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With the team’s last game, a heartbreaking loss to rival Rochester, coming over a week ago, the Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball team headed into Wednesday night’s game at Plymouth with something to prove. They proved quite a bit, going wire-to-wire in an impressive 69-35 road victory.
Despite featuring two teams that have had their fair share of scoring droughts this season, points were being put on the board in a hurry early on. Hadley Wise led the charge in the opening period with five points in the first four minutes, assisting her team in taking a quick seven-point lead.
A big reason for the visitors’ early burst on the scoreboard was the hardnosed defense that has become a signature of the Lady Vikings so far this season. A pair of steals and scores by point guard Gaby Gonzalez grew her team’s lead to double figures just five minutes into the game.
Plymouth remained aggressive following the run, getting their opponent into foul trouble and making up the difference at the line. After eight minutes of play, the Lady Vikings held onto a seven-point advantage.
The beginning of the second quarter continued to nudge momentum in the direction of the Lady Pilgrims, as a few questionable calls against Valley put the visitors in foul trouble early on. A big three by Lydia Wray made it a four-point game just two minutes into the period, and just like that, the game was back on.
An and-one by Savana Miller tipped the scale back in favor of the visitors, sparking a short run that extended the lead back up to nine. Dalynne Bussard, who was a big contributor in the opening quarter, scored her first points of the second to make it a double-digit game again.
After overcoming that bump in the road, the Lady Vikings were able to get back to what had made them so successful in the early going. The defense played lights out in the final minutes of the first half, and the offense followed suit. Heading into the break, the visitors were up by 15.
Tippy Valley continued to dictate the pace of play as the second half got underway, at one point extending its lead to 20 with about four minutes to go in the third. They didn’t stop there, continuing to take it to their opponents until a timeout call with under three minutes to go.
Tippecanoe Valley sophomore Savanna Miller shoots to score during the second quarter...Nieter
Plymouth was having an especially hard time putting the ball in the basket, going scoreless for a large chunk of the quarter. The Lady Vikings were having no such droughts tonight, as every time the visitors went a possession or two without a basket, they were quickly able to get one to fall their next time down.
The result of the game had already been decided by the time the fourth quarter got rolling, but the Lady Pilgrims showed some signs of life here. After a tough third, the home side was able to string together a few scoring possessions in a row to keep things respectable throughout the opening minutes of the period.
That was until Miller scored five straight points late in the quarter, and all of a sudden, Valley was flirting with putting things away with a running clock. At this point, the rest of the starters were replaced and took a seat on the bench to the sound of an ovation from the Lady Viking faithful.
The reserves played well in the remainder of the game, with Maycee Koch scoring the points that gave the game its final score.
Tippy Valley (6-2) will resume conference play Saturday at John Glenn.
