AKRON – In a battle of the top two teams in the Three Rivers Conference, top 10 teams in Class 3A in the state, and a rivalry game to boot, No. 10 Tippecanoe Valley took control of its own destiny for winning the girls basketball conference championship with a 52-40 win over ninth-ranked Rochester Saturday night. There were a lot of heroines for the Lady Vikings. Caylie Teel had a game-high 18 points, including a 6 of 8 effort from the foul line in the last two minutes of the game, when Rochester was fouling in an effort to give themselves a chance. Brynda Krueger had six points in the second quarter and a half-dozen more in the decisive fourth period on her way to 14 points. And player-of-the-year candidate Anne Secrest had 11 points and a whopping 20 rebounds, as many as the entire Lady Zebra squad. The emphasis, according to Valley head coach Chris Kindig, was going to be on defense. “Before the game I felt like if we could keep them in the upper 30’s to the lower 40’s, that we’d have a good chance of winning the basketball game,” he said. “I thought defensively we played very, very well; back to where we had been playing when we had our winning streak in the middle of the year. I thought we did a good job of controlling their penetration, which we needed to do, and I thought we did a good job of getting a hand up on their threes. I think (Rochester’s Alexa) Holland had only a couple of threes, and I don’t think (Becky) Malchow had any, or (Ali) Larkin had any. That’s their big three as far as three-point shooters, and that was a big key for us. “It got a little shaky down there at the end, in the last couple of minutes, but Caylie Teel hit went 6 out of 8 from the line in the fourth quarter, and she had a lot of rebounds (four) in that fourth quarter, too. Anytime you beat a really great team like Rochester, it’s a team effort. We had three girls in double figures, and that’s just how we have to be able to play to be successful.” With so much at stake, it was no surprise to Kindig that the game was so physical. The teams combined for 37 fouls, with Secrest and Lady Zebra Keaton Stesiak fouling out. “It was a very, very physical game, from start to finish. For Anne, that’s kind of a good thing. She got bumped around a little bit here and there, but she hung in there,” Kindig said. “We left some points on the floor; we missed some layups out there, especially in the first half. We could have had a double figure lead in the first half. I expected that kind of grind-out game tonight, and the girls hung in there. It’s a big win for the program.” In the conference race, Valley is 4-0 (14-2 overall) and Rochester is now 4-1. But the title is hardly a sure thing, according to the Lady Viking head coach. “We’ve got to go to Northfield on Tuesday, and then we have Southwood on Saturday, and we still have Manchester at home,” said Kindig. “So we’ve got two away games conference-wise that if we don’t come ready to play, we might be surprised a little bit. And we can’t do that. We’ve got to come ready to play every night, and I think we will. “We’re looking forward to the last fourth of the season, and see what we can do.” TIPPECANOE VALLEY 52, ROCHESTER 40 R 8 11 7 14 – 40 TV 12 14 6 20 – 52 Rochester – Keaton Stesiak 2-5 4-6 8, Alexa Holland 2-10 2-2 8, Becky Malchow 3-15 2-3 8, Ali Larkin 3-10 1-2 7, Kennedy Musselman 3-8 1-2 7, Bailey Abbott 1-2 0-1 2, Morgan Ruff 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 14-50 10-16 40. Valley – Caylie Teel 4-12 7-10 15, Brynda Krueger 5-6 4-6 14, Anne Secrest 4-9 3-5 11, Karis Tucker 2-4 3 6, Taylor Trippiedi 1-7 1-2 4, Hannah Dunn 1-2 0-1 2, Meredith Brouyette 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 17-44 18-30 52. Three-pointers – Rochester 2 (Holland 2), Valley 2 (Tucker, Trippiedi); Rebounds – Rochester 20 (Stesiak 7), Valley 38 (Secrest 20); Turnovers – Rochester 12, Valley 17; Fouls – Rochester 20, Valley 17; Fouled out – Stesiak, Secrest; Records – Rochester 15-3 (4-1 TRC), Valley 14-2 (4-0 TRC) JV – Valley 46, Rochester 29 Valley – Morgan Brazo 17, Olivia Trippiedi 11, Taneisha Brown 6, Asia O’Connor 3, Ashley Dunnuck 3, Abbi Miller 2, Hannah Gibbons 2, Addy Miller 2
