Secrest, Brouyette pave way for 57-50 win over Lady Tigers
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
AKRON – Tippecanoe Valley’s varsity girls basketball team, as fourth-year coach Chris Kindig put it, has some kids who play above their years. Friday night it was freshmen Anne Secrest and Meredith Brouyette, as the Lady Vikings hosted and defeated Kosciusko County rival Warsaw 57-50. The 6-foot Secrest, who had 23 points and 16 rebounds in Valley’s season-opening win over Bremen, scored a game-high 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting and grabbed six boards against the Lady Tigers. Brouyette finished with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting, which included a 3-of-4 effort from three-point range. Their performances helped the Lady Vikings to just their fourth win over Warsaw in school history. Warsaw leads the all-time series 45-4 and had won the previous six meetings. “I was pleased with our two freshmen,” said Kindig. “(Secrest) is a difference maker. I thought she did a good job. “Brouyette shot the ball well,” he added. “She made some big threes. Our seniors are great leaders. They don’t care who scores. They get the ball where it needs to go.” Senior Cara Hoffman scored 12 points in the win, while junior Caylie Teel finished 5 of 7 from the floor for 10 points. While Valley improved to 2-0 this season, Warsaw fell to 0-3 for the first time in program history. As was the case in their losses at Huntington North and Fort Wayne Luers, the Lady Tigers were sloppy in the first quarter and dug themselves a hole. “The first quarter has been our Achilles’ heel,” said Warsaw coach Michelle Harter. “We need to come out focused, both offensively and defensively, and tonight we didn’t. “We got down nine,” she added. “It’s hard to get out of a hole like that.” A trey from senior Eryn Leek knotted the score at 3-3 in the first quarter, but Warsaw never held a lead in the game. The Lady Tigers trailed 16-7 after eight minutes of action, 28-20 at halftime and 47-38 at the end of the third quarter. On a couple occasions, Warsaw cut Valley’s lead to six points, but each time the Lady Vikings were able to pull away. Valley led by as many as 14 points. “We came into the game with a lot of confidence,” said Kindig, whose team shot 53 percent from the floor while Warsaw made just 32 percent of its shots. “In years past we might have been intimidated, but these girls weren’t gonna have any of that. We have some younger girls who play above their years.” Leek and junior Jodie Carlson scored 12 points each for Warsaw, while senior Nikki Grose and freshman Kilee Slone finished with eight points each and senior Brooklyn Harrison chipped in with six. Grose, who did pull down a team-high 10 rebounds, scored just two points in the first half. The Lady Tigers’ 6-foot standout had 12 points and 12 rebounds against Valley last year and averaged just shy of a double-double for a 24-2 Warsaw team that advanced to the semistate. Kindig said Grose was his main concern Friday night. As it turned out, though, she was just 3 of 11 from the field, and Secrest had the better performance. “She did a good job on Grose,” Kindig said of Secrest. “That was the key for us.” The Lady Tigers, still searching for their first win of the season and the 600th in the program’s 39-year history, will host Whitko Friday. Valley will host Portage Nov. 30 at 10 a.m. in the Lady Vikings’ annual Thanksgiving Classic. The four-team tournament also includes Munster and Noblesville.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 57, WARSAW 50 W 7 13 18 12 – 50 TV 16 12 19 10 – 57 Warsaw – Courtney Farling 2-6 0-2 4, Kilee Slone 4-2 0-1 8, Jodie Carlson 5-9 0-1 12, Eryn Leek 4-15 0-0 12, Pam Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Brooklyn Harrison 2-8 1-1 6, Erin Clemens 0-0 0-0 0, Nikki Grose 3-11 2-2 8. Totals 20-62 3-7 50. Valley – Karis Tucker 0-3 1-2 1, Meredith Brouyette 3-5 2-2 11, Cara Hoffman 4-11 3-5 12, Robyn Dunnuck 0-0 0-0 0, Caylie Teel 5-7 0-0 10, Kelsey Ball 2-4 0-1 4, Anne Secrest 7-10 5-6 19. Totals 21-40 11-16 57. Three-pointers – Warsaw 7 (Leek 4, Carlson 2, Harrison), Valley 4 (Brouyette 3, Hoffman); Rebounds – Warsaw 35 (Grose 10), Valley 31 (Ball 11); Turnovers – Warsaw 15, Valley 16 Records: Warsaw 0-3, Valley 2-0 JV – Warsaw 30, Valley 17 Warsaw – Tahya Bruce 13, Dayton Groninger 10, Courtney Steffensmeier 4, Madi Graham 3 Valley – Hanna Dalrymple 6, Hannah Dunn 4, Morgan Brazo 3, Brynda Krueger 2, Meredith Brouyette 2
