Tipp’s Liv Hiser is surrounded by Carroll defenders in Wednesday’s 53-30 non-conference loss. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Lee Woolery)
Brett Kopp knew what his team was in for when he scheduled them to play Carroll. The goal is to be more ready next time.
Tipp City, OH – Tippecanoe girls basketball coach Brett Kopp threw his team into the deep end of Division III Wednesday night.
In those highly competitive non-Miami Valley League waters, Carroll’s defense lurked. Then it attacked. Like nothing Kopp’s players had seen through its first 18 games, 17 of them victories.
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“They were relentless defensively – it’s like they’re sharks,” Kopp said. “They smell blood, and then they just kind of made one turnover into two or three.”
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Yes, the Red Devils lost 53-30, they were outscored 33-11 in the second half, but they survived. Their season isn’t over.
“It’s the best team we’ve seen all year,” Kopp said. “It’s not even close, So what a great night. It is what it is against a really good opponent.”
Kopp hopes his team learned a lot about what it means to compete against the best teams in the Southwest District. The Patriots (18-3) lead the rugged Greater Catholic League Co-ed and have been of the best programs in the Dayton area for a long time. They’ve lost two league games.
Tipp has won its 15 league games by an average score of 57.1 to 18.9. So Kopp scheduled outside the league as difficult as he could. The Red Devils blew out Tecumseh, beat Versailles by four and lost to Marion Local by 15 before Carroll.
“That’s why we want to get the four most competitive non-league games we can,” Kopp said. “And then in couple years, we’ll have eight of them. And if we’re 15-7 but we’re playing teams like that to get us ready for the tournament, I can live with that.
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“We can look back on film and see what we did right, what we did wrong, what we can change. Because the league’s not really shown us that this year.”
The Red Devils (17-2) played the Patriots close for a half, trailing 21-19 at halftime. They stayed close because of 3-pointers by Mady Turner and Savannah Clawson and four of Liv Hiser’s team-high 10 points.
But a developing trend didn’t change in the second half when the Red Devils needed it to. The Patriots played keep away with Tipp leading scorer and sophomore Abbi Mader who leads the MVL at 19.7 points per game.
In her first game back from injury in two weeks, the Patriots held her to one point by face guarding her and switching every screen. Mader got more aggressive in the second half but couldn’t get a layup to go through the rim and never got a clean look at the basket from the perimeter.
“We knew Mader’s a good player so that was the first option to try to shut down,” Carroll coach Cecilia Grosselin said.
Kopp isn’t worried that Mader will rebound from her worst night.
“She’s still a stud,” he said. “Come tournament time I bet she makes those bunnies. There is no worry when it comes to her. It was rust. She had two days of practice and felt good. I think she looked good athletically and moving wise. She just had a bad night.”
In the second half, all the things Carroll had been doing began to take effect. The constant pressure tired and sped up Tipp. An 18-6 third quarter created a 41-25 lead to put the Patriots in complete control. The lead reached 26 with three minutes remaining.
Tipp’s Abby Mader does her best to shoot around Carroll’s Raegen Reilly during Wednesday loss to the Patriots.
Carroll, which allows only 40 points a game, used its length, a full-court press and double-teams in all four corners of the half court every chance it got. They forced multiple turnovers in the second half that led to eight fast-break points and denied the Red Devils even more chances to score.
Carroll star Kiera Healy, a 6-foot senior who will play at Eastern Kentucky, got in the way of much of what the Red Devils tried to do. She scored half of her 20 points on breakaways.
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The Patriots also established offensive rhythm in the second half with fast breaks and a mix of dribble drive and pass and cut concepts.
“I was trying to get them in a little bit of rhythm,” Grosselin said. “Once they found their rhythm and were able to get in transition that certainly helped.”
Grosselin also said the team tried a little too hard to get Eva Snyder her 1,000th point in the first half to join Healy in Carroll’s 1,000-point club. She finally did in the first minute of the fourth quarter on, what else, but a steal and all-alone layup. She finished with 15 points.
Will these teams meet again? Maybe. Carroll remains No. 3 and Tipp No. 4 in the RPI ratings that will determine tournament seedings.
The Red Devils will have 6-2 Reese Hoover and 6-foot Courtney Post back by the time tournament competition gets difficult. Both have started some games and probably would have started Wednesday because of Carroll’s size.
Still, if the Red Devils want to make a tournament run, they will have to embrace studying the second half Carroll put on them, not turn their eyes away, and resolve not to let it happen again.
“I’ve told the girls all along, ever since they met me, if they’re playing hard, I’ll live with the result,” Kopp said. “I think they played hard tonight, and better yet, they’re going to see that again.”
Maybe the next time, he hopes, the water won’t be so deep.
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