Vikings Earn Their Stripes Against Zebras
AKRON – On a night when the Zebras came to town, it was the Vikings that earned their stripes.
The No. 10 ranked Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball team hosted No. 9 Rochester in a battle for first place in the Three Rivers Conference. It was the biggest game between the two rivals in nearly a decade and the Lady Vikings rose to the occasion to claim a 52-40 victory Saturday night.
“Before the game I thought if we could keep Rochester in the upper 30s or lower 40s, then we could win this game,” a very pleased Valley head coach Chris Kindig stated after his team’s win.
Rochester came in averaging 56 points per game on offense, Valley entered surrendering just 40 points on defense. Something had to give and the Vikings made it clear early on that they weren’t going to give Rochester anything on either side of the ball.
“Defensively we played very, very well tonight,” Kindig continued. “I thought we got back to playing the way we were playing when we had our nine-game winning streak. We did a god job controlling their penetration and we did a good job, for the most part, of getting a hand up on their threes. We held their better shooters scoreless from three, that was a big key for us.”
Anne Secrest sparked the defensive effort for Kindig’s squad. The sophomore recorded 15 defensive rebounds in the contest, six blocks and three steals. In total Secrest had 20 rebounds and completed the double-double with an 11-point scoring effort.
Secrest fouled out with just over a minute remaining in the game with her team up eight, that opened the door for senior captain Caylie Teel to finish off the Zebras with solid shooting from the line. Teel went 6-8 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter to help bury Rochester in the game’s final minute. The senior finished with 15 points, nine rebounds, four assists and a big smile.
“We knew the whole day that tonight was the night,” Teel said with a sense of relief and accomplishment. “We knew it was going to be the biggest game of the year, outside of sectionals. Our mindset was to just play our game. We knew Rochester was a quick team and that we had to slow things down and take care of the ball.”
Teel and Secrest helped to highlight the winning effort for Valley, but it was still a team effort. Brynda Krueger scored 14 points for Valley, shooting an impressive 83-percent from the field. Karis Tucker (six points), Taylor Trippiedi (four points) and Hannah Dunn (two points rounded out the scoring for Valley.
The Vikings now control their own destiny in the TRC and even though the toughest opponent may be out the way, Teel and Valley know to tread lightly.
“We definitely think we can win conference, but we can’t underestimate any team,” Teel stated. “This is a good win but now we have to move on and take care of what’s ahead of us.”
Rochester was led offensively by Kendal Davis, Becky Malchow and Keaton Stesiak. All scored eight points each. Stesiak led the team with seven rebounds.
Valley (14-2, 4-0) will play at Northfield in a makeup game Tuesday night, varsity tip comes at 7:45 p.m. Rochester (15-3, 4-1) will travel to Plymouth on Wednesday.
Valley’s junior varsity defeated Rochester 46-29.