AKRON – Junior Anne Secrest had a double-double for Tippecanoe Valley, scoring 24 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, and junior Hannah Dunn scored 10 points in the Lady Vikings’ 57-42 home win over Culver Academies Tuesday night. Secrest and Dunn combined for 14 first-quarter points, as Valley took an 18-9 lead. The margin expanded to 18 by halftime, and after an 8-2 run to open the second half, the Lady Vikings had an insurmountable 24-point lead. But it was his team’s performance from that point forward that had head coach Chris Kindig concerned. The Lady Eagles outscored Valley 16-8 in the fourth quarter. “I thought we kind of throttled down in the fourth quarter,” he said. “We were up 22, 23 points in the third quarter and I felt like our intensity dropped. We had some turnovers late here and there. “We talked about it at halftime; it was the same situation we had Thursday against Bremen (a 49-29 Valley win). We were up 23 at the half, and we did the same thing; we kind of throttled down in the second half. We’re going to have some games coming up where if we don’t play four quarters of basketball, we’re not going to win. “So that’s the thing now. We play three quarters of pretty solid basketball, then it drops off. We need to get some leadership out there and get some girls together and figure out a way to play four quarters of basketball.” The Lady Eagles were led by junior Kingsley Cortes’ 14 points, while classmate Marie Steiner chipped in with 10. Defensively, Culver Academies junior guard Tori Styers had a hand in eight of Valley’s 14 turnovers. “They have a couple of guards who can play and are pretty quick. In reality, they were probably a little quicker than we were tonight. But I anticipated that,” Kindig said. “Styers and Steiner were starters last year when we played them, and they’re both really solid ballplayers. Cortes had 14 points; she did a solid job for them. I know we outrebounded them by quite a bit (38-20), and that made a difference in the game.” As head coaches are prone to do, Kindig dwelled on what needs to be addressed in practice. “There in that fourth quarter I thought we were settling for jump shots, and at that point in time we needed to work the ball around a little bit. I think if we’d have done that we’d have got a layup or two here and there. We were a little bit too impatient. We’re going to have to learn from this, and again we’ve got some games coming up where if we don’t play well in the fourth quarter, we’re going to be in trouble.” The victory moved Valley to 2-0 and extends its regular-season winning streak to eight games. The Lady Vikings are in action again Nov. 20 when county rival Warsaw visits Akron.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 57 CULVER ACADEMIES 42 CA 9 6 11 16 – 42 TV 18 15 16 8 – 57 Culver Academies – Tori Styers 2-7 1-2 6, Peyton Frank 0-1 0-0 0, Kingsley Cortes 5-9 2-4 14, Jessie Etheridge 1-2 2-2 5, Jordi Blackburne 1-2 0-0 2, Marie Steiner 4-5 1-2 10, Brooke Ditmore 0-3 2-4 2, Kennedy Kubica 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 13-32 9-16 42. Valley – Olivia Trippiedi 1-1 0-0 2, Meredith Brouyette 0-5 2-2 2, Addy Miller 1-7 2-4 5, Sophie Bussard 3-6 0-1 7, Brynda Krueger 2-7 1-2 5, Asia O’Connor 1-1 0-0 2, Morgan Brazo 0-2 0-0 0, Hannah Dunn 2-2 4-9 10, Anne Secrest 12-18 0-1 24. Totals 24-56, 7-12 52. Three-pointers – Culver Academies 4 (Cortes 2, Styers, Etheridge), Valley 2 (Miller Bussard); Rebounds – Culver Academies 20 (Cortes 4, Steiner 4, Kubica 4), Valley 38 (Secrest 12); Turnovers – Culver Academies 17, Valley 14; Fouls – Culver Academies 11, Valley 17; Fouled out – none; Records: Culver Academies 0-2, Valley 2-0 JV – Valley 31, Culver Academies 18 Culver Academies – Abby Erickson 8, Rebecca Christlieb 5, Sydney Herczeg 4, Gracie Farrall 1. Valley – Sara Tucker 11, Taniesha Brown 6, Asia O’Connor 5, Jaylssa House 4, Kennedie Brooks 3, Jordan Krotke 2.
