Sanner’s Double-Double Lifts Lady Tigers Over Valley
Sanner’s Double-Double Lifts Lady Tigers Over Valley
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
Sanner’s Double-Double Lifts Lady Tigers Over ValleyAKRON - Though Warsaw sophomore Abby Sanner is listed on the roster as 6-foot-2, Tippecanoe Valley coach Chris Kindig joked Saturday night that 6-5 may have been more accurate.
Sanner certainly turned in a sizable performance, as she came off the bench for third-year coach Lenny Krebs’ team and posted career-highs of 21 points and 17 rebounds in a 64-53 win over the host Lady Vikings.
Warsaw, playing its first road game of the season, improved to 3-0 for the first time since the 2016-17 season, while Valley fell to 2-1.
“Sanner looks like she’s about 6-5,” said Kindig. “She’s not 6-5, but she sure looks like she’s 6-5. She’s strong as an ox, and she gets the ball two feet from the basket and turns around, that’s tough to defend that.”
Sanner, who finished the game 7 of 12 from the field and 7 of 13 at the free throw line, had a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds by halftime, as the Lady Tigers led 29-19 at the break.
Sanner finished the game with 11 offensive boards as Warsaw outrebounded the Lady Vikings 44-26 overall.
Through their first two games, the Lady Tigers were 21 of 37 from three-point range in wins over Norwell and Manchester.
In Akron Saturday night they missed their first seven attempts from the arc and finished 7 of 22.
Sanner made up for it, and senior Brielle Harrison added to Warsaw’s strength inside with seven points and eight rebounds.
Junior guard Kensie Ryman made a trio of three-pointers for Warsaw and finished with 13 points, sophomore Kacilyn Krebs also scored in double figures with 10 points, and senior Kaylee Patton chipped in with eight.
“Believe it or not, we actually talk about that inside-outside balance more than you guys probably think we do,” said Krebs. “When you shoot 60 percent (from the arc) that balance kind of takes a tilt toward the outside, and we were a little slow learning tonight that we weren’t hitting from outside, that we had that opportunity to throw it inside.
“I also think it took Abby a while to realize that she had a true advantage and we were gonna keep looking for her. In the first half I thought she started out really aggressive, and then she kind of lost that aggressiveness there for a while. But I thought the second half she was extremely aggressive.
“You can’t teach 6-2, and the strength that she has. I don’t think she understands how good she’s really capable of being. And if we can really truly ever put together the balance of an inside-outside game, shooting from outside with that inside presence, I think we’re gonna be a nice team.”
Warsaw led 14-13 after one quarter of play, 29-19 at halftime and 39-36 at the end of the third quarter.
After facing the 10-point deficit after 16 minutes, Valley went on a 15-5 run and tied the game at 34 when 5-7 junior Sidney Wagner converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 1:49 remaining in the third quarter.
Wagner finished with a game-high 24 points, while senior Jillian Walls chipped in with 14 and senior Emma Craig tallied seven points.
“Obviously there’s a lot of things we need to work on, but I really liked our effort tonight,” said Kindig. “It was really nice to see Jillian Walls hit some shots, that makes us a lot better.
“Again, we have two players that are in double figures and I think that was it. That’s kind of been our MO so far this year, and Jillian has not been one of them. If we can get four or five instead of two getting double figures, I think we really got something going there.”
Junior Haley Backus and freshman Kaydence Mellott scored three points each in the loss, while senior Karina Young rounded out Valley’s scoring output with two points.
Backus, the Lady Vikings’ 6-1 inside presence, entered Saturday’s game averaging 17.5 points per game, but was held in check by Sanner and found herself in foul trouble.
Warsaw won the JV game 50-35, as Abby Taylor and Marin Hart scored 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Molly Moriarty led Valley’s JV team with 12 points.
