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INDIANAPOLIS - As their respective girls basketball teams played in the state championship game for the first time Saturday, Princeton junior Jackie Young put on a show, while foul trouble put Tippecanoe Valley sophomore Anne Secrest on the bench.
In the Class 3A state finals at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Young scored a record 36 points, including 26 in the second half, as she led the fourth-ranked Tigers to a 72-44 win over the ninth-ranked Lady Vikings.
Playing 31 of the game's 32 minutes, Young, a Notre Dame commit, rewrote the state record books with a 15-of-22 performance from the field that also included 12 rebounds, six assists and four steals.
Secrest, who has garnered interest from NCAA Division I schools Toledo, IPFW and University of Indianapolis, scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 23 minutes of action. She played just 10 of 16 minutes in the second half.
"I think what really shifted the game was when No. 50 (Secrest) for them got in foul trouble," said Princeton coach Charles Mair, whose team tied a state record for wins with its 30-1 record. "That kind of changed the momentum and tempo of the game, and we took advantage of that."
The Tigers led 17-12 after one quarter of play and closed the second stanza with a 13-0 run that gave them a 38-22 advantage at the break.
All 13 points in Princeton's spurt were scored by sophomore Brooke James, who scored all of her 15 points in the second quarter.
"Brooke has improved so much this year," said Mair. "She has the tendency to get a lot of her points in bunches."
As does Young, who started out slow Saturday but took her play to a level some players can only dream of.
Young, who broke the state's single-season scoring record for girls in her team's semistate win, was 11 of 14 from the field in the second half against Valley.
A fastbreak bucket with 5:04 remaining in the game pushed Young's output to 34 points at the time and made her the first girl in state history to score 1,000 points in a season.
The only other players in Indiana to ever score 1,000 points in a season are Carmel's Dave Shepherd (1079 in 1970), New Castle's Steve Alford (1,078 in 1983), Indianapolis Washington's George McGinnis (1,019 in 1969), and Park Tudor's Trevon Bluiett (1,000 in 2014).
Young finished her junior campaign with 1,003 points and now has a career total of 2,290.
Former Wawasee High School and University of Tennessee standout Shanna Zolman, the 2002 Miss Basketball, holds the state's career scoring record for girls at 3,085. Prep legend Damon Bailey holds the state's all-time high-water mark with 3,134 points.
"She's only a junior ... I hate to think she can get any better," Valley coach Chris Kindig, whose team finished the season with a record of 25-3, said of Young. "She's a tough matchup. I don't think there has been a team that has stopped her this year. We tried and weren't very successful."
In Saturday's win, Young broke former Beech Grove standout and 2003 Miss Basketball Katie Gearlds' record for points in a 3A title game (previously 33), as well as Gearlds' mark for field goals made in a 3A title game (13).
"Guarding Jackie Young was an honor to me because she's a great player," said Valley senior Caylie Teel, who scored seven points and dished out three assists in the final game of her prep career. "I did my best, I did what I could, but she's an amazing player. She'll do great things."
As a team, Princeton set new 3A state finals records for points in a half, points in a game, number of field goals made and largest margin of victory.
While the second quarter belonged to James, and the second half belonged to Young, junior Hannah Brewer added nine points and six boards for the Tigers, and freshman Kiare Young chipped in with eight points, two assists and a pair of steals.
To go along with Secrest's 18 points and nine boards, Valley also got 11 points and five rebounds from senior Taylor Trippiedi, who after the game was named recipient of the Patricia L. Roy Mental Attitude Award.
Junior Brynda Krueger and sophomore Meredith Brouyette scored three points each for Valley, while junior Karis Tucker finished the game with two points.
The outcome of Saturday's game was certainly disappointing for the Lady Vikings, but eventually they'll be able to look back on a very memorable season.
"Even to get to this position we are so blessed and so lucky, and I wouldn't want to do it with any other team, I know that," said Trippiedi. "These girls have worked so hard in practice all season. We have a lot of players coming back, and I'm just so proud of them, and I know they're going to work even harder, especially since we got here and they know they can do it. I'm proud of my team."
During their historic season, the Lady Vikings set a new school record for number of wins.
Along the way, they won the Three Rivers Conference with a 7-0 record, as well as the program's first sectional title since 2007 and its first regional and semistate titles.
"We had a lot of firsts this year," said Kindig. "We broke the school record for number of wins, won our first regional and first semistate. There was a lot of firsts there. We kind of blew the lid off some of our glass ceilings. I think our community was really behind us and supported us, and it was a heck of a ride the last three weeks in the tournament. This doesn't minimize what the girls accomplished this year. They had a heck of a year."
PRINCETON 72, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 44
TV 12 10 15 7 - 44
Pri 17 21 20 14 - 72
Valley - Taylor Trippiedi 4-9 3-5 11, Karis Tucker 1-1 0-0 2, Meredith Brouyette 1-5 0-0 3, Caylie Teel 2-8 3-6 7, Anne Secrest 8-11 2-7 18, Olivia Trippiedi 0-0 0-0 0, Addy Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Brynda Krueger 1-3 1-2 3, Asia O'Connor 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan Brazo 0-1 0-0 0, Hannah Dunn 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-39 9-20 44.
Princeton - Jackie Young 15-22 6-6 36, Hannah Brewer 4-6 1-4 9, Kelsey Kolb-Blume 1-2 0-0 2, Alyssa Koberstein 0-1 0-0 0, Brooke James 7-15 1-1 15, Kiana Hardiman 0-0 0-0 0, Kaycee Russell 0-2 0-0 0, Kiare Young 3-5 0-0 8, Ashleigh Chestnut 0-0 0-0 0, Tanisha Adams 0-2 0-0 0, Raelynn Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Samantha Hyneman 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 31-56 8-11 72.
Three-pointers - Valley 1 (Brouyette), Princeton 2 (K. Young); Rebounds - Valley 22 (Secrest 9), Princeton 35 (J. Young 12); Turnovers - Valley 19, Princeton 15; Fouls - Valley 12, Princeton 18; Fouled out - none; Records: Valley 25-3, Princeton 30-1
