SYRACUSE – Wawasee may have had the first giggle, but Tippecanoe Valley certainly got the last laugh, winning 45-25 in high school girls basketball actioin at the Hardwood Teepee Tuesday night. After the Lady Warriors took a 7-3 lead, Valley head coach Chris Kindig called time out 3:15 into the game. From there the Lady Vikings turned up the defensive pressure, Wawasee turned the ball over on four consecutive possessions, and Valley sophomore Anne Secrest scored on four straight trips down the floor. Three of those trips ended in fastbreaks for layups, and the visitors from Akron didn’t trail again. Secrest scored 10 points in the first period on her way to a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds. Taylor Trippiedi hit a pair of treys in the first half and finished with 10 points for the Lady Vikings. Valley came in averaging about 59 points per game, and Kindig said “it was a little bit frustrating at times” to not be more efficient offensively. “It was good to get here, because this is a sectional site, and Wawasee was scrappy,” Kindig said. “We turned the ball over at times, but it was a good win for us tonight.” The Lady Warriors scored 10 points in the first quarter, but managed only five points in the second and third periods. Wawasee started off hitting 4 of 9 shots in the opening eight minutes, but then only made 5 of 26 shots the rest of the way. Kylee Rostochak, averaging 14 points per game for Wawasee, was held to seven on 1-of-10 shooting from the floor. Seaquinn Bright also had seven points for the home team. “You look at the scorebook and see we gave up two points in the second quarter, and three points in the third quarter, so I’d say we did a pretty good job on defense,” Kindig said. “They’ve got a couple of players you need to take care of, and I thought we did a really good job on Rostochak.” The long droughts are nothing new to Wawasee and head coach Kem Zolman. “We jumped out to a 7-3 lead, and that’s it. That’s all we got. That’s all we had,” Zolman said. “They’re great kids and they follow everything we tell them to a ‘T’ to a fault. And they forget to play the game. They follow instructions better than anyone I’ve ever been around. “When a defense is dong certain things, then the offense has got to react to it. For instance, when we reverse the ball, and the defense is on the person I’m supposed to throw the ball to, I’m throwing it anyway because that’s what our offense is supposed to do. “The thing I’m most discouraged about is our offense, and not being able to adjust and take what the defense is giving us. It makes the game very hard. And it makes it look ugly at the same time because the ball isn’t going into the basket.” The loss dropped Wawasee to 4-15 going into its Northern Lakes Conference game with Concord at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Tenth-Ranked (Class 3A) Valley went to 17-2 with the win, and will host Manchester at 7:45 p.m. Saturday. The Lady Vikings will clinch the Three Rivers Conference title with either a Rochester home loss to Southwood Saturday afternoon or a win over the Lady Squires.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 45, WAWASEE 25 TV 15 9 11 10 – 45 Waw 10 2 3 10 – 25 Valley – Taylor Trippiedi 4-8 0-0 10, Meredith Brouyette 2-8 0-0 6, Addy Miller 0-2 0-0 0, Caylie Teel 0-3 1-2 1, Brynda Krueger 2-3 0-0 4, Morgan Brazo 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah Dunn 0-0 2-2 2, Anne Secrest 9-13 4-5 22. Totals 17-37 7-9 45. Wawasee – Elizabeth Jackson 2-5 1-1 5, Hannah-Marie Lamle 0-2 0-0 0, Hannah Haines 1-2 0-0 2, Kylee Rostochak 1-10 4-8 7, Allissa Flores 0-0 0-0 0, Seaquinn Bright 3-8 1-2 7, Aubrey Schmeltz 2-5 0-0 4, Kaitlyn Kennedy 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 9-35 6-11 25. Three-pointers – Valley 4 (Trippiedi 2, Brouyette 2), Wawasee 1 (Rostochak); Rebounds – Valley 30 (Secrest 12), Wawasee 13 (Flores 3); Turnovers – Valley 13, Wawasee 16; Fouls – Valley 14, Wawasee 15; Fouled out – none; Records – Valley 17-2, Wawasee 4-15 JV – Valley 45, Wawasee 38, OT Valley – Addy Miller 12, Morgan Brazo 12, Taneisha Brown 10, Olivia Trippiedi 4, Jordan Krotke 3, Abbi Miller 2, Asia O’Connor 2 Wawasee – Kaley Wood 14, Madison Beaman 9, Aubrey Kuhn 5, Kabrea Rostochak 4, Kayla White 4, Harmony Schlabach 2
