VERSAILLES – The Tippecanoe Lady Red Devils handed the Versailles Lady Tigers a hard-fought 46–42 loss Saturday in non-conference girls basketball action.
“You can’t ask for a better game this time of year,” said Versailles coach Tracy White. “We knew Tipp was a handful. I thought, let’s see where we’re at — maybe we could come in here and lose by 10 or 15.”
Versailles came out strong, opening on a 6-0 run before Tipp answered with eight straight points, including a pair of 3-pointers from standout 6’0” sophomore guard Abbi Mader to take an 8–6 lead. The Tigers regrouped to end the quarter tied 8–8.
“Early in the game, we got the first offensive rebounds, and we were able to get a little movement,” White said. “If we can get to where we can do that for the whole game, it benefits us in the long run.”
The second quarter belonged to the Lady Red Devils, who used three treys to build an 18–10 period advantage and take a 26–18 halftime lead.
Versailles won the third quarter 11–10, spreading the scoring among five players to cut the deficit to 36–29 heading into the final eight minutes.
“I felt like we were always cutting their lead,” White said. “We just couldn’t get it over the hump.”
The Tigers kept chipping away in the fourth, taking the period 13–10 to complete a second-half sweep, but ultimately fell four points short against one of the MVL’s top teams.
“I felt like our girls responded well,” White added. “They left everything on the court. We didn’t get some things to fall early — really, the whole game — but I felt like we did a lot of really good things. Our girls worked really hard and left everything on the court for four quarters.”
Mader led all scorers with a game-high 23 points, including four 3-pointers. Jena Heitkamp paced Versailles with 12 points.
“Jenna played really well,” White said of her leading scorer. “We’ve talked about her positivity since she was a freshman, but she also has a work ethic. You watch her cut — she’s cutting hard. When she’s posting up, she’s posting hard. She’s definitely got a motor and has a drive to always be the hardest worker, or one of the hardest workers, on the floor.”
BOX SCORE:
TIPPECANOE 46, VERSAILLES 42
TIPPECANOE – A. Mader 23, S. Clawson 6, E. McCormick 6, M. Turner 5, L. Hiser 4, C. Post 2 – TOTALS 11 6-10 6 46
VERSAILLES – J. Heitkamp 12, K. Litten 10, E. Stammen 8, I. Barga 4, K. Hager 4, R. Schmitmeyer 2, A. Weitholter 2 – TOTALS 18 6-10 0 42
3-POINTERS
Tippecanoe 6 (A. Mader 4, S. Clawson 1, M. Turner 1)
Versailles 0
SCORE by QUARTERS
08-18-10-11 46 Tippecanoe
08-10-11-13 42 Versailles
