Tipp Girls BB falls in instant classic 63-62 to open season

As Red Devils freshman Abbi Mader dropped a half-court shot at the final buzzer, the scoreboard may have shown that Mississinawa Valley escaped with a 63-62 victory over the Tippecanoe girls basketball team on Saturday. But it didn’t tell about the kind of game this was.

Tipp lost in the fifth game of the day at the Four Decade Tipoff Classic at Vandalia Butler, an event held to celebrate the history of girls basketball in the Dayton area. Tipp showed a lot of grit as they opened the season against the regional finalist Blackhawks.

“We went into the game and promised ourselves as a team, even if we didn’t play our best basketball, we would play together and play our hardest,” said first-year Tipp girls basketball coach Julian Grasso. “At times in the first half, we did not do that. I thought a little bit of that was just starting the season and playing a really good team who made it to the regionals last year. Blackhawks also have one of the best guards in the state as a senior.”

Things could not have started any worse for the Red Devils. They fell behind 11-0 in the opening two minutes of the game as MV senior Taylee Woodbury scored eight of the points. Woodbury is the reigning Player of the Year in Southwest Ohio and first-team all-state point guard.

“It was a little awkward for us at the beginning and it led to us maybe not doing our best, but we rallied at halftime,” Grasso said. “For all of that to happen and lose by one point, I was really proud of the girls.”

Tipp did settle down after falling behind early and with two minutes left in the first quarter. They had caught the Blackhawks 12-12 and the game would reset from there and become a first game where a lot of positives would happen.

“We just stuck to the game plan. Ella Combs just went in and had her confidence, defense and energy and changed the momentum of the game,” Grasso said. “Liv Hiser came off the bench and picked us up on the glass.”

Mississinawa Valley would retake a ten point lead midway through the second quarter and take the lead into halftime before the thrilling final two quarters.

“Abbi got her confidence going in the second half and she has a reputation of being a really good freshman player. She came into her first ever varsity action, and it took her a second to get comfortable,” Grasso said. “Once she did that, her and Courtney Post took turns trying to carry the load offensively in the second half.”

Down the stretch, it was truly anyone's game. Mississinawa Valley took a 55-53 lead with 3:17 left but just a minute later, the Red Devils grabbed the lead before Woodbury drained key free throws to give the Blackhawks a 58-56 lead with 1:20 left. They would never trail again.

Woodbury would then hit one of two free throws in the closing seconds to give MV a 62-59 advantage before Mader hit the game-ending halfcourt shot to make it a one-point game.

Woodbury finished with 23 to lead the Blackhawks while Emrick added 17 in the victory. Mader finished with 30 in her varsity debut including 23 in the second half. Post added 18 and Combs finished with six.

The Red Devils returned to Butler last night for their second game of the season, battling the Aviators in a huge MVL contest, then return home on Saturday morning against Greenville.