Three Rivers Conference matchup with Rochester. Rochester and Valley are ranked ninth and 10th, respectively, and have a combined record of 28-4 overall and 7-0 in the TRC. “The game that we need to get is Saturday night,” said Kindig. “Tonight was good preperation for that game. I think NorthWood and Rochester have some similarities. We can’t dwell on tonight’s game. We have to come out and practice three days and get ready for Rochester.” Sophomore frontliner Anne Secrest led Valley with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while classmate Meredith Brouyette added 16 points and six boards, and senior Taylor Trippiedi chipped in with 10 points. Senior Jordyn Frantz led the Lady Panthers with 17 points and nine boards, while Trenshaw added 15 points and eight rebounds, and senior Haley Roe and junior McKayla Fielstra chipped in with 10 and nine points, respectively. Trenshaw scored nine of her 15 points in the fourth quarter. “In the second half, we made some adjustments,” said first-year NorthWood coach Adam Yoder, who took over after Hall of Fame coach Steve Neff retired. “Warsaw was here scouting, so we didn’t want to show everything. We ran a few more sets in the fourth quarter than I thought we would.” The Lady Panthers may have showed future opponents more than Yoder wanted to, but it worked Tuesday as far as getting a win over a top 10 team.
NORTHWOOD 61, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 55 NW 12 11 16 22 – 61 TV 21 9 15 10 – 55 NorthWood – Taitlyn Trenshaw 6 1-2 15, Aricka Flickinger 0 0-0 0, Jordyn Frantz 6 4-7 17, Karen Holmes 0 0-0 0, Haley Roe 5 0-0 10, Gabi Glass 0 0-1 0, Ashley Yoder 2 1-2 5, McKayla Fielstra 3 3-4 9, Savannah Feenstra 2 1-3 5. Totals 24 10-19 61. T. Valley – Taylor Trippiedi 4 0-1 10, Karis Tucker 1 3-4 6, Meredith Brouyette 6 0-0 16, Caylie Teel 1 0-0 2, Brynda Krueger 2 0-1 4, Hannah Dunn 0 0-0 0, Anne Secrest 8 1-2 17. Totals 22 4-8 55. Three-pointers – NorthWood 3 (Trenshaw 2, Frantz), T. Valley 7 (Brouyette 4, Trippiedi 2, Tucker); Rebounds – NorthWood 35 (Frantz 9), T. Valley 28 (Secrest 11); Turnovers – NorthWood 7, T. Valley 13; Fouls – NorthWood 12, T. Valley 16; Records: NorthWood 13-5, T. Valley 13-2 JV – T. Valley 37, NorthWood 35
