Fairfield Sectional: Valley, NorthWood Advance
GOSHEN — Tippecanoe Valley and NorthWood really got rolling in the second half, and the Black Swish and the Vikings both advanced to the Class 3-A Fairfield Sectional semifinals with a pair of wins in the tournament openers Tuesday night in Goshen.
NorthWood’s defense clamped down on West Noble in the third period on the way to a 56-36 win in the nightcap, and Valley’s players came together after one of their starters went down with a scary injury in the second half on the way to a 53-29 win over Lakeland.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 53, LAKELAND 29
The Vikings survived and advanced, but they’re hoping Tuesday night’s victory over Lakeland wasn’t too costly.
Starting forward Emily Peterson went down on a fast break at the 5:36 mark of the third period, and she lay there crying in agony for several minutes before being helped off the floor and out of the gym. With her team leading by more than 20 points, Peterson finally returned early in the fourth, but it was only to make her way gingerly to the Valley bench on crutches and with her left knee wrapped in ice. The preliminary diagnosis is a possible ACL injury, and if her junior season is in fact over, it makes the sixth-ranked Vikings’ climb a lot steeper as they continue their hunt for a fourth-straight sectional title with a sectional rematch versus Wawasee on Friday.
“It’s a situation where girls are going to have to step up and provide that offense that she was able to provide for us. She’s a solid defender and a smart basketball player. I think we’ve got girls that are capable of doing that, but you’re not going to be able to replace everything that she provides for us,” said Valley head coach Chris Kindig.
Peterson’s injury was an emotional turning point for the team, but rather than let it deflate them, the Vikings (20-3) seemed to rally behind their fallen teammate. With Peterson sidelined, reserve guard Jillian Walls knocked down a pair of shots, and fellow sophomore sub Makenzie Woodcox gave Valley a boost on the interior as the Vikings used an 18-8 third period to balloon their lead out to nearly 20 points headed into the fourth quarter.
“Emotionally that’s where you can really just kind of pack it in and say ‘Well, we’re done.’ But I was proud of these girls that they hung in there,” said Kindig. “I thought we played together that last quarter and a half, and really it would’ve been nice to play that way the whole game. I thought Jillian Walls came in and hit some shots. I thought Makenzie Woodcox came in and made some plays. I thought Asia O’Connor played really well on both ends of the floor too. Sophie (Bussard) was her normal self, and we got contributions from everybody.”
Bussard notched a game-high 16 points with five rebounds, two steals and two assists, while O’Connor put up eight points with seven caroms and a steal, Addy Miller scored seven points with three steals, Woodcox finished with six points and four boards, and Walls tallied five points, a steal and an assist. Olivia Trippiedi passed out five assists with three steals in a total team effort, and with Valley leading 49-27, Miller was her team’s only starter still on the floor with a full 3:16 left to play against the Lakers (10-13).
The Vikings only led by single digits at the half at 25-16 but quickly doubled Lakeland up at 32-16 with a fast start to the third period.
“We got off to a decent start, which was good,” said Kindig. We got a few transition baskets. We talked about that before the game to try and get comfortable and get confident, and one of the ways to do that is to get some baskets in transition. We were able to do that, but still it was that first game, first half jitters. In the third quarter we kind of found our rhythm and our groove.”
Madison Keil finished with eight points, and Beka Stroop and Bailey Harstough put up six points apiece for Lakeland in the loss. Valley now advances to play Wawasee (12-10) in a rematch of a game last Tuesday in Akron, which the Vikings won, 46-33, but not without a little early trouble.
“Number one, obviously we didn’t get off to a great start the last time we played them, and for us, it’s kind of been our MO this year that games where we get off to good starts it helps our confidence. We’ll have to make some adjustments. They play extremely hard,” said Kindig of the rematch.
“We’ll see what kind of adjustments he makes, and we’ll see what kinds of adjustments we need to make in that rematch. I’m looking forward to it being a competitive basketball game, and we’ll come ready to play.”
NORTHWOOD 56, WEST NOBLE 36
NorthWood beat West Noble at its own game in Tuesday’s finale.
The Chargers are a pretty good defensive team, but the Black Swish put on a clinic on the defensive end in the second half, holding West Noble scoreless in the third period until a pair of free throws by Madison Shermerhorn with just 46 seconds remaining in the quarter. By then NorthWood was already holding onto a 38-23 lead, and, although the Chargers whittled that lead down to 11 points late in the fourth, it never got any closer as the Swish put an exclamation point on the win with a game-closing 9-0 run.
“I thought defensively we gave up probably 10 points that we shouldn’t have (in the first half), whether it be missed assignments or that kind of thing. We wanted to clean that up, and I’m not sure they scored until about a minute and a half left in the third quarter so that was huge for us,” said NorthWood coach Adam Yoder.
The Black Swish (16-8 ) got a pair of double-digit contributions from Savannah Feenstra and Neely Trenshaw with 14 and 10 points, respectively, and three other players scored nine in Kenzie Bergman, Kate Rulli and Maddy Payne. Trenshaw got her team going, knocking down 3 of 3 three-pointers in the first half with West Noble daring her to shoot. Payne and Rulli cleaned up on the inside in the second half with a combined 13 of their points after the break, meanwhile.
“We’ve been telling her for a couple weeks now that teams are not going to guard you,” explained Yoder of Trenshaw’s start. “Fairfield didn’t the first time. They put those guards wide in 2-3 and said ‘We’re going to let you shoot.’ Well, she hit three tonight. And then she got in foul trouble and we couldn’t get any more shots.”
The stat that stood out most during NorthWood’s dominant, 31-15 second half was the Black Swish’s rebounding advantage as they hauled in a whopping 29 caroms to just 14 by West Noble (18-7). Thirteen of those came on the offensive end, and NorthWood parlayed most of them into buckets with 10 second-chance points in the second half.
“Our rebounding efficiency was very high,” said Yoder. “The key was once we got those second chance opportunities we took advantage of them by putting them in the basket or getting to the line. I was very impressed by the way we attacked the glass, in the second half especially.”
West Noble got 10 points from Lauren Burns and six from Kasia Weigold but couldn’t match the Black Swish’s balance as NorthWood scored nearly 17 more points than the Chargers’ defensive average. NorthWood now advances to play host and ICGSA third-ranked Fairfield in Friday’s late semifinal following a rematch between Wawasee and Tippecanoe Valley. Friday’s nightcap is itself a rematch of a Dec. 19 contest in Nappanee, which NorthWood lost 47-34.
“The bottom line is we are just going to have to have a better game plan; we’re going to have to execute better than we did the first time,” Yoder said. “I thought with one day’s rest after the Plymouth game we just kind of went out there and saw how we could do against them, and when you throw them the ball for layups it’s not going to turn out very well. We’ve got to cut down on that first of all, but I think we’ll be ready. The kids are very excited about the opportunity, but you’re talking about the number three team in the state on their home floor.
“I do think it would be a major upset, but I think our kids are ready for the opportunity to go try.”