Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
AKRON -ÊTippecanoe Valley senior Rebekah Parker made history Saturday night when she scored her 1,240th career point while leading the No. 1 (3A) Vikings to a 73-25 win over Three Rivers Conference rival Whitko.
A basket at the 3:24 mark in the fourth quarter pushed Parker past Cathy Welch's 1978 mark of 1,238 career points, putting Parker at the top of the girl's career scoring list at Tippecanoe Valley.
"I am thrilled for Rebekah," said Valley coach Gary Teel. "She is a complete player. She has worked very hard over the past four years to bring this program to where it is now."
"I want to congratulate Rebekah from our whole basketball team and our fans," said Whitko coach Ryan Cunningham. "It is a huge honor for her, especially with the teams Valley plays."
The Vikings dominated the game early, holding Whitko to just three points in the first quarter.
Valley went on a 10-0 run midway through the first frame to help build a 14-3 lead going into the second quarter.
Whitko's Dana Sellers hit the first basket of the second quarter to cut Valley's lead to nine, 14-5, but Valley responded with an 11-0 run to go up 25-5 with 4:30 left in the first half.
By the end of the second quarter Valley built a 36-10 lead.
Whitko's Jana Rowland netted the first basket of the third frame to make the score 36-12.
But the Vikings continued to produce on the offensive end of the court, and outscored Whitko 19-9 in the third quarter. Twelve of those 19 points came from Parker, putting her just four points shy of Welch's record.
Parker scored the first basket of the fourth quarter to move within two points of the record, and she tied Welch's mark with 5:17 left in the game.
Finally at the 3:24 mark, Parker hit a basket to claim her spot on the Valley career scoring list and give Valley a 69-21 advantage.
The teams traded baskets in the last minutes of play to make the final score 73-25 in Valley's favor.
"The whole year, we have played hard, but we have not played smart," said Cunningham. "We have not put four quarters together yet this season. We are still looking to put it all together."
All totaled, Parker scored 32 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Kara Kramer netted 17 points in the Viking win.
"I am happy with the positive production of our kids off the bench," said Teel. "Before the game, we talked about doing positive things. The whole team is unselfish, they put the good of the team before themselves."
Sellers led the Wildcats with eight points, while Rowland added six and Angie Juricak chipped in five.
"We didn't shoot the ball very well," said Cunningham. "You're not gonna beat anybody shooting 10 of 39."
The win moves Valley to 10-0 overall and 3-0 in the TRC. Whitko falls to 0-10 overall and 0-3 in TRC play.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 73, WHITKO 25
Whitko 3 7 9 6 - 25
Valley 14 22 19 18 - 73
Whitko FG FT R S Pts.
Busz 0-3 0-0 1 1 0
Sellers 3-7 2-6 1 0 8
Badskey 0-5 2-2 1 1 2
Rowand 3-8 0-0 1 1 6
Jeffrey 0-5 0-0 4 1 0
Begley 1-4 0-0 5 0 2
Juricak 2-5 0-1 0 0 5
Wilkinson 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Wendel 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Totals 10-39 4-9 13 4 25
Valley FG FT R S Pts.
Parker 13-20 5-5 10 3 32
Kramer 7-10 4-5 5 2 19
Shafer 3-8 0-0 2 1 6
Jackson 0-0 0-0 2 1 0
Patterson 1-2 0-0 2 0 2
Rathbun 1-3 1-2 5 1 3
Rohrer 3-3 1-2 2 1 7
Howard 1-2 0-0 3 1 2
McFadden 1-5 0-0 1 2 2
Moore 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
Anglin 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Rhoades 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Hartle 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 30-55 11-14 32 10 73
Three-point goals -ÊWhitko 1-8 (Busz 0-3, Seller 0-1, Badskey 0-1, Begley 0-1, Juricak 1-2), Valley 2-9 (Parker 1-5, Kramer 1-1, Shafer 0-1, Howard 0-1, McFadden 0-1). Fouls - Whitko 13, Valley 17. Fouled out - none.
JV - TIPPECANOE VALLEY 40, WHITKO 33
Whitko scoring -ÊKylee Brown 16, Julianne Haines, Ashley Kennedy 8, Lindsay Collier 2, Katie Trump 5.
Valley scoring -ÊKayla Newman 6, Taylor Stoll 2, Abby Sroufe 2, Megan Royer 2, Brittany Hoffer 4, Chelsy Rhoades 19, Brittany Hartle 3
