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With the advantage of both a bye and home court, the Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball team began its 3A sectional journey in the semifinals at Rita Price-Simpson Court on Friday night. The team’s first test was a tough one, the always-formidable Columbia City Lady Eagles. On this night though, the Lady Vikings beat their opponent at their own game, shutting the visitors down in a 54-41 win to advance to Saturday’s championship game.
“I’m super proud of my kids. I think everybody that played tonight did their job. We have five kids that prepared us all week long on what Columbia City is and how they’d operate, this was a total team effort,” Valley head coach Rebekah Parker said. “Incredibly happy but also extremely focused on tomorrow night.”
The beginning of the game was exactly what you would expect out of these two teams matching up. The defense on both ends was nothing short of ferocious, with each team taking plenty of time offensively to try and break through and find an opening. As good as the defense was to open up the contest, the patience both offenses were displaying was better. Midway through the quarter, Valley led 6-5.
It didn’t take long for the stops to start stacking up though, as just one point was scored over the next two and a half minutes. Not long before the end of the opening period, Columbia City took its first lead of the night, but it was quickly negated on the other end by a putback layup from Betty Shepherd. At the end of one, it was 8-8.
A 5-0 run featuring baskets from Hadley Wise and Dalynne Bussard resulted in a fast start to the second quarter for the Lady Vikings. The hosts were forcing their opponent into some difficult situations on the other end, forcing Columbia City to get out of its comfort zone in order to keep up on the scoreboard. No matter what the Lady Eagles tried, Valley was there to lock it down.
“It doesn’t really matter what you do out there as long as you do it with all of the intensity and heart that you have,” Parker said. “We played so hard tonight, and I want to give credit to Columbia City, because that is a very good basketball team that we beat tonight.”
Although neither side was having as hard a time scoring as the quarter prior, aside from the burst that began the period, points were still coming at a premium. Columbia City was struggling to shoot the ball, despite getting some pretty good looks from beyond the arch. A little after the three-minute mark, the visitors finally strung a run together and tied things up. But as was the case in the first, Valley was right there with an answer.
Bussard and Gaby Gonzalez were huge for their team in the first half, both playing with some serious energy on both ends and both coming up with big baskets in the big moments. Shepherd provided a spark off the bench as well, as her second basket of the first half made it a six-point game in the final minute before the half. At the break, the Lady Vikings had their largest lead of the night thus far, heading into the locker room with a 21-15 lead.
“They showed tremendous leadership tonight. Gaby decided she was going to put everybody on her back and was a great force in keeping everybody calm,” Parker said.
The adjustments made by both teams at the half didn’t take long to pay off, as each side began the third quarter by executing its best offense of the game so far. After the defenses dominated the first half, things looked a lot more free flowing here. Gonzalez was beginning to take over the game for Valley, picking Columbia City apart with a crafty drive to the lane that either ended with a layup or a kick out to an open shooter.
“I’m out there trying to set the tone as the leader of this team,” she said. “When we’re playing well we play as one unit. We trusted each other today and both ends and that made a big difference.”
Midway through the third, the Lady Viking lead still sat at six. Each time the visitors had begun to string a few good possessions together and build some momentum, the hosts were there to squash it almost immediately at the other end. This rang true until the end of the period, as in the final minute, Valley went up by eight. The way this one had gone, it felt like 18.
Junior Izzy Woodruff of Valley scores on an uncontested layup during Friday night's sectional game at Valley against Columbia City...Nieter
“We were first to a lot of 50/50 balls,which is something we work on and take pride in,” Parker said. “Those can be huge in terms of momentum swings, and when you combine that with hitting shots, we can be a tough team to deal with at times.”
The hosts continued to pile it on their opponent as the fourth quarter got going, as Bussard scored five more points on two straight possessions to bring the house down. The second basket forced Columbia City to call time, now down by eleven.
It was now or never for the Lady Eagles, and at the four-minute time call, it looked like the latter. The Lady Vikings were still up by eleven and were still playing terrific basketball. With three minutes left, the visitors made the crucial error of leaving Wise wide open at the top of the key, and she made them pay. The senior drained the triple to make it a 12-point game again, draining all potential momentum away from Columbia City. She became the third Lady Viking to reach double figure scoring in the process.
It never got much closer than that. Valley did everything it needed to do in the final minutes of the game to put the finishing touches on nothing short of a massive victory for the program.
Bussard finished with 15 points. Gonzalez had 14, Wise added 10 and Shepherd had nine.
Tippecanoe Valley (17-6) will play Fairfield on Saturday.
