Ms. Basketball candidate Tyasha Harris guided No. 2 Heritage Christian to a regional championship against No. 4 Tippecanoe Valley Saturday night. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

COLUMBIA CITY — The better team won and that’s the only way to put it.

No. 2 Heritage Christian made quite the statement in Saturday’s girls basketball regional at Columbia City. The Eagles toppled No. 5 Norwell 60-42 in the day’s first semi-final then picked apart No. 4 Tippecanoe Valley 72-47 in the championship game. Heritage was on different level, had superior talent and left no doubts as to how far it can go.

“I don’t see anybody touching them the rest of this tournament,” Valley head coach Chris Kindig said of Heritage.

Kindig’s team, which finished its season with a 25-2 mark, had no answers for the polarizing Eagles squad for the majority of Saturday’s night title game. Valley came to play, make no mistake. The Lady Vikings went blow for blow with Heritage for the first quarter and even held a 14-13 lead going into the second.

But as the game wore on the Eagles flustered, frustrated and pressured Valley. The Lady Vikings were put on their heels and backed into a corner in a way that they have not experienced in the past two seasons. The Lady Vikings were not getting the calls, the bounces weren’t going their way and the shots that usually turn the tide in their favor weren’t falling.

The one-point lead Valley took into the second quarter quickly disappeared as the Eagles went on a 41-15 run in the second and third frames. Everything that went wrong for Valley was going right for Heritage. Darby Foresman made herself a presence in the paint on both ends of the court, closing the lane on Valley’s offense and forcing issues for the Vikings on defense as an effective stretch four for the Eagles. The Indiana University commit finished her night with 12 points.

Foresman’s presence hindered both Anne Secrest and Hannah Dunn. Secrest struggled to get her game going which derailed the rest of Valley’s offense. The Viking junior finished with 12 points to lead the team. Dunn, who has made a habit of stepping up when Secrest has an off night, had no answers either as she finished with just five points.

Heritage’s staunch defensive effort was the biggest aspect to the team’s win. The Eagles made Valley look uncomfortable on the court and made the Vikings pay for almost every mistake.

The big momentum-swinging shots that Valley has benefited from in the past were being made for Heritage by Dashawna Harper. The junior had range and she put it on display several times by hitting threes from well behind the arc.

“She’s got nice, nice range,” Heritage head coach Rick Risinger said of Harper. “She was hitting tonight so we tried to go her a little more tonight. She’s got the green light to shoot those more often, I’d like to see her do that more often.”

Harper hit five threes to lead all scorers with 19 points.

Harper and Foresman provided enough problems for Valley without the assistance of Tyasha Harris who added 18 points of her own. Harris, a Ms. Basketball candidate, is the engine for the Eagles, the driver of the offense and leader on the court. She runs the program’s system at a high standard and staying true to form was the game plan against Valley.

“We watched them (Valley) earlier in the day and got a feel for what kind of team they were,” Harris began. “They trust their system and we knew we had to disrupt that so we just stuck to our game plan to get that done.”

“We knew Valley was a good team so we knew our best chance to win was to do what we do best and play hard as a team,” added Foresman.

The fourth and final player in double digits for Heritage was sophomore Katlyn Gilbert who had 10 points. Gilbert is currently the No. 3 point guard in the class of 2018 according to ESPN rankings.

The writing was on the wall for Valley midway through the third quarter as Heritage continued to build its lead. The Vikings repeated as Three Rivers Conference and sectional champions but would be cut short in their bid to return to the state finals. The future is bright for Valley, who returns a large portion of this team next season.

But, for now, Valley celebrates its season and the seniors that helped make it possible.

“All of those girls did so much for this team,” Kindig stated. “Karis (Tucker), it was obviously a tough deal for her with the knee injury in the summer but she was big for us this year. She had a gutsy performance tonight, she was hurting but she stuck it our and played very well.

“Brynda (Krueger), as I’ve said before, put in so much work this summer and she was a big reason that we won the morning game against Concordia. She’s done a lot of good things for us all year.

“We don’t talk much about Morgan Brazo but she was a big part of our team, not so much in playing time but in a lot of other ways She was a hard practice player and has a great attitude. She fit in so well with everyone and was sort fo the team clown. She kept everybody loose and you have to have those kind of players on your team.”

Meredith Brouyette (nine points), Addy Miller (eight points), Sophie Bussard (eight points) and Tucker (five points) rounded out the scoring for Valley.

Heritage (24-4) will play South Bend St. Joe in the Class 3A North Semi-state at either Crown Point or Carroll next Saturday.