Mellott, Wagner combine for 43, lead Valley past Whitko

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Girls basketball

Tippecanoe Valley 60, Whitko 31 (Dec. 19): Kaydence Mellott hit six 3-pointers and scored 22 points, and Sidney Wagner added 21 points for Valley in a Three Rivers Conference road win over Whitko Dec. 19.

Mellott racked up four treys in the first quarter while Wagner scored nine points in the first quarter as the Lady Vikings jumped out to a 23-6 lead. They expanded the lead to 36-10 at halftime.

Corinna Stiles added eight points, and Hayley Backus, playing for the first time since suffering a right knee injury against Northwestern Nov. 14, scored six off the bench.

Valley made more free throws (14) than Whitko attempted (8).

Valley won their third straight game overall and is 7-3, 2-0 TRC. Valley also beat Whitko for the 10th straight year.

Whitko cut the lead to 40-25 after three quarters before Valley pulled away again in the fourth quarter.

VALLEY (60) (7-3, 3-0)

Sidney Wagner 7 7-10 21, Lily Ault 0 0-0 0, Kaydence Mellott 6 4-4 22, Ashley Butler 0 0-3 0, Corinna Stiles 4 0-1 8, Lily Holloway 0 2-3 2, Molly Moriarty 0 0-0 0, Chesnee Miller 0 0-0 0, Macy Petersen 0 0-0 0, Mercedes Snapp 0 1-2 1, Hayley Backus 3 0-0 6

TEAM: 20 14-23 60

WHITKO (31) (2-8, 0-3)

Cripe 3 0-2 7, Rhoades 1 0-2 2, Coburn 5 0-2 10, Krieg 2 2-2 8, Fugett 1 0-0 2, Schipper 0 0-0 0, Tucker 1 0-0 2

TEAM: 13 2-8 31

Three-point field goals:

Valley 6 (Mellott 6),

Whitko 3 (Krieg 2, Cripe)

Total fouls: Valley 11, Whitko 15

Score by quarters

Valley 23 13 4 20 – 60

Whitko 6 4 15 6 – 31

Oregon-Davis at Valley, ppd.: The Oregon-Davis-Valley girls basketball game scheduled for Dec. 23 was postponed. No makeup date has been set.

Wagner nominated for player of week: Valley senior guard Sidney Wagner was nominated for the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association/Franciscan Health Player of the Week award for District 1 girls for the week of Dec. 14.

Wagner scored 11 points in a 42-29 win over Fairfield on Dec. 17 and added 21 in a 60-31 win over Whitko on Dec. 19.

The award went to Hammond Noll senior Courtney Blakely.

Boys basketball

Oregon-Davis 49, Valley 41 (Wednesday): Dawson Perkins scored 22 points, and Nolan Cumberland added 11, but the host Vikings fell to Oregon-Davis Wednesday.

Cooper Walls and Brendyn Stump added three points each, and Dom Welk had two. Welk also led Valley with six rebounds.

Gavin Sibo led the Bobcats with 19 points. Dylan Murphy sunk five 3-pointers and had 15 points. Jared Bryan had eight points and a team-high five rebounds.

O-D led 22-17 at halftime and extended the lead to 41-26 after three quarters.

Peru 56, Valley 48 (Dec. 22): Nolan Cumberland scored 20 points, but the visiting Vikings could not recover from an 18-4 deficit after one quarter and fell to Peru at Tig-Arena in their TRC opener Dec. 22. Reserve Brendyn Stump added nine points and a team-high three assists.

Dawson Perkins had seven points and a team-high four rebounds.

Treyden Curtis scored a game-high 22 points for Peru. Matt Ross added 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Peru led 27-19 at halftime.

Peru had a 27-18 rebounding advantage.

“Once again, a slow start did Valley in,” Valley coach Chad Patrick said in a statement. “But they fought back to get within two points a couple times in the second half. … Poor defense and being outrebounded again allowed Peru to pull away in the end.”

Valley won the JV game 47-25. Dom Welk scored 14 points, and Kyler Johnson added 11.

VALLEY (48) (1-3, 0-1)

Braden Shepherd 2 0-2 5, Rex Kirchenstien 0 0-0 0, Nolan Cumberland 8 2-3 20, D.J. Estep 2 0-0 5, Dawson Perkins 3 1-4 7, Brendyn Stump 3 1-3 9, Cooper Walls 1 0-0 2, Landon Walters 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 19 4-12 48

PERU (56) (5-0, 3-0)

Townsend 2 2-3 8, Curtis 9 3-7 22, Bellar 2 0-0 6, Roettger 2 1-2 5, M. Ross 5 2-4 13, Polk 1 0-0 2, Robbins 0 0-0 0, A. Ross 0 0-0 0

TEAM: 21 8-16 56

Three-point field goals:

Valley 6 (Cumberland 2, Stump 2, Shepherd, Estep),

Peru 6 (Townsend 2, Bellar 2, Curtis, M. Ross)

Total fouls: Valley 17, Peru 17

Fouled out: Bellar (PERU)

Turnovers: Valley 17, Peru 14

Score by quarters

Valley 4 15 12 17 – 48

Peru 18 9 10 19 – 56

JV: Valley 47, Peru 25