Duo combines for 33 points, 15 rebounds in 43-28 win at NorthWood
Posted
Mark Howe-mhowe@timesuniononline.com
NAPPANEE – When Tippecanoe Valley’s three-point shots weren’t falling, it was good to have shooters who excel in the paint to take care of business. Junior Anne Secrest and senior Hannah Dunn had their teammates’ back, scoring 17 and 16 points respectively, all of it in or near the paint, leading the Class 3A No. 5 Lady Vikings past a tested NorthWood team 43-28 at The Pit Thursday night. The duo had a size advantage over NorthWood, and “we really tried to take advantage of that in the second half,” Valley head coach Chris Kindig said. “It’s one of those things where we have some three-point shooters, and they struggled a little bit tonight. So it was really nice to go down low and get some two-footers. I think if we could have hit a couple of threes out there, it could have opened things up even more inside.” Valley’s Meredith Brouyette hit her team’s only trey in the second quarter, but on the other end of the floor NorthWood made only two treys all night. While pleased that his team forced 19 Lady Panther turnovers, Kindig was less than happy with his team’s 21 turnovers in the game. “We didn’t handle their pressure as well as we’d like, but I thought defensively we played awfully well,” he said. “Some nights you win with defense, some nights you win with offense. Unfortunately for us, we need to get both of those going at the same time. If we can do that, we’re going to be fine. “Offensively we were a little sluggish, a step slow, and weren’t very patient. But they’re a fairly quick team and they got in the passing lanes, so they forced some of those turnovers on us. “You know, we have a lot of experience, so it’s a little disappointing to turn the ball over 21 times. In a game like that, you want to be at your best, if you can. We pressed a little bit, so you have to accept some of those, but 21 turnovers is a little over the top. It’s going to be hard to win basketball games down the line with 21 turnovers.” Valley capped a 6-0 early third quarter run with a Secrest hoop to extend its lead to 23-12, but NorthWood scored the next nine points, ending with a Taitlyn Trenshaw layup with about two minutes to go in the period. Kindig called a timeout, and the Lady Panthers, a potential sectional foe, didn’t hit another shot from the floor the rest of the game. Secrest hit a layup out of the timeout, and Dunn was fouled and hit a pair of free throws that started a 9-0 run into the fourth quarter that effectively put the game away. Dunn, Secrest and senior Brynda Krueger scored all 16 Valley points in the decisive fourth quarter. NorthWood’s Arika Flickinger had a team-high eight points in the loss, and Andrea Tuttle added seven. Kindig said his team found the win less than satisfying. “But, we’re going to learn from this, hopefully get better from this,” he said. “There were a lot of long faces in there after the game, I told them ‘hey, it’s still a win. We need to learn from it, move on and maybe see them again in a couple of weeks.’” NorthWood fell to 13-8 on the season and will play in the Valley Sectional in the first week of February. Valley moved to 18-1 on the season, and will host Southwood in Three Rivers Conference play Saturday night.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 43, NORTHWOOD 28 TV 10 7 10 16 – 43 NW 3 7 11 7 – 28 Valley – Karis Tucker 0-1 0-2 0, Meredith Brouyette 1-4 0-0 3, Addy Miller 0-3 0-0 0, Sophie Bussard 1-2 0-0 2, Brynda Krueger 1-1 3-4 5, Hannah Dunn 6-11 4-4 16, Anne Secrest 8-14 1-2 17. Totals 17-36 8-12 43. NorthWood – Taitlyn Trenshaw 2-12 0-0 4, Arika Flickinger 2-8 4-6 8, Andrea Tuttle 2-3 2-2 7, Nicole Flickinger 0-2 0-2 2, Kenzie Bergman 0-1 0-0 0, Gabi Glass 1-7 0-0 3, Savannah Feenstra 1-2 1-2 3, McKayla Fielstra 0-1 0-0 0, Riley Hershberger 0-1 3-4 3. Totals 8-37 10-16 28. Three-pointers – Valley 1 (Brouyette), NorthWood 2 (Glass, Tuttle); Rebounds – Valley 30 (Secrest 8), NorthWood 22 (Hershberger 5); Turnovers – Valley 21, NorthWood 19, Fouls – Valley 15, NorthWood 14; Fouled out – none; Records: Valley 18-1, NorthWood 13-8 JV – NorthWood 31, Valley 19 Valley – Asia O’Connor 7, Taniesha Brown 4, Kilee Slone 3, Hannah Gibbons 2, Sarah Tucker 2, Ashley Dunnuck 1
