AKRON – Following Tuesday’s sectional-opening win over Wawasee, Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball coach Chris Kindig admitted he was concerned by a West Noble team that scored 70 points in its regular-season finale. Turns out Kindig had nothing to worry about, not with the way his team play plays defense. In Friday’s first semifinal of Class 3A Sectional 21 at Valley, the fourth-ranked Lady Vikings held West Noble to five points in the first half and cruised to a 51-28 victory. West Noble won 16 games this season. The Lady Chargers, however, didn’t play like it Friday. Credit Valley’s defense for that. “It was an advantage for us to play Tuesday night, because we got all those bugs out of the way in the first game, and I thought that effected West Noble,” said Kindig, whose team improved to 23-1 with its 18th-straight win. “They had to come to our place ... not familiar with the tournament atmosphere yet, and they got off to a real slow start offensively. I’d like to think we had something to do with that a little bit with what we did defensively. “Again, defense carried the day for us. We got a nice lead in the first half. We’ve done that a couple times this year where we’ve kind of played even in the second half after getting a big lead.” Valley led 13-3 after one quarter of play, 28-5 at halftime and 38-18 heading into the final frame. The Lady Chargers were 2 of 19 from the field in the first half. Freshman Lauren Burns put West Noble on the scoreboard with a three-pointer with 50 seconds remaining in the opening stanza. Senior Kenzie Cox scored the Lady Chargers’ only other first-half points with a bucket with 3:46 left in the second quarter. If not for a 10-0 run in the third quarter, trimming what was already a 34-6 lead for the Lady Vikings, the score would have been even more lopsided. The Lady Chargers finished the game 8 of 37 from the field overall, while Valley was 18 of 37. “Obviously I’m pleased with the outcome,” said Kindig. “I told the girls in the lockerroom, though, it would have been nice for us to repeat that (first-half) performance. It’s very difficult to keep that intensity up when you’re up 20-some points in the second half. I think we put it on cruise control a little bit, but that’s a good team we beat, no question about that. We’re very happy to move on.” West Noble, who lost 58-42 to Valley in a holiday tournament in Ligonier on Jan. 2, finished the season with a 16-8 record. The Lady Vikings advanced to tonight’s 7:30 p.m. sectional final against Fairfield (13-9), a 62-48 winner over NorthWood in Friday’s second semifinal. Cox led the Lady Chargers with seven points, while senior Becca Schermerhorn and junior Kaylie Warble chipped in with six and four points, respectively. For Valley, junior Meredith Brouyette scored a game-high 15 points, all from the three-point arc, while junior Anne Secrest and freshman Sophie Bussard finished with eight and seven points, respectively. Secrest, the three-time Area Player of the Year, was averaging 17 points per game. All of her offensive production Friday came in the second half, and Brouyette’s performance proved yet again that the Lady Vikings have an inside-outside game, and they’re far from being a one-person team. “We’ve talked about versatility, whatever word you wanna use along those lines, and we can play whatever way we need to play to win basketball games,” said Kindig. “Obviously Meredith shot the ball real well tonight. That’s the whole thing, you try to take away an inside game, we have an outside game, or vice versa. We have other players that can score too. “I just think we’re hard to guard. Anne scored eight in the second half, she opened it up a little bit, but they banged her around pretty good tonight. This is a team game. This isn’t Anne Secrest and the Tippecanoe Valley Lady Vikings, this is the Tippecanoe Valley Lady Vikings, and that’s the way it’s been all year. She’d tell you the same thing. She doesn’t care. She didn’t score in the first half and we were up 23 points.”
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 51, WEST NOBLE 28 WN 3 2 13 10 – 28 TV 13 15 10 13 – 51 W. Noble – Lauren Burns 1 0-0 3, Tori Miller 0 0-0 0, Tara Miller 0 2-2 2, Madison Schermerhorn 1 0-0 3, Becca Schermerhorn 2 2-2 6, Kenzie Cox 2 3-4 7, Megan Godfrey 0 0-0 0, Paige Shearer 1 0-0 3, Angela Gross 0 0-0 0, Becky Yoder 0 0-0 0, Kaylie Warble 1 1-2 4. Totals 8 8-10 28. Valley – Olivia Trippiedi 0 2-2 2, Karis Tucker 1 2-2 4, Meredith Brouyette 5 0-0 15, Sophie Bussard 2 2-2 7, Brynda Krueger 1 2-2 4, Asia O’Connor 0 0-0 0, Morgan Brazo 1 0-0 2, Hannah Dunn 2 0-4 4, Anne Secrest 4 0-0 8, Addy Miller 2 0-0 5. Totals 18 8-12 51. Three-pointers – W. Noble 4 (Burns, M. Schermerhorn, Shearer, Warble), Valley 7 (Brouyette 5, Bussard, Miller); Fouls – W. Noble 13, Valley 14; Fouled out – none; Records: W. Noble 16-8, Valley 23-1 Other semifinal: Fairfield 62, NorthWood 48
