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HUNTERTOWN - Wide open, they had said.
Tippecanoe Valley's girls basketball coach Mike Walters liked the idea of his team competing in the Carroll Sectional because it meant no more Warsaw Tigers, no more Tiger Den. He said the Carroll Sectional was nice because the teams competing in it - all six entered under .500 - made it "wide open."
Whitko girls basketball coach Ray Davis, elated to be away from any sectional that has Huntington North, likewise tabbed the Carroll Sectional "wide open."
Wide open became closed shut Tuesday evening.
Valley, a 9-11 team riding a four-game win streak, lost to Fort Wayne Concordia, a team that had won only five games all season. Concordia, now 6-17, upset Valley 57-48.
Whitko, 8-12, faced Carroll, a 9-10 team that was once an 8-4 team. Sure, Carroll was losing recently, but losing to the likes of DeKalb, Homestead and Snider, basketball powerhouses in the Fort Wayne area.
The Chargers proved they were battle tested by dismantling Whitko 63-42.
Concordia 57
Tippecanoe Valley 48
Valley proved at least one coaching belief wrong this game. Coaches like to tell you how crucial the two minutes before and after halftime are in close ballgames. The theory goes those minutes hand one team or the other momentum.
Combining the last minute of the first half and the first 90 seconds of the second half, Valley outscored Concordia 13-2 to turn a 19-17 deficit into a 30-21 lead.
The Vikings looked ready to romp.
Then Walters' biggest fear was realized.
Concordia's perimeter shooting sprang to life. Laura Hebel, who had two points at halftime, scored 18 in the second half.
Hebel hit back to back three-pointers to slice Valley's lead to 30-27. Her third three-pointer in the third quarter pulled Concordia into a 34-34 tie.
When the Cadets weren't hitting three-pointers, they were making layups - six in the second half alone. The two most crucial ones came on two straight steals by Rhaya Trinklein. Her steal and layup with 1:21 left in the third quarter gave Concordia its first lead of the second half at 36-34. Her steal with 47 seconds left led to a Hebel basket that pumped the lead up to 38-34. A Trinklein free throw later, Concordia led 39-34 heading into the fourth quarter.
An 18-4 Concordia run turned a 30-21 Valley lead into a 39-34 Valley deficit. Nine points came courtesy of Hebel's three three-pointers. Eight came on four layups. The last point came on Trinklein's free throw.
And this was why Walters lamented about perimeter and transition defense when the game ended.
"I really don't know what to say," a stunned Walters said. "I thought we did exactly what we needed to do early in the third quarter. We got the lead where we needed it.
"The thing that concerned me the whole time was their three-point shooting. (Hebel) killed us with threes. We didn't recognize where she was at on the floor."
Valley never led again, despite Brandi Fisher's attempts to save the Vikings' ship. She hit three three-pointers in the fourth quarter, but Concordia always answered to keep the lead.
Walters believed there was a reason Valley could never reclaim that lead.
"Our girls have been sick with a virus the last week," he said. "I didn't think the energy level was what we had in the past, and I wasn't able to substitute as much."
Hebel, who averaged 8.8 points per game coming in, finished with 20. Concordia, which shot only 34 percent from the field this season, shot 55 percent from the floor (13 of 22) against Valley in the second half.
The Cadets outscored the Vikings 38-24 in the half.
"We didn't get back very well defensively," Walters said. "Everything they did the last quarter and a half, they did well. I have not seen them play that well."
Fisher and Rhonda Doud scored 14 each for Valley.
Valley finishes the season 9-12. Concordia meets 10-10 Carroll in the second round at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Peru (4-16) meets Elmhurst (3-16) at 6 p.m. Friday.
Carroll 63, Whitko 42
Last week Davis said Whitko's biggest strength on the court was the inside-outside offensive combination that center BrieAnne Starkweather and guard Tisha Rowland provided.
But when Whitko's game ended, Davis talked not of his Starkweather/Rowland tandem. Instead, he touted Carroll's Kate Rolf/Sally Hilger tandem. Rolf, a 5-foot-7 guard, and Hilger, a 5-11 stout center, combined for 48 points and 20 rebounds.
"Rolf hit six or seven threes, and Hilger inside is so big and strong," Davis said. "That's a hard comination to beat."
The Wildcats had the worst problem to have the first half of this game. They couldn't score. And they couldn't stop the other team from scoring.
Whitko led 6-2 early, but Rolf sparked a 32-4 run that put Carroll in command at 34-10 at the half. Rolf hit five three-pointers and had 17 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals - by halftime.
Most of her three-pointers weren't contested.
"A lot of it was Hilger was setting the screens," Davis said. "Our guards couldn't get through there, and our girls weren't communicating to get out on her. She was getting her feet set, wide open, nobody in her face. She's too good a player to let her do that."
Whitko's statistics the first half: 4 of 22 (18 percent) from the field. Carroll's: 14 of 25 (56 percent) from the field.
"Three things happened that I didn't want to happen," Davis said. "Rolf hitting threes. Hilger scoring inside. Us not shooting well the first half.
"We had wide-open shots; for some reason, they didn't go down."
A Whitko team down 42-12 at one point scrapped to make it 55-37. Heidi Hull paced Whitko with nine points, while Rowland and Trisha Peters scored eight each.
"The girls never gave up," Davis said. "We were down 20 starting the fourth quarter, and they thought we still had a legitimate chance."
Rolf finished with 25 points and eight rebounds, while Hilger had 23 points and 12 rebounds. Whitko finishes the season 8-13.
"We thought whoever would win our bracket would have a very good chance to win the sectional," Davis said. "We thought if we shot the ball well like we had been and didn't let them get loose on us, we'd have a good chance. If they play like they did tonight, I'm not sure who will beat them in the sectional."
"(Carroll) was 8-4 at one time, and they had beaten teams like Woodlan and Dwenger. Tonight was the way Carroll played at the beginning of the season."
