Sophie Bussard scores on a fast break while Laini Joseph defends during a game at Valley Thursday. (Photos by James Costello)

AKRON — Although Valley led its guests for most of the first half, the Lady Vikings couldn’t get a whole lot of separation from Winamac before halftime Thursday night. That all changed in the second half when Sophie Bussard decided to take over, however.

Bussard poured in 23 of her game-high 32 points in the second half, nearly single-handedly outscoring the Warriors as Valley gradually wore down previously unbeaten Winamac for a 53-35 win at home.

“The girls look for her. She’s their leader, and I don’t think it bothers them one bit who scores, just as long as they get what we need,” said Valley coach Chris Kindig of Bussard.

“She got two or three three-point play opportunities in the second half, which were big baskets when it was kind of that time where it was are they going to be able to make a little bit of a run or are we going to be able to kind of put things away.”

Bussard got much of her work done at the free throw line, knocking down 13 of 16 charity tosses for the game. The Southeast Missouri State commit converted 6 of 9 freebies in the third period alone as she began attacking off the dribble, and the Warriors had a hard time keeping in front of her.

Hayley Backus posts up against Jillian Brumm in the first half.

While Bussard did the bulk of the Vikings’ scoring — Emma Craig and forwards Makenzie Woodcox and Hayley Backus each put up six points behind her — it was their effort on the defensive end that also made the difference. The home team used on-the-ball pressure to turn the Warriors over a total of 18 times — including five steals by Bussard and another three by Sydney Wagner — which they happily converted into numerous fast break opportunities and 16 points off turnovers. On the other end of the floor, the Vikes turned the ball over just eight times themselves.

“That’s been our MO since the Plymouth game. We weren’t able to really turn Plymouth over as much as we would really like, but Triton, Wabash, North Miami — I think all those teams had 20-plus turnovers. I’d like to attribute a little bit of that to our pressure defense. I really think that’s how we need to continue to play the rest of the year,” said Kindig.

“We played really well tonight. We played well together. I realize we got a 32 spot and got a couple sixes there, but the girls did what they needed to do, especially on the defensive end, to win this thing.”

While Bussard poured in her game-high tally, sophomore Laini Joseph scored a team-high 14 for the Warriors, who dipped to 9-1 with their first loss of the year. It was the fourth straight win for Valley, which moved to 9-3 on the season.

Prior to the game, there was a moment of silence for Winamac student Owen Abbot, who was killed in a recent bus crash. Money was also collected for the family at Thursday’s game after the tragedy that hit very close to home following the deaths of three Tippecanoe Valley school system students — twin brothers Xzavier and Mason Ingle and sister Alivia Stahl — in an accident at a bus stop back in November.

“We definitely have experienced something obviously just as horrific as that, so obviously there’s a lot of empathy there,” said Kindig. “We got a lot of support from other schools when that situation happened here, and I would hope that we could continue to pay that forward. I can’t remember that type of situation in the last 30, 40 years that hit so close to home like that. We absolutely can relate to what’s going on in their community, but I really applaud this community for helping out.”

Valley puts its four-game streak and perfect 3-0 Three Rivers Conference record on the line Saturday when the Vikings host Whitko. Although the Wildcats sit at just 3-9 overall and 1-2 in conference play, it’s a game Kindig says his players will be up for.

“Whitko has gotten a lot better the last few weeks. We saw them in the tournament here, and they played Goshen within two or three points. We’re going to have to do that same formula — take care of the basketball, put pressure and turn them over, create a large amount of turnovers and get some easy baskets on the other end,” he said.

“Another big conference game for us. I can guarantee you we’re not going to overlook them one bit. There’s no way. I’ll see to that.”