Indians outscore Vikings 23-9 in third quarter

VALPARAISO | After getting off to a slow start, the Lake Central Indians came out in the second half ready to play Tuesday night. They outscored Valparaiso 23-9 in the third quarter and would defeat the Vikings 52-41.

"I told them they needed to play their game," Lake Central coach Leslie Iwema said. " I told them to focus on playing our kind of basketball and playing good defense, and put pressure on their (Valparaiso's) guards, and take of business."

The Indians started the third quarter with a 9-3 run, and took a lead at 25-24 after a Jessica Bell layup with 5:30 left to go in the third. Bell was one of three Indians to score in double figures, and scored nine of her 12 points in the second half.

Valparaiso never led after that, but kept it within three until a Nikki Adams jumper put the Indians up 34-27. Adams scored 18 points and had six rebounds during the game.

"Nikki did a great job handling contact and the ball, I was impressed with her ball handling skills when she would attack the basket after a couple of skills, and she did a good job finishing," Iwema said.

The Indians (9-9, 5-7) defense kept the Vikings to 5-of-17 shooting and 7-of-16 from the 3-point line. The Indians also had six steals.

"I was really happy with our defense, we were out in passing lanes putting pressure on people," Iwema said. "I was proud of our kids that the responded to the adjustment we made to get the ball to our post players. We did what we needed to do to win."

The Vikings started the game off strong, taking a 12-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. Lake Central battled back in the second, trailing 21-18 at halftime.

"I loved the way we battled, the competition with our kids, the way they just battled during the whole game, it was awesome to see," Valparaiso coach Jeanette Gray said.

During the fourth quarter, Lizzie Seymour's free throws with less than two minutes left put the Indians up by 11 at 48-37. Seymour scored led the Indians with 20 points, and scored 18 of those in the second half.

"We talked before the game about possession by possession. We had to get a stop and then get a score, just the simple basketball things, and they did that for a little bit in the second half," Gray said. "Lake Central had a little more firepower."

Kassie Feczko led the Vikings (4-13, 2-10) with 13 points, and Amber Klein added 12.