‘Less Predictable' Lady Vikings Open With Bremen AKRON - In the words of 10th-year head coach Chris Kindig, the Tippecanoe Valley Lady Vikings are going to be “less predictable” this season,
Valley has featured the Times-Union Area Player of the year the last six seasons - Anne Secrest four times, followed by Sophie Bussard twice.
Secrest became the program’s all-time leading scorer and accepted an NCAA Divison I scholarship to Youngstown State University before transferring to Indiana Wesleyan.
Bussard, who led the Lady Vikings to a 16-7 record overall and a 7-2 mark in the Three Rivers Conference last season, graduated and is in her freshman campaign with D-I program Southeast Missouri State.
Bussard scored 490 points last season and finished her prep career with 1,243 points.
Though Kindig hopes one emerges, Valley doesn’t have the individual standout or go-to player that opposing defenses will focus on.
He sees his team being balanced this year, “less predictable” as he put it.
“It’s not just her 21 points and eight rebounds per game, she was also our best defensive player, she led us in assists and steals, and I think she set a school record for free throw attemps,” Kindid said of Bussard.
“She set a school record last year for points scored in a season. Obviously, you don’t just replace that with one person. What we’ve talked about is everybody just needs to do a little more.”
Valley had one other senior last season, Kennedie Brooks, who played in eight games and scored a total of eight points.
The Lady Vikings’ eight-player roster for the 2019-20 campaign features seniors Emma Craig, Jillian Walls and Karina Young, juniors Sidney Wagner, Hayley Backus and Ashley Butler, and freshmen Kaydence Mellott and Corinna Stiles.
Wagner, Craig and Walls all averaged right at seven points per game a year ago, while Backus chipped in with six.
“I think we had four or five girls last year that were all clustered together in terms of scoring,” said Kindig, who takes a record of 148-62 into his 10th season.
“Each of those girls just need to do a little more. We need three or four more points per game out of each of those girls. We’ve got a couple post players that are capable of rebounding.
“Obviously you’re not going to replace the kind of production Sophie gave us, but as a team I think we’re going to be less predictable. I think we’ve got four or five girls that are capable of giving us 12 or 15 points per game and doing a little more than last year.”
Backus is listed on the roster as 6-foot-1, while Young and Stiles are 5-11.
Valley opens the season Thursday when it hosts Bremen.
The Lady Vikings open TRC play Nov. 26 when they host Maconaquah.
Valley was 7-2 in conference play last season, with Northfield and Manchester atop the standings at 8-1.
“You look at the conference, and I dont’ think North Miami graduated anybody,” said Kindig. “We play them at North Miami. We handled them pretty well last year, but we had them here at home and we played really well. I think they’re going to be right there, somebody that we’re really going to have to play well against.
“Northfield lost a couple really quality seniors, but they have some younger kids that were pretty good, too. Manchester lost a couple girls, and they have a new coach. They’re hard to predict right now.
“I think Rochester is going to be better. They were young last year. And then, Maconaquah is going to be better. They’ve been down in girls basketball for a while, but they’ve got a sophomore, the Maples girl, she hurt us last year when we played them down there. We had a hard time guarding her.
“I don’t wanna leave anybody out … it’s going to be another great year for the conference. I think it’ll be competitive. You’re gonna have to play well at home, and hopefully get a few wins on the road, to win the conference.”
