Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
BOURBON - Points were at premium Wednesday night as Tippecanoe Valley and host Triton combined to shoot a frosty 22 percent from the field in girls basketball action.
The Vikings rode a pair of three-pointers by Lela Rohrer and Hannah Krueger to start the fourth quarter and despite their best efforts to allow Triton to go ahead hung on for a 36-32 win.
Rohrer, who was saddled with three first-half fouls, hit a long-range bomb from four feet behind the three-point arc to start the final period.
At one point from late in the third quarter and after Roher and Krueger's three in the final quarter, the Vikings scored 12 straight points on four three-pointers.
"She had a tough first half," said Valley head coach Gary Teel of Rohrer. "She was a bit down but came back and hit a big three and two free throws to make it a two-possession game late."
Rohrer's free throws came with 11.1 seconds left in the game and after Valley went 2 of 4 from the charity stripe in the last minute.
The Vikings also committed a late turnover and saw some ill-advised shots taken late in the game with the lead.
"It's a win. We've come up short a couple of times in these close ones," said Teel. "Our kids rallied then missed some free throws and struggled down the stretch, but they hung in there."
Triton drew to within a basket when senior Kristen Dean converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 13.7 seconds left in regulation to put the Trojans behind 34-32.
After Rohrer, one of only two seniors on the Viking roster, hit both her ensuing free throws, the Trojans raced down the court but as was the case for both teams couldn't hit a shot.
Triton and Valley went a combined 21 of 92 from the field and just 18 of 32 from the free throw line.
"To credit our kids we did some things late to give ourselves a chance," said Triton head coach Paul Walker. "You can't fault our kids. We just have to keep plugging away and start hitting some shots."
Part of Triton's shooting woes can be contributed to the fact that one of its main offensive threats was locked down for the entire 32 minutes.
The Trojans' Lindsay Stutzman, who is listed at 5-foot-3 and is one of Triton's top scorers, was guarded by a 5-9 Krueger.
Stutzman was forced into a 1-of-12 shooting night and finished with just six points.
Triton was led by Kristen Dean who finished with 13 points, but shot just 3 of 16 from the field.
"That's been the theme for us all year," said Walker. "We've been limiting people on defense but haven't been able to do much on the offensive end."
Rounding out the scoring for the Trojans were Emily Sauer with five points, Megan Dean finished with five, sophomore Stephanie Stichter had four and Cheri Woudema had a basket.
Krueger, a sophomore, finished with a game-high 14 points to lead the Vikings.
Junior Chelsy Rhoades finished with 12 points on four three-pointers. Rhoades hit two threes in the first quarter to account for all of Valley's scoring in the opening period.
The early success by Rhoades from beyond the three-point arc may have led to the Vikings failing in love with the long-range shots.
While Triton's 2-3 zone was spread out to the point where the Vikings were given open jumpers, Valley settled for too many jumpers and went with out a bucket for more than six minutes from late in the first half until 4:15 in the third quarter when Krueger hit a baseline jumper to tie things up at 15-15.
The Vikings, 3-5 on the season, are in action Saturday when they travel to North Miami for a Three Rivers Conference tilt. Tipoff is set for 12:30 p.m.
The Trojans, drop to 4-4 on the season, travel to Bremen Friday in Northern State Conference action for an 8 p.m. tipoff.
T. VALLEY 36, TRITON 32
T. Valley 6 7 10 13 - 36
Triton 3 9 13 7 - 32
T. Valley FG FT R S Pts.
*Newman 0-1 0-0 2 0 0
*Rohrer 2-6 2-2 7 4 7
*Rhoades 4-13 0-1 6 1 12
*Krueger 5-11 2-3 5 2 14
*Sitts 1-9 1-4 8 0 3
Hoffman 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Rice 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 12-41 5-10 31 7 36
Triton FG FT R S Pts.
*Stutzman 1-12 4-5 2 2 6
*K. Dean 3-16 7-11 6 2 13
*Sauer 2-5 0-0 7 0 5
*M. Dean 0-11 2-5 8 0 4
Stichter 2-3 0-0 3 0 4
Ganshorn 0-3 0-0 1 0 0
Woudema 1-1 0-1 1 0 2
Totals 9-51 13-22 28 4 32
Three-point goals - T. Valley 7-21 (Rhoades 4-12, Krueger 2-4, Rohrer 1-4), Triton 1-12 (Sauer 1-4, K. Dean 0-3, M. Dean 0-3, Stutzman 0-2. Turnovers - T. Valley 14, Triton 14. Fouls - T. Valley 16, Triton 14. Fouled out - None.
JV - Triton 31, T. Valley 28
