SYRACUSE – Sometimes to win a basketball game, a team needs quantity of points as well as timely scoring. Tippecanoe Valley sophomore Anne Secrest provided quantity early in the opening game of Class 3A Sectional 21 at Wawasee High School, getting 14 of her 17 points and half of her 16 rebounds, both game-high totals, in the first two quarters against Fairfield. After the Falcons closed an 11-point gap to two by the end of the third quarter, Hannah Dunn provided three huge baskets to help restore order and secure a 46-37 Lady Viking victory Tuesday night. Valley used Secrest and Meredith Brouyette, who scored nine and five points respectively in the first quarter, to get out to a 14-5 lead. Fairfield chipped away at its deficit like a sculptor would with marble. Instead of a fast-break game Valley wanted to play, the Falcons shaped the pace of the game with half-court offense and defense that closed in on Secrest on every possession after halftime. After being down 21-10 midway through the second quarter, Fairfield closed to within 30-28 by the end of the third. “They’re a good team and I knew we were going to have a tough time tonight. We played a half-court game with them the whole second half, and we really wanted to speed things up,” said Valley coach Chris Kindig. “We weren’t able to do that. But Hannah Dunn made some big shots down the stretch, and made the plays we needed to make. We had that stretch where we were up two, and we made it nine or 10, and we put it away there.” Neither team scored in the first two minutes of the final period. Dunn’s first two baskets came 23 seconds apart about midway through the quarter to expand the lead to six. Taylor Trippiedi hit a baseline jumper and Brouyette hit a layup to expand the lead to 10. Brouyette also finished with 10 points. Fairfield head coach Brodie Garber said he was pleased his team made a comeback, but maybe used too much energy to do so. “Defensively I thought we exerted so much effort in the second and third quarters, and quite honestly I didn’t think we had much gas left in the tank,” he said. “To come back on a team like (Valley), you’ve got to put forth so much effort that sometimes you come down on offense. At the start, we dug ourselves a hole, but man, did we fight out of it,” Garber said. Garber also acknowledged the knockout punch delivered by Dunn and Company. “I don’t know who their number 42 is (Dunn), but boy did she step up. I don’t know how many points she ended up with, but talk about timely,” Graber said. “We’re starting to come back a little bit, and boom, she knocked one in. Kudos to her, she did a nice job.” Both coaches acknowledged the game became closer once Fairfield figured out how to slow Secrest down some. “We’ve got Madison Riley and Andrea Hagar inside,” Graber said. “All year they’ve been going against post players, not quite to (Secrest’s) ability but similar, and every time they answered the bell. I think that first quarter kinda shocked them, because (Secrest) was very active. Her feet are amazing. In the second and third quarters they finally got adjusted to the way she played. Secrest plays in a different way. She’s not a typical post player.” Kindig said “they do a really good job of collapsing. We saw that on film of them. They do a good job of taking away the painted area, and we just need to come out and make some shots.” Valley got away with committing four more turnovers than the Vikings typically make, and Kindig said that has to change if the postseason run is to continue. Valley takes a 20-2 record into Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal game with NorthWood. The Lady Panthers are one of the two teams to beat the Lady Vikings, getting a 61-55 win in Akron on Jan. 13. “We had 19 turnovers (against Fairfield) and we talked before the game that we need to keep that number to 10 or lower,” said Kindig. “I think we had 10 turnovers in the first six or eight minutes of the game. That’s a recipe for losing a ball game. We’re going to have to do a much better job of taking care of the basketball Friday night.”
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 46 FAIRFIELD 37 FF 5 13 10 9 – 37 TV 14 9 7 16 – 46 Fairfield – Jalisa Schwartz 4-11 1-1 9, Alexis Thaxton 2-4 2-6 6, Katie Yates 2-5 1-3 5, Alyssa Zook 1-4 1-3 4, Alexis Zook 1-4 2-2 4, Andrea Hagar 2-6 0-0 4, Shelby Graber 1-2 0-0 3, Madison Riley 1-4 0-0 2, Janelle Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Julia Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-40 7-15 37. Valley – Anne Secrest 6-9 5-6 17, Hannah Dunn 5-7 0-1 10, Meredith Brouyette 4-8 0-0 10, Taylor Trippiedi 2-10 0-1 4, Karis Tucker 1-4 2-2 4, Caylie Teel 0-4 1-2 1, Addy Miller 0-2 0-0 0, Olivia Trippiedi 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan Brazo 0-0 0-0 0, Brynda Krueger 0-0 0-0 0, Asia O’Connor 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-44 8-12 46. Three-pointers – Fairfield 2 (Graber, Aly. Zook), Valley 2 (Brouyette 2); Rebounds – Fairfield 23 (Hagar 6), Valley 33 (Secrest 16); Turnovers – Fairfield 13, Valley 19; Fouls – Fairfield 13, Valley 11; Fouled out – Hagar; Records – Fairfield 15-9, Valley 20-2
