Bussard scores 15, Gonzalez adds 14 as Valley eliminates Columbia City

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Dalynne Bussard Gaby Gonzalez

Girls basketball

Tippecanoe Valley 54, Columbia City 41 (Friday): Dalynne Bussard hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored a game-high 15 points, and Gaby Gonzalez added 14 for the Lady Vikings in a win over Columbia City in a Class 3A, Sectional 20 semifinal at Valley Friday.

Hadley Wise also hit a pair of 3s and added 10. Betty Shepherd tallied nine off the bench.

Bussard had as many points as the entire Columbia City team (seven) in the second quarter as Valley built a 21-15 halftime lead.

Valley (17-6) stretched the lead to 35-27 after three quarters.

Wise and Bussard each hit a trey, and Gonzalez hit 4 of 6 free throws in the fourth quarter to secure the win.

Anisa Tonkel, Claudia Strack and Torah Hollar had 11 points each to lead Columbia City.

Columbia City, the defending regional champion, came in averaging 55 points per game. Only three times had they scored fewer points in a game than they did Friday.

Valley will play Fairfield in the sectional final at 7:30 p.m. today. Fairfield defeated NorthWood 43-20 in the other semifinal.

VALLEY (54) (17-6)

Gaby Gonzalez 5 4-6 14, Hadley Wise 4 0-0 10, Savana Miller 1 0-0 2, Dalynne Bussard 5 3-5 15, Izzy Woodruff 2 0-0 4, Hailey Stookey 0 0-2 0, Betty Shepherd 4 1-2 9

TEAM: 21 8-15 54

COLUMBIA CITY (41) (16-8)

S. Hollar 1 0-0 2, Knitter 1 1-2 3, Tonkel 3 3-4 11, Tucker 0 0-0 0, Strack 5 1-3 11, Miller 0 1-2 1, T. Hollar 4 3-3 11, Payne 0 2-2 2, Morrow 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 14 11-16 41

Three-point field goals:

Valley 4 (Wise 2, Bussard 2),

Columbia City 2 (Tonkel 2)

Total fouls: Valley 13, Columbia City 15

Score by quarters

Valley 8 13 14 19 – 54

Columbia City 8 7 12 14 – 41