AKRON – The Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball team may not have expected a game out of the five-win South Bend Clay Lady Colonials, but that's what they got Thursday in Akron. Celebrating senior night, the Lady Vikings (15-5) seemed to be in a more jovial mood than competitive in the first half against Clay (5-16), but turned things around in the third quarter to win 58-48. "We didn't really play well tonight," Valley coach Chris Kindig said. "I think we had a little bit of that senior night stuff. We were down by five points at the half, but I felt we really established things and got that 10-point lead. Then, we were able to maintain that through the fourth quarter." With her team trailing 28-23 at the half, Valley senior Staci Groom scored nine third-quarter points, while freshman Caylie Teel netted six, helping the Lady Vikings outscore the Lady Colonials 21-12 in the frame to take a 44-34 lead. Groom scored another seven in the fourth quarter, giving her 24 on 9-of-20 shooting on the night, increasing her career total to 1,117 points. Along with Groom's production, Teel finished with 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds and five steals. Teel had the opportunity for increased production as senior Tory Keirn was sidelined with a sprained ankle, although she did play the opening 12 seconds. "She actually sprained it Tuesday against Peru," Kindig said of Keirn, the team's second leading scorer. "She (injured) it in the first quarter, but she played the rest of the game on it. But after the game, she was hurting pretty bad. She missed the last two days of practice, but with it being senior night, we wanted to get her out there and let her start. She knew ahead of time that we were just going to play her 20 seconds or whatever it was, then get her out." Keirn's absence was felt early in the game, as Clay's physicality and athleticism was the difference, forcing 13 Valley turnovers in the opening half and helping build a lead. "They played well tonight," Kindig said of Clay. "I think they may have played above where they've played this year. They had a couple players that were pretty good and gave us some problems." Those players were senior Damyra Belcher and junior Michelle Adeniyi. Belcher, a 5-7 point guard, led the Lady Colonials with 14 points, six assists and four steals, while Adeniyi finished with 13 points, four rebounds and three steals in limited minutes due to fouls. Despite the good play of Clay, Valley still prevailed and will go into Class 3A Sectional 21 at Wawasee High School next week on a high note. Valley opens sectional play against 15-5 Fairfield Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. "They're a very good team, very good defensively," Kindig said. "They're quick, they press. We're going to have to have our 'A' game for Tuesday."
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 58, SB CLAY 48 C 12 16 8 12 – 48 V 13 10 21 14 – 58 Valley – Staci Groom 9-20 3-4 24, Danielle Bussard 1-1 0-0 2, Megan Bibler 3-8 2-3 8, Brooke O'Connor 1-5 0-1 2, Tory Keirn 0-0 0-0 0, Caylie Teel 6-11 0-5 12, Kelsey Ball 1-3 2-2 4, Courtney Newsome 2-5 2-2 6. Totals 23-53 9-17 58. Clay – Damyra Belcher 5-13 4-5 14, Michelle Adeniyi 5-14 3-4 13, Shawniece Watson 3-5 0-0 7, Sasha Gabrich 2-4 0-0 4, Kiara Garrus 1-1 1-2 3, Caderia Strickland 0-0 0-0 0, Valerie Chavers 1-2 0-0 3, Sam Burrows 0-1 0-0 0, Dalis Benson 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 19-42 8-11 48. Three-point goals – Valley 3-9 (Groom 3), Clay 2-8 (Chavers, Watson); Team Fouls – Valley 11, Clay 19; Turnovers – Valley 21, Clay 29; Rebounds - Valley 26 (Teel 7), Clay 24 (Gabrich 5, Benson 5); Assists – Valley 12 (Groom 3, Ball 3), Clay 10 (Belcher 6); Steals – Valley 13 (Teel 5), Clay 11 (Belcher 4); Blocks – Valley 0, Clay 0; Records: Valley 15-5, Clay 5-17 Valley – Taylor Trippiedi 11, Cara Hoffman 11, Robyn Dunnuck 5, Madison Strong 4, Casey Dunn 3, Alaina O'Connell 2, Morgan Conliff 2, Hanna Dalrymple 2, Yuli Garzon 2, Alexis Smith 2, Hailyn Dunn 1
