Sidney Wagner pulls up for two between Bremen’s D.D. Duran and Ellia Foster during the two teams’ season-opener at Tippecanoe Valley Thursday. (Photos by James Costello)

AKRON — If you were looking for Sidney Wagner at halftime, you might have spotted her working the concession stand at Tippecanoe Valley.

Not really, although the Lady Vikings junior guard did pretty much everything else to help her team to a 55-36 season-opening win over visiting Bremen Thursday night, filling up the stat sheet with a game-high 20 points, 11 rebounds, five steals and two assists.

“I think she sold some popcorn at halftime, too, didn’t she?” joked Valley coach Chris Kindig. “Eleven rebounds, two assists, 75 percent from the line, 63 percent from the field. She played really well, and that’s really, to be honest with you, I thought that that’s what we would get out of her. I don’t think that should come as a surprise to anybody. Not to me.”

The Vikings entered the 2019-20 season with some big vacancies to fill after former star Sophie Bussard left for Southeast Missouri State, but Valley didn’t seem to miss a beat in Thursday’s opener. Wagner notched her double-double, while fellow junior Hayley Backus nearly matched her with 18 points and eight rebounds patrolling the low post, and senior swing Emma Craig put in a solid all-around game with nine points, four assists and three steals.

All told, the Vikings tallied 16 team assists on 22-of-56 shooting from the floor in exactly the kind of balanced performance Kindig was expecting to see.

Hayley Backus posts up on Katie Moyer in the second half.

“We’ve had some girls step up and put the time in over the summer, and I think it showed out here. They’ve come a long way. But I think that they know that — they know that they have to be a balanced team and they have to play together to be successful,” Kindig said.

“Assists 16 to two, that’s a really nice thing. That’s how we needed to play. We needed to have everybody contribute, and I think we saw that tonight, both offensively and defensively.”

Led by Wagner and Backus, Valley dominated the battle of the boards, 40-29, including 20 offensive rebounds for eight second-chance points. And while the Vikings knocked down roughly 40 percent of their shots from the field, they held Bremen to 10-of-39 shooting while using a swarming halfcourt trap to turn the Lions over 18 times en route to the lopsided win.

“I’m happy with the 36 up there. I think that’s about where we need to be every night to be successful,” Kindig said.

After an 8-8 start, Valley grabbed control with 11 unanswered points to take a double-digit lead early in the second quarter. The Vikings had pushed that lead out to 21 by the 5:09 mark of the third stanza on an old-fashioned three-pointer by Wagner, and the home team’s cushion hovered right around there for the rest of the night.

Freshman Kaydence Mellott knocked down a pair of second-half 3-pointers for Valley, while starting senior guard Jillian Walls sat out the entire third period hampered by foul trouble but still gave her team a bucket and three assists. Corinna Stiles was held scoreless but found ways to contribute on the inside nonetheless with seven rebounds and solid defense in the paint.

“Backus, we really worked hard this offseason to figure out ways to get her the ball down there. And I think Corinna is capable of being a one-two inside presence for us too. She was a little tentative tonight, but she’ll come along and we’ll have that one-two punch down low,” Kindig said.

Erin Coffel and Emma Craig battle for a rebound Thursday.

Bremen was led by senior Erin Coffel’s 12 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals, while sophomore guard Ellia Foster put up 13 for the Lions. Bremen will look to get into the win column in its home-opener with LaVille next Wednesday night. The Lions may even get another look at Valley in the Vikings’ home tournament Nov. 30.

With its 1-0 start, Valley will play at Culver Academy next Tuesday night.

“I was just happy for their first game. There are a lot of things to work on, but there were a lot of things that we did pretty well,” Kindig said. “I was real happy with the effort.”