3A Jimtown Regional: Tippy Valley defense shuts down Mishawaka Marian; Fairfield advances

ELKHART — Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball coach Chris Kindig said a main goal Saturday was to make someone other than Marian star Nevaeh Foster beat his team.

Mission accomplished.

The Vikings turned in a dandy defensive team effort on Foster en route to a convincing 67-54 upset of the No. 8 Knights in the Class 3A Jimtown Regional.

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Valley, now 22-3, advances to the semistate round next Saturday. Pairings for the matchups, sites and game times for the semistate will be drawn by the IHSAA Sunday at 3 p.m. Hosts for the four North Semistates are LaPorte, Logansport, Huntington North and Frankfort.

Marian, seeking the first regional title in program history, finishes at 22-6. Its five other losses this season came to Class 4A teams.

The Vikings held Foster, who averages 25 points a game, to just 10 points. The star guard and Western Kentucky commit scored eight points in the opening period as Marian led 16-14. She was held to just two free throws the rest of the way before fouling out late. Foster, who should be an Indiana All-Star, shot 3-of-9 from the field and missed her final five shots. She finishes her brilliant career with 2,243 points.

Valley used a variety of defenses to slow Foster, including an effective box and one.

"Our goal was to have someone other than Foster beat us," said Kindig, the 13th year coach of the Vikings. "We wanted to take our chances with that and it worked out pretty well. We did not want to allow her to go 1-on-1 and we wanted to make her give up the ball when she got it. We did those things well today.

"We just had a total team effort. Everyone who played for us contributed today."

Marian raced to a 6-0 lead as Valley had turnovers on its four possessions of the contest. Kindig quickly took a timeout just 1:50 into the game to allow his veteran team a chance to regroup.

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"We were a little tight at the start and just needed to settle down," Kindig said of the poor start. "After that timeout, we just relaxed. Our girls realized then that we could play with them."

Valley led 35-31 at halftime after shooting 9-of-13 in the second period. Marian was just 6-of-20 from the field and 1-of-6 from the free throw line in the stanza.

The Vikings, who won their second regional title, took control in the third quarter. The Vikings closed the period with a 12-1 run to take a 51-40 lead. Star senior Kaydence Mellott scored nine of her game-high 20 points in the pivotal stanza. The Knights also shot just 3-of-15 in the third period.

Marian, who saw its nine-game winning streak snapped, got no closer than nine points in the fourth quarter.

The Vikings, winners of nine in a row, shot a blistering 25-of-42 (59 percent) from the field. Valley used tremendous dribble penetration by its guards and the play of 6-1 center Millie Scorsone in the paint. Senior Scoresone came off the bench to score 14 huge points, including 10 in the key second period. Scoresone, a transfer from Rochester, just became eligible to play at last week's sectional.

"We were just able to stay the course," said Kindig. "We thought that we had a quickness advantage and our guards were able to use that. We attacked and were able to draw fouls and get good shots inside too."

Marian shot just 22-of-66 (33 percent) from the field, including 3-of-20 from 3-point land. They were also just 7-of-18 from the free throw line and allowed 23 points over their per game defensive average of 44 points a contest.

"Give them credit, they just flat out outplayed us," said Marian coach Steve Scott, who guided the Knights into the regional for the fourth time in his six years in charge of the program. "We got off to a great start and then we got behind and played tight and the rims got smaller.

"Our defense was not good today. Nothing we tried worked and the foul trouble only made it worse. We just did not stop them. This was not the same defense we played in the sectional. We were not the same team today that won the sectional.

"We just did not handle things well. They did not do anything we did not expect. We have seen a box-and-one on Vaya. We just did not do things to help her get open today."

Shayla Alexander, one of three senior starters, led Marian with 13 points. Senior Aliyah Hershberger had nine points and senior MaKaya Porter and junior Sam Gruber eight each. Porter, who did not play in the sectional, played just her third game this season. The Junior All-Star, who averaged 19 points and nearly 10 rebounds per game last season, was out due to a knee injury until the final two regular-season games.

Mellott, Valley's only double digit scorer this season at 19 points a game, had 20. Scorsone finished with 14 points and senior Molly Moriarty added 11.

Scott praised the tremendous career of Foster, who was named MVP of the highly-competitive Northern Indiana Conference this season. Foster led the Knights to a 10-1 mark and a runner-up finish in the NIC to champion Washington, the No. 1 team in Class 4A. The nationally ranked Panthers improved to 27-0 Saturday with a win over Valparaiso to win the Class 4A LaPorte Regional title.

"Vaya will go down as one the best girls basketball players ever in Northern Indiana," said Scott of his star, who scored 702 points this season and is Marian's all-time leading scorer male or female. "She's been the heart and soul of our program for four years.

"I'm just sorry," he added, "that it ends like this for all of our seniors."

TIPPECANOE VALLEY 67, MARIAN 54

At Jimtown Regional

MARIAN (54): Nevaeh Foster 3 4-4 10, Aliyah Hershberger 3 0-1 9, Shayla Alexander 6 1-4 13, Christa Porter 3 0-1 6, Sam Gruber 4 0-0 8, MaKaya Porter 3 2-8 8, Abilina Dubree 0 0-0 0, Nadalyn Gerwels 0 0-0 0, Sydney McIntee 0 0-0 0, Theresa Reynolds 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22 7-18 54.

TIPPECANOE VALLEY (67): Lily Ault 1 0-0 3, Kaydence Mellott 8 1-4 20, Corinna Stiles 0 0-0 0, Molly Moriarty 3 4-4 11, Kelsey Cox 0 0-0 0, Gaby Gonzalez 1 4-6 6, Millie Scorsone 7 0-2 14, Macy Petersen 2 1-1 5, Chesnee Miller 3 2-4 8, Bailey Bussard 0 0-0 0, Carlee Snyder 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 25 12-21 67.

3-point goals: Marian 3 (Hershberger 3), T. Valley 5 (Mellott 3, Ault, Moriarty). Shooting: Marian 22-66, T. Valley 25-42. Rebounds: Marian 32 (C. Porter 10), T. Valley 27 (Scorsone 7). Assists: Marian 14 (Hershberger 4), T. Valley 16 (Gonzalez 5, Miller 4). Steals: Marian 11 (Foster 5). Blocked shots: Marian 1 (Gruber), T. Valley 2 (Stiles, Scorsone). Turnovers: Marian 8, T. Valley 15. Team fouls (fouled out): Marian 22 (Foster, Alexander), T. Valley 15 (Scorsone). Team records: Marian 22-6 (final), T. Valley 22-3.

Fairfield 40, Highland 32

The Falcons came up big when it mattered most.

No. 7 Fairfield rallied from a seven-point third quarter deficit to top Highland in the Class 3A Jimtown Regional.

The Falcons, who advanced to the Class 2A semistate a year ago, now move on to the 3A semistate round.

Fairfield trailed 21-14 in the third period before using an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 23-22 entering the final frame. The Falcons hit 10-of-12 free throws in the final stanza to earn the regional title.

Brea Garber led the way for Fairfield, now 25-2, with 13 points. Bailey Willard scored 10 points, including seven in the final period. Morgan Gawthrop also had 10 points, including six in the fourth quarter.

Highland finishes at 17-7.

1A AT CASTON

Bethany Christian 38, Tri-County 30

The Bruins made history with their first regional championship.

Star junior Zoe Willems had 18 points and 11 rebounds as Bethany won the Class 1A Caston Regional.

The Bruins led 19-14 at halftime and 30-22 after the third period en route to the title in their third regional appearance.

Junior Mariah Stoltzfus had 11 points and senior Kiersten Todd nine for the Bruins, who had just three players score in the win.

Bethany advances with a 22-3 mark after finishing 11-12 last season. Tri-County finished at 14-12.

2A AT WINAMAC

Central Noble 64, South Central 52

Madison Vice was just too much for the Satellites.

The Central Noble star poured in 33 points to pace Central Noble to the Class 2A Winamac Regional crown.

Vice scored 16 points in the final period as Central Noble outscored South Central 24-19 in the final frame.

The Cougars advance at 25-2.

Olivia Marks had 21 points and Lillian Tolmen 15 to lead South Central, which finishes at 23-4.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Marian vs. Tippecanoe Valley in girls basketball Class 3A regional