T. Valley Tops TRC Rival WhitkoSOUTH WHITLEY – A sloppy first half prove costly for 2A No. 1 Whitko in its 47-39 loss to 3A No. 8 Tippecanoe Valley in a key Three Rivers conference girls basketball game Thursday night. After a decent start, Whitko turned the ball over 16 times in the first 16 minutes, allowing Valley to take a 27-14 halftime lead. “(Turnovers are) becoming a trend, which is something we’re trying to fix. We’ve been really sloppy with it ever since we got back from Christmas break, honestly,” Whitko head coach Brandon Bradley said. “At Southwood (a 47-31 win Saturday), we had a lot of turnovers, we had a lot of turnovers Tuesday night (a 48-46 loss at Wawasee). I don’t know if it’s a complacency thing or what, but we’re playing a little bit soft offensively as far as taking care of the basketball.” The Lady ‘Cats chipped away in the second half, closing within two, 39-37, on a Brianna Cumberland three-pointer with four minutes to play. “I challenged them to be better. I challenged the seniors, that this is their last opportunity (to win the TRC), I think when you start four seniors, that has an effect,” Bradley said. Once the lead was cut to two, Valley responded with a 10-2 run to close out the game, hitting five of six free throws down the stretch. Valley head coach Chris Kindig was pleased with how his team responded after the first four minutes of the game, when Whitko took a short-lived lead. “That first three or four minutes we were really tight, but we settled down in the latter part of the first quarter into the second quarter and got a nice cushion,” he said. “They made a couple of runs at us, but we made the plays down the stretch we needed to make.” Kindig said his team had been looking forward to this game, originally scheduled for Dec. 17, for quite some time, and knew what it would take to come out on top. “If you go in an look at the board, I had the big ‘Es’ on there,” he said. “Effort, enthusiasm, energy. I told them that those are the things that are going to win you this basketball game. We had to have more effort, more enthusiasm, more energy. That’s exactly what we did. This whole team has been looking forward to this game all year. “But we still have some work to do. We still have two conference games to go. I would hate to come back Saturday and lay an egg after making some real progress tonight.” Secrest finished with game-highs with 18 points, nine rebounds and four blocks for Valley. Emily Peterson came off the bench to add nine points for the Lady Vikings. Cumberland finished with 16 points and Aly Reiff 15, combining to go 11 of 31 from the field, for Whitko. In spite of not scoring at all in the fourth quarter, Whitko won the junior varsity game 36-27 over Tippecanoe Valley. Emma Craig and Makenzie Woodcox had six points each for the Lady Vikings, with Emalee Duggins scoring nine and Anna Ousley adding eight points for the Lady Wildcats. Valley (17-4, 7-0 TRC) travels to Wabash to take on Southwood on Saturday. Whitko (16-4, 5-1 TRC) plays at Northfield Saturday night. That game was originally on the schedule as an afternoon game, but the junior varsity game tips off at 6:15 p.m.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 47, WHITKO 39 TV 10 17 8 12 – 47 W 6 8 13 12 – 39 Valley – Olivia Trippiedi 1-4 2-2 4, Meredith Brouyette 3-7 0-0 6, Addy Miller 1-3 0-0 2, Sophie Bussard 3-7 0-1 6, Emily Peterson 3-3 2-2 9, Asia O’Connor 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah Dunn 1-4 0-0 2, Anne Secrest 7-9 4-4 18. Totals 19-37 8-9 47. Whitko – Emalee Duggins 0-0 0-0 0, Haley Yohe 0-2 0-0 0, Brianna Cumberland 5-15 1-2 16, Hanna Yohe 0-4 0-0 0, Aly Reiff 6-16 0-0 15, Ellie Snep 0-4 2-4 2, Kennedy Krull 1-7 0-0 2, Anna Ousley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-51 3-6 39. Three-pointers – Valley 1 (Peterson), Whitko 4 (Cumberland 3, Reiff); Rebounds – Valley 24 (Secrest 9), Whitko 26 (Reiff 7), Turnovers – Valley 18, Whitko 17; Fouls – Valley 13, Whitko 14; Fouled out – none; Records: Valley 17-4 (7-0 TRC), Whitko 16-4 (5-1 TRC). JV – Whitko 36, Tippecanoe Valley 27 Valley – Emma Craig 6, Makenzie Woodcox 6, Jillian Walls 5, Sarah Tucker 4, Karina Young 4, Hannah Gibbons 1, Kennedie Brooks 1. Whitko – Emalee Duggins 9, Anna Ousley 8, Cassidy Stout 7, Kayla Schipper 3, Audrey Bradford 3. Sarah Hewitt 2, Katherine Ousley 2, Carissa Beck 2.
