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Egolf scores 16, Snyder adds 11 off the bench
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
PLYMOUTH — The Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball team went to a man-to-man defense in the fourth quarter against host Plymouth Thursday as they continued to grind down opponents, making things dark for their opponent whenever they see a glimmer of hope.
Ava Egolf scored 16 points, and Carlee Snyder came off the bench to add 11 to lead the Lady Vikings to a 47-33 win over the Lady Pilgrims.
Meanwhile, Valley held Plymouth to no field goals in the fourth quarter and no points in the final 3:35, whether it was the on-ball pressure from Chesnee Miller or the strong presence on the wing of Egolf or the rim protection presence of Snyder and Kelsey Cox.
“We went to man,” Valley coach Chris Kindig said. “That’s kind of our bread and butter. And I thought that won us the basketball game in the fourth quarter. Spread them out a little bit in the last four or five minutes of the game, and we got some pretty easy baskets there. But again, the defensive end was the key. Just changed to man.”
Playing for the first time in nine days, Valley won their third straight game and improved to 8-1. Sophie Miller had 10 points for Plymouth, who fell to 4-4.
The Lady Pilgrims scored 18 points in the third quarter, which was more than Rochester scored in the game against the Valley defense nine days earlier. Plymouth trailed by 15 earlier in the quarter but cut the deficit to 35-31 after three quarters on Tynley Gantz’s back cut layup.
“I thought the first half, they got some dribble penetration, and they got to the rim, and we didn’t do a great job of closing out on them,” Kindig said. “So we gave up some baskets that for us were a little unusual. But they didn’t go away for sure. We were up 10 points at the half, and I think we got it up to 15. … So give them a lot of credit for keeping coming at us, but I liked our girls and how we finished.”
But Ava Smith hit a pullup banker in the lane, Egolf scored on a flying putback, and Macy Petersen, who left for three minutes in the third quarter after walking off gingerly with pain in her surgically repaired left knee only to return, hit two free throws to get the lead back to 10.
Lena Jones hit two free throws for Plymouth, but an Egolf driving banker, a Cox left baseline jumper and a Cox layup off a Miller bounce pass assist completed the scoring.
Plymouth coach Micaela Schalliol said fatigue became a factor in the fourth quarter.
“They were keeping us on one side of the court, and our girls, we talked in the locker room after the game just about what happened,” Schalliol said. “Were they gassed? Their legs tired? And they said it was more so mental fatigue, and they felt the pressure of we need to score on this possession.”
With sophomore Gaby Gonzalez out with an ankle injury, Egolf had to assume point guard duties.
“No doubt, and even Chesnee Miller had to play a little bit more out at the top,” Kindig said. “Ava Smith as well. That’s what we worked on over the last 10 days when we were off, knowing she was not going to be available for awhile here.”
Egolf, a senior, is in her first season at Valley after transferring from Warsaw.
“When she was at Warsaw, she played the post,” Schalliol noted. “And she caused problems for us last year on the boards. She had five offensive rebounds against us last year. She’s a very physical player, a great player. We struggled defending her for sure.”
Valley scored the first six points of the game and never trailed. Cox picked up two fouls in less than three minutes, so Snyder, a 6-1 junior, sank a 3-pointer from the corner and also put back her own miss at the end of the quarter to make it 11-8.
Snyder had two more transition baskets in the second quarter as the lead reached 19-11. A Miller runner and a Petersen layup got the lead to 23-13 at halftime, and two Smith baskets wrapped around an Egolf free throw pushed the lead to 28-13 less than two minutes into the second half.
“Really she was what drove us to get that halftime 10-point lead,” Kindig said of Snyder. “She played well offensively tonight. … We need a couple other people to step up, but I thought overall I’m pleased with how we played tonight.”
Valley also won the JV game 23-20 thanks to Maycee Koch’s nine points. Hadley Wise added six, Hailey Stookey and Lindahl Walls had three each, and Lillie Koch and Dalynne Bussard had one each.
Valley 47, Plymouth 33
VALLEY (47) (8-1)
Ava Egolf 6 4-6 16, Chesnee Miller 1 0-0 2, Macy Petersen 2 2-2 6, Ava Smith 4 0-0 8, Kelsey Cox 2 0-0 4, Dalynne Bussard 0 0-0 0, Carlee Snyder 5 0-0 11
TEAM: 20 6-8 47
PLYMOUTH (33) (4-4)
Mady Sullivan 0 0-0 0, Lena Jones 3 2-3 9, Sophie Miller 4 2-5 10, Tynley Gantz 1 1-2 3, Rylee Mann 1 1-2 3, Eva Sheedy 1 0-0 2, Alana Allen 3 0-0 6
TEAM: 13 6-12 33
Three-point field goals:
Valley 1 (Snyder),
Plymouth 1 (Jones)
Total fouls: Valley 16, Plymouth 9
Turnovers: Valley 20, Plymouth 19
Score by quarters
Valley 11 12 12 12 – 47
Plymouth 8 5 18 2 – 33
JV: Valley 23, Plymouth 20
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