Tipp uses fast start to cruise past Greenville

Coming off a big win on senior night, the Tippecanoe girls basketball team had a makeup home game on Wednesday as Greenville came to town. The Red Devils closed out the regular season with a 55-18 win against the Green Wave to earn program win 998 with the postseason now upon us. 

Abbi Mader led the Red Devils with 21 points and Mady Turner added 16 in the win. Liv Hiser was just shy of double figures with eight.

Tipp now prepares for their tournament run with a game tomorrow night at Springfield High School, 7:30 against Bellefontaine, who was 3-18 as of last weekend. 

“This is my third year as head coach and it is not easy (with a new coach), but they gave it everything they had,” Tipp coach Brett Kopp said about the seniors playing their final game on the home court. “Some of them could have used the excuse that it was a long volleyball season, but they didn’t. They were all bought in and showed good leadership. I am excited for the next few weeks, however many we have left.”

Tipp bolted out to a 17-0 lead after the opening period, giving them four consecutive shutout quarters. They held Fairborn scoreless over the final three quarters on Monday, then one more quarter on Wednesday. Tipp had plenty of people get involved in the attack, as Turner scored eight points in the opening quarter. Mader added four.

Greenville finally broke the scoreless run by the Tipp defense with a three early in the second period and actually competed much better in the second period, only outscored 9-7 in the eight minutes. 

With Tipp leading 26-7 at the half, Tipp went on a 7-0 run in the third period and ended the quarter with threes from Mader and Turner to take a 42-17 lead to the fourth.

Tipp nearly pulled off another shutout quarter, only allowing Greenville one point. They got the game to a running clock as Hiser reeled off six points in the opening two minutes, then put the game away.

“If we can defend with a purpose, we will be really tough to beat, but we have to get back to some of the things that we did,” Kopp added. “Some of the teams we play will be able to expose something if we aren’t on our game fundamentally.”