ROCHESTER – Tippecanoe Valley senior guard Karis Tucker returned about two weeks ago from a summer-league knee injury. Saturday night against top-ranked (Class 2A) Rochester, in front of a capacity crowd of better than 2,300, she left no doubt she’s back. After a quick start by the host Lady Zebras left Valley five points down, Tucker came off the bench to score nine first-half points and 19 in the game as the fifth-ranked (Class 3A) Lady Vikings earned a 61-51 win that gave them an inside track to repeating as Three Rivers Conference champions. Tucker was hardly alone on the floor; junior Anne Secrest added 12 points and senior Hannah Dunn 11. Just as important, the duo teamed with Brynda Krueger to keep Rochester’s Kennedy Musselman off the boards. One would block out the Lady Zebra sophomore while the others collected a rebound. Musselman collected 12 rebounds in the game, but three came on one fourth-quarter possession with Valley in control. Secrest, Dunn and Krueger teamed for 20 boards. The home team has missed senior Keaton Stesiak for a while, as she’s out for the season with a knee injury, and backup center Emma Dahlquist left the game with flu-like symptoms. So while Rochester’s roster of experienced players shrunk, Tucker expanded the Valley roster and gave the Lady Vikings an advantage exploited to the fullest. “I think our depth was the difference in the game,” said Valley head coach Chris Kindig. “This week I told them 1-10 we were the better team, and that I think 1-5 we were better. The way Karis came off the bench and played tonight was unbelievable. You could see that little spurt she has coming back a little bit more every day in practice, and boy, what a big contribution tonight. “I thought Hannah Dunn played extremely well in the second half. Anne was battling foul trouble the whole time but battled and gave us some offensive punch.” The Lady Zebras used three-quarter court pressure early to take a 10-4 lead over the game’s first 6-1/2 minutes. “The start was exactly what we wanted, I think pressuring Valley is the way to go,” said Rochester head coach Tony Stesiak. “We had it, the first quarter was there. Both teams got in foul trouble but Valley could absorb it better than we could. Hannah Dunn and Karis Tucker were the X-factors.” Kindig said he felt the Lady Vikings calmed down after their rocky start, and Secrest hit shots down low on Valley’s first three possessions of the second quarter. Then Tucker came on strong, scoring seven points in the second quarter and six more in the third to keep Rochester at bay. With about two minutes left in the third quarter, Lady Zebra senior Alexa Holland hit a three, and the next trip down classmate Becky Malchow hit a stick-back layup to draw their team to within four points, 36-32. After a Valley timeout at 1:28, Tucker hit shots on consecutive trips, the second by out-hustling Musselman for the rebound and a stick-back that restored the lead to eight, and that was as close as Rochester got the rest of the way. “That’s a senior gutting out a rivalry game,” said Stesiak. “Tucker just made senior, tough plays that rivalry games sometimes come down to. Credit that kid; I know that knee is not right yet. She made us pay every time we lost her.” Kindig said the experience of last season is making a difference this season. “This is a team with a lot of experience,” said Kindig. “We made a tournament run last year and we’re 17 games into this season. Even though we’re a fairly young team we still have a lot of experience and I think that helped us tonight.” Both teams are now 16-1 for the season, with Valley at 6-0 and Rochester 5-1 in the conference. Three other teams have two losses each in the TRC, so Valley controls its own destiny for the conference title. Valley returns to conference play Tuesday with a trip to Peru. On Thursday the Lady Vikings take on potential sectional foe NorthWood in Nappanee; a makeup of the game that was postponed last week.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 61, ROCHESTER 51 TV 7 19 14 21 – 61 R 12 7 13 19 – 51 Valley – Karis Tucker 6-8 7-8 19, Meredith Brouyette 2-7 0-0 4, Addy Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Sophie Bussard 1-3 4-4 7, Brynda Krueger 1-2 6-8 8, Hannah Dunn 5-7 1-1 11, Anne Secrest 5-7 2-4 12. Totals 20-37 20-25 61. Rochester – Alexa Holland 3-9 3-3 11, Becky Malchow 4-13 5-6 15, Ali Harsh 0-1 0-0 0, Maddie Shively 1-1 0-0 2, Ali Larkin 2-9 0-0 5, Morgan Ruff 2-5 4-6 8, Kennedy Musselman 4-7 0-0 8, Emma Dahlquist 1-3 0-1 2. Totals 17-46 12-16 51. Three-pointers – Valley 1 (Bussard), Rochester 5 (Holland 2, Malchow 2, Larkin); Rebounds – Valley 28 (Secrest 9), Rochester 28 (Musselman 12); Turnovers – Valley 10, Rochester 9; Fouls – Valley 16, Rochester 18; Fouled out – Krueger, Ruff; Records: Valley 16-1 (6-0 TRC), Rochester 16-1 (5-1 TRC) JV – Valley 39, Rochester 14 Valley – Sarah Tucker 12, Kilee Slone 11, Jalyssa House 5, Jordan Krotke 5, Tori Miller 2, Hannah Gibbons 2, Taniesha Brown 2 Rochester – Siera Weathers 5, Corina Peterson 4, Courtney Gast 3, Ali Harsh 2
