AKRON — Coupled with injuries and illnesses, the talent of the Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball team steamrolled the Whitko Lady Wildcats Saturday in Akron.
Entering the Three Rivers Conference game, with senior Katee Reiff on crutches and the team having girls miss practice because of a flu bug, the Lady Wildcats (4-6, 1-2 TRC) were trounced 81-37 by the Lady Vikings (8-2, 3-0 TRC).
From the get-go, Valley was in a flow, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the opening 43 seconds, going on to take a 19-9 lead by the end of the opening quarter.
“We played that way Thursday night, when we got out and scored 24 points in the first quarter (against Winamac),” Valley coach Chris Kindig said. “We’re coming out with a little bit of vengeance and that’s really good to see — being able to get that cushion. With a team like Whitko, you don’t want to allow them to feel like they can get back into the ballgame.”
And Whitko never did, making 12 of 50 shot attempts (26 percent) to Valley’s 26-of-42 shooting (62 percent).
“We shot around 65 percent for the game, and for us, that’s unheard of,” Kindig said. “Last year, we were shooting 30 percent, low 30s, turning the ball over all the time.”
Perhaps the most surprising stat of the game was Valley scoring 81 points without even attempting a three-point shot.
Instead of settling for jump shots, the Lady Vikings attacked the Whitko defense, which helped get them to the free-throw line, where Valley made 29 of 42 attempts.
The biggest benefactor of the charity stripe was senior Staci Groom, who made 13 of 16, as well as 7 of 11 field goals to finish with a game-high 27 points, accompanying her seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.
And while Groom’s been putting those numbers up throughout her career, she hasn’t always been getting as much help from her teammates as she has this year.
Finishing last season at 5-15, the Lady Vikings did show positive signs in the postseason, defeating Lakeland by 21 in the opening round, then giving eventual sectional champion Wawasee a scare in the semifinals.
Now, Valley sits at 8-2 and is the only remaining undefeated team in TRC play at 3-0, as Rochester, Manchester, Wabash and Southwood are all 2-1.
“A lot of it occurred the second half of last year,” Kindig said about the turnaround in his team. “A lot of it was also this summer, when we had good attendance at the open gyms. We played a lot of summer league games, and the way we travelled, we kind of bonded a little bit. We were competitive in the games, and I think that confidence began to grow. That’s just carried over into this year. Even this year during volleyball, we had girls coming in to shoot around. That never happened last year.”
This season, senior Tory Keirn has been a good compliment to Groom, and she was once again against Whitko, scoring 13 points, but she wasn’t alone in the points column.
Every girl Kindig inserted into the game scored at least two points, outside of the last sub, which entered with under 40 seconds remaining.
“That’s the key — getting contributions out of everybody,” Kindig said. “We don’t need to get 15 points or 20 points out of the other four or five girls, but we have to have six or eight. That’s what we did tonight. We had four girls in double figures.
Those other two girls to score in double digits were sophomore Kelsey Ball and freshman Caylie Teel.
Ball finished with 11 points, six rebounds and two assists, while Teel had 10 points, four rebounds, three steals, a blocked shot and an assist.
For Whitko, senior Micaela Sylvester led the team with 12 points, while senior Karissa Olinske didn’t look right all night, making just one of her 10 shot attempts to finish with three points.
Valley is back in action tonight at home against North Judson, while Whitko gets back on the court on Dec. 29 against LaVille in the first round of the Miami County Tournament at Peru High School.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 81, WHITKO 37 W 9 12 8 8 — 37 V 19 27 20 15 — 81 Valley — Staci Groom 7-11 13-16 27, Danielle Bussard 1-2 1-2 3, Megan Bibler 3-3 0-0 6, Kelsey Ball 4-6 3-6 11, Tory Keirn 3-7 7-9 13, Taylor Trippiedi 1-1 1-1 3, Cara Hoffman 1-1 0-0 2, Caylie Teel 4-5 2-4 10, Brooke O’Connor 1-2 1-2 3, Sara Alexander 0-0 0-0 0, Connor Fraser 1-4 1-2 3. Totals 26-42 29-42 81. Whitko — Karissa Olinske 1-10 0-0 3, Cagney Craig 3-9 3-6 9, Micaela Sylvester 4-10 4-5 12, Cassie Jones 1-3 0-0 2, Jordan Hall 1-1 2-2 4, Kelly Reiff 0-4 0-0 0, Josie Sparks 0-3 2-6 2, Melanie Kelsey 0-1 0-0 0, Heather Bryan 1-3 0-0 3, Lynsi Hicks 1-3 0-0 2, Bailee Juillerat 0-1 0-0 0, Megan Zumbrun 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 12-50 11-19 37. Three-point goals — Valley 0-0, Whitko 2-14 (Olinske, Bryan); Team Fouls (fouled out) — Valley 18, Whitko 28 (Reiff); Turnovers — Valley 17, Whitko 19; Rebounds — Valley 34 (Groom 7), Whitko 21 (Sparks 4); Assists — Valley 14 (Bibler 7), Whitko 4 (Jones 3); Steals — Valley 14 (Groom 3, Bibler 3, Keirn 3, Teel 3), Whitko 4 (Craig 3); Blocks — Valley 2, Whitko 3; Records: Valley 8-2 (3-0 TRC), Whitko 4-6 (1-2 TRC). JV — Valley 46, Whitko 28 JV Scoring: Valley — Hoffman 15, Teel 13, Trippiedi 10, Robyn Dunnuck 5, Casey Dunn 3; Whitko — Reiff 9, Sydney Sims 5, Bryan 3, Juillerat 3, Reghan Craig 2, Morgan O’Reilly 2, Kelsey 2, Maddie Gawthrop 1, Sparks 1.
