Valley Girls Basketball: Bar Still Set High For Vikings
AKRON – The bar has been set very high by the Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball program the past four years.
Don’t expect anyone within the Viking program to lower that standard of excellence either.
Valley, despite some huge losses in terms of player personnel from a year ago, expects more big things for the 2017-18 campaign.
“We’re not going to change our expectations,” said Valley coach Chris Kindig as he prepares for his eighth season. “I just think that we’re going to win in some different ways this year than in the past.
“There’s an expectation and a culture that these girls have built here and that will not change. They have worked hard to earn that. Basketball is important to a lot of our girls and it shows in the time they have put into the game.”
Valley has put together an 85-17 mark the past four seasons, including 72-10 the last three. The Vikings have won three straight Class 3-A sectional championships, including finishing as state runner-up in 2015. Valley has also won 28 straight Three Rivers Conference games.
The Vikings, who finished 22-5 and lost to Fort Wayne Concordia 65-58 in a regional semifinal game last season, lost five seniors. The leader of that stellar group was Anne Secrest. The 6-0 post player, who is now at Youngstown State University, finished as the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,580 career points. Secrest averaged 14.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game a year ago. Also gone are the talented duo of Meredith Brouyette and Hannah Dunn. Guard Brouyette averaged 8.7 points-per-game and led the team with 47 treys, while forward Dunn averaged 5.9 points and 3.4 rebounds per outing. Brouyette is now playing at Indiana Wesleyan University and Dunn is at Anderson University.
“I think that we will be smaller and quicker this season,” noted Kindig. “They keys will be can we defend and can we rebound. We have to play great defense this season and we have been emphasizing that with our girls.
“I think that we will be fine offensively. We have girls who can score for us. I think that this will be a fun team for people to watch. These girls play hard and we are going to be aggressive and get after it.”
Kindig does have a terrific trio to build around this winter. Addy Miller, one of three seniors, is back as well as the junior duo of Sophie Bussard and Emily Peterson. Miller averaged 8.7 points and drained 45 treys, while Bussard averaged 8.2 ppg. and and Peterson 6.3 ppg.
“There’s no question that those three will have to lead us,” remarked Kindig. “They will all take on an increased load on the offensive end. Sophie is a walking double-double. She’s improved and elevated her game. Addy and Emily have both improved. Addy is a three-year starter for us and Emily is a capable scorer.”
Miller says she’s ready for a big senior season.
“I’m really looking forward to this season,” said Miller. “I think that we will be a good team again. We still have talent here. I just want to be a big leader and encourage my teammates. We just need to go out and play our game and not worry about anything else.”
The senior duo of Asia O’Connor and Olivia Trippiedi also return. O’Connor averaged 3.3 ppg. and Trippiedi 2.5.
The roster also features junior Sarah Tucker and sophomores Makenzie Woodcox, Karina Young, Emma Craig and Jillian Walls. Woodcox is the tallest Viking, listed at six-foot, while O’Connor is 5-11.
“A big key for us is going to be who is our sixth, seventh and eighth players,” said Kindig, who sports a 112-51 record is his seven seasons at Valley. “We need to accept our roles and fill our roles. We have to understand who gets the ball.
“The girls worked hard in the offseason and I saw improvement in our team chemistry over the summer. This group is kind of quiet and we need to fix that as far as communicating and talking out on the floor.
“We have a lot of improving to do also need to stay injury free. That’s always a big key to any season. But we have the players to have another outstanding season.”
Valley opens its season by hosting Bremen Nov. 2. The Vikings will play their first five game at home before hosting their own annual tournament on Nov. 25. The TRC opener is at home versus Maconaquah on Nov. 21.