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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
AKRON — Kayla Herron scored 11 points, and fellow sophomore Jimara Combs scored eight, including six in the fourth quarter, as the Culver Academy girls basketball team downed host Tippecanoe Valley 41-34 at Rita Price Simpson Court Tuesday.
Gaby Gonzalez scored 16 points to lead Valley. She had all eight of Valley’s points in the first half and scored eight more in the second half, including a nifty stutter step banker while she was fouled with 3:40 to go.
That cut the deficit to 33-31, but Gonzalez missed the ensuing free throw, and Valley would get no closer in the fourth quarter.
Combs made two free throws with 3:06 left, and junior forward Kate Clemons tossed in a banker off the dribble to get the lead to six.
Hadley Wise got an offensive rebound off after Gonzalez missed the second of two free throws with 1:51 left and Valley down 37-32. Gonzalez would miss, and then Wise would pull down another offensive rebound, but Hayden would miss.
Herron split a pair of free throws with 44.2 seconds left and another pair with 13.1 seconds left to make it a three-possession game.
Culver Academy (4-0) made 8 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter and 11 of 19 for the game. Valley (1-2) went 7 for 18 from the line.
Culver Academy held Valley to one point in the second quarter and claimed a 16-8 lead at halftime.
Valley never led again after Combs hit a pullup 15-footer 35 seconds into the second quarter. That gave Culver Academy an 8-7 lead.
Gonzalez split a pair from the line with 3:58 left in the half to cut the Lady Eagle lead to 10-8, but Amelia Binkley split a pair from the line, and Reid Seddelmeyer converted a 3-point play off a lefty finish at the rim.
A Clemons putback pushed the lead to eight.
Gonzalez picked up her third foul with 2:32 left in the half, and Hadley Wise and Hailey Stookey committed two fouls each in the first half.
“We got in a little bit of foul trouble, so I think that kind of hurt us again,” Valley coach Rebekah Parker said. “That has been the story of our first few games here, and I think that hurts us a little bit, but at the same time, we’ve got to find some other people that are willing to score for us.”
The game was a contrast between Culver Academy’s man-to-man defense and Valley’s 2-3 zone.
Gonzalez scored the game’s first four points on a pullup from the elbow and a driving off-balance scoop off the window. Her 3-point play with 4:08 left in the quarter made it 7-3, but Valley followed with a 13-and-a-half-minute scoreless drought that Lydia Craig ended with a putback with 6:20 left in the third quarter.
“We talk a lot about defense,” Culver Academy coach Bill Murchie said. “We talk about playing relentless. I felt like in that second quarter, we were sitting down in a stance. We were talking. We were communicating. Honestly, sometimes the ball doesn’t bounce the right away, and credit goes to Tippy Valley – Gonzalez, Wise and obviously Hayden, great players, right? So to be able to hold them to one was a testament to, one, us really playing relentless defense, and, two, the ball not bouncing the right way sometimes.”
But at the same time, Valley’s zone held Culver Academy to 30 percent shooting and just 18 percent from 3-point range.
“I thought we did a good job,” Parker said. “We didn't do a great job of rebounding out of it. But I thought for the most part, for as much as we’ve worked on it, I think it was pretty effective. They hit two 3s. One was very timely, but I think we took away some things. Obviously, we could have eliminated a lot of fouls.”
Hayden hit a 15-foot pullup and then drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key to get the lead down to 20-15.
A Bussard step-through led to a 3-point play that made it 20-18, and Gonzalez split a pair of free throws with 3:58 left in the third. The lead was down to 20-19.
“They played a little bit freer in the second half, which was good,” Parker said. “We went through and found Lucy on the block a couple times, and I thought that kind of got us going and helped spark our defense. We just couldn’t sustain and get over the hump.”
Binkley hit a jumper and made a diagonal pass out of the post to Herron for a 3 that pushed the lead back to 25-19.
“It comes down to we’ve got to finish,” Murchie said. “We’ve got to be able to finish. We’ve got to make shots. Argos played us in a 2-3 zone on Saturday (a 48-36 Culver Academy win). The reality of it is that a lot of teams are going to zone us until we can prove we can make shots.”
Valley trailed 31-24 on two Combs free throws with 7:44 left, but Hayden ended a marathon 70-second possession with a driving scoop layup to cut the lead to five. Gonzalez scored the next five Valley points.
Culver Academy 41, Valley 34
CULVER ACADEMY (41) (4-0)
Reid Seddelmeyer 1 2-3 4, Kayla Herron 4 2-7 11, Piper Brumm 1 0-1 2, Jimara Combs 2 4-4 8, Kate Clemons 3 0-0 6, Amelia Binkley 2 1-2 5, Mimi Smith 1 2-2 5, Lilah Treber 0 0-0 0, Hannah Kresser 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 14 11-19 41
VALLEY (34) (1-2)
Gaby Gonzalez 5 6-12 16, Hadley Wise 0 0-0 0, Lydia Craig 1 0-2 2, Lucy Hayden 5 0-0 11, Carlee Snyder 0 0-0 0, Hailey Stookey 0 0-0 0, Dalynne Bussard 2 1-4 5
TEAM: 13 7-18 34
Three-point field goals:
Culver Academy 2 (Herron, Smith),
Valley 1 (Hayden)
Total fouls: Culver Academy 18, Valley 19
Fouled out: Wise (TV), :5.3, fourth
Turnovers: Culver Academy 15, Valley 10
Score by quarters
Culver Academy 6 10 13 12 – 41
Valley 7 1 16 10 – 34
