AKRON - A second-half surge lifted the Tippecanoe Valley's varsity girls basketball to its third win of the season Wednesday at home.
Using a 15-3 run, the Vikings (3-5) found themselves in control of the game against the Triton Trojans (3-5), eventually winning 50-38."We knew Triton was going to be tough," Valley coach Gary Teel said. "They've been playing really well lately. They've been shooting the ball nicely. They have some nice players, and we just knew we had to step up defensively."
Early on, it looked as if the Trojans' good times would continue.
Holding the Vikings scoreless over the first five minutes of the second quarter, the Trojans were only able to score six points themselves in that time. With the scoring lacking, Triton only built its lead to 17-14, and that evaporated quickly.
"We missed some free throws, which could have widened the lead," Triton coach Adam Heckaman said.
Capitalizing on three missed free throws, Valley outscored Triton 21-6 until they led 35-23 to start the fourth quarter.
"We kind of gapped the game there with our defense," Teel said. "On offense, we were able to get the ball inside, kick it out."
The beneficiary of most of the those kick-outs was Valley sophomore Allison Thacker, who hit five three-pointers en rout to a game-high 19 points.
"She's doing a fantastic job," Teel said about Thacker, who hit 7 of 10 shots, including 5 of 7 threes. "She hit some big threes there in the first half, and really kept us in it. In the second half, she also hit some big shots. We told her, 'Get yourself squared up. If we get three or four passes, then kick it to you, be ready to shoot the ball.' And I'm just really happy with her play. Each game she plays, she's getting more confidence in herself and her game."
A key matchup in the contest was between Valley senior Stacie Hoffman and Triton senior Paige Davis.
Harassing Davis the entire night, Hoffman limited Triton's leading scorer to three points, all coming from the free-throw line.
"She's extremely quick, she can move well and she's got long arms," Teel said about Hoffman, who had six steals and four assists in the game. "She really causes problems for a lot of guards, who may be smaller than she is. Now, Paige wasn't that much smaller, but Stacie's the kind of kid that thrives off of a defensive challenge."
While she wasn't scoring, Davis did help in other areas, grabbing four rebounds, posting three steals, dishing out two assists and recording a blocked shot.
"Leading a team isn't all about scoring," Heckaman said. "We need her to do a lot of other things. She runs our point a lot of the time, and she's our point defensively, as well. She did a good job of keeping the ball out of the post for the most part. Without her there, we're not even in the game."
Also helping to keep the Trojans at bay was the Valley frontline of seniors Melody Hoffer and Whitney Sparkman, as well as junior Kate Myers.
"Those three kids got quite a few blocks," Teel said. "That kind of took away the dribble penetration and shot, which they were getting early on."
With Triton getting those shots in the lane in the first quarter, Teel brought the 6-foot Sparkman in to create havoc.
"She's hard to shoot over," Heckaman said about Sparkman. "When she puts her arm in the air, we have some girls who probably can't even jump up and touch her hand. We talked to the girls about, when she's in the game, they'd need to pull up a couple feet shorter and shoot over her. It didn't quite sink in until she blocked a few."
Triton returns to Northern State Conference action Friday, when the Bremen Lions come to Bourbon for a 6:30 p.m. junior varsity tip-off. Valley hosts North Miami Friday for a Three Rivers Conference game, with JV tipping off at 6:15 p.m.
