2A Regional goes to Rensselaer  in Girls High School Basketball A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith (2-22-2006)

 

Saturday, 2-18-2006 - Rensselaer Regional Semifinals

BOONE GROVE ( 41)  Jessica Fauser 2-0-4, Kelly Shurr 1-0-3, Kara Kessler 4-5-13, Kristyn Kessler 1-0-2, Jessica Dowdy 3-0-9, Cortney Flanigan 3-3-10, Brittney Roach 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 14 (8-13) 41.

RENSSELAER (45)  Amy Streitmatter 3-0-8, Shayna Hesson 1-3-5, Courtney Meyer 1-10-12, Reagan Kanne 6-0-12, Ashley Lawrence 1-0-2, Allison Malone 1-0-2, Jenna Rodibaugh 0-0-0, Andrean Streitmatter 0-0-0, Trisha Justice 0-0-0, Chelsea Watt 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 15 (13-17) 45.

FIELD GOALS:  BOONE (8-13, 61.5%) Kessler 5-8, Flanigan 3-5.  RENSSELAER (13-17, 70.5%) Meyer 10-10, Hesson 3-7.

REBOUNDS:  BOONE (21) Flanigan 9, Kara Kessler 4, Kristyn Kessler 5, Fauser 2, Roach;  RENSSELAER (13) Kanne 3, Meyer 4, Amy Streitmatter 3, Lawrence 2, Hesson.

STEALS: BOONE (8) Flanigan 2, Fauser, Dowdy,  RENSSELAER (9) Kanne 5, Meyer 2, Amy Streitmatter Lawrence

ASSISTS:  BOONE (8) Flanigan 5, Fauser, Spears, Kristyn Kessler;  RENSSELAER (10) Malone 6, Meyer, Lawrence, Hesson, Amy Streitmatter..

FOULED OUT: BOONE (2) Kristyn Kessler (4th Q) 3:23;  Kara Kessler (4th Q) :38.

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Feb. 18, 2006
Class 2A -   Rensselaer Regional
Rensselaer 45, BOONE GROVE 41;     Westview 60, North Montgomery 59.
Championship – Westview 56, Rensselaer 48.

Class 2A  - South Adams Regional
(FW) Harding 44, Prairie Heights 26,       Taylor 42, Manchester 41.
Championship – Harding 57, Taylor 48.

Class 2A  -    Batesville Regional
Heritage Christian 60, Shenandoah 31,        Southwestern (Hanover) 64, Union County 58.
Championship – Heritage Christian 56, Southwestern (Hanover) 37. 

Class 2A -  Forest Park Regional
North Knox 50, Monrovia 35;       South Spencer 36, Charlestown 34.
Championship – North Knox 46, South Spencer 44 (3-OT).

Semi-States 
Date: Saturday, Feb. 25.  -     Admission: $7.00.

 Northern Semistate Tournaments

at Elkhart Central (Northside Gym) 1 pm  (EST)
Class 2A -- Westview (23-3) vs. (FW) Harding (16-7).
Class 3A -- (SB) St. Joseph’s (22-2) vs. (FW) Bishop Luers (22-4).

at Plymouth 1 pm  (EST)
Class 1A -- Argos (22-4) vs. Lafayette Central Catholic (16-10).
Class 4A -- South Bend Washington (24-1) vs. Kokomo (23-2).

Southern Semistate Tournaments
at  Southport -   1 pm  (EST)
Game 1 -- A -- South Central (Elizabeth) (22-5) vs. Attica (23-2).
Game 2 -- 2A -- Heritage Christian (23-3) vs. North Knox (23-4).
at Jeffersonville -   1 pm  (EST)
Game 1 -- 3A -- Rushville (23-3) vs. Evansville Memorial (22-4).
Game 2 -- 4A -- Hamilton Southeastern (22-3) vs. Castle (23-3).

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RENSSELAER (2-18-2006)  I don't think this is the last time we will see this matchup.  Boone Grove will lose Kara Kessler and Rensselaer graduates senior starting forwards Reagan Kanne and Amy Streitmatter in 2006.  But these two are basically young teams, and even if they continue not to schedule each other during the regular season (they meet in a pre-season scrimmage annually), they will meet again.

Rensselaer beat Boone Grove 45-41 in the Class 2A Sectional 33 semifinals Saturday.  The Bombers, not surprisingly, then lost to a superior Westview team 56-48 in the regional championship game. 

"We held them to a decent score," said Boone coach Candy Wilson, "but we had to put a  few more points on the board."

This was a game that  Boone (14-10) would have had to have been lucky to win on Rensselaer's home floor against a more experienced and athletic team.  But after trailing 32-20 with 5:10 left in the third quarter, the Porter County Conference (PCC) champion Wolves made a game of it in front of 1,000 fans down in Jasper County.

Rensselaer did not have any great players, but they had balance that Boone Grove had not seen.  When the Wolves put a box-and-one defense on the 5-9 Courtney Meyer, the 5-10 Kanne scored 14 first half points.  Boone seemed afraid to be at the regional level and unable to perform in front of a large crowd.

But soon after the halftime break, the Wolves became more aggressive and mounted an 18-7 run, sparked by two three point shots from Jessica Dowdy, dramatically closing the gap.  Instead of passing off as she did much of the first half.  Junior guard Cortney Flanigan grabbed rebounds and pushed the ball up court by herself and changed the tide of the game.

"She was trying to get everybody involved," said Wilson, who understood why her leading scorer was a passer early on.

"If she goes one on one, it might backfire," said Wilson. "You get some officials who like to call offensive fouls.  She might get a couple of offensive fouls and then she's out of the game.  We wanted to get some continuity going on offense and if you shoot quickly, you're on defense immediately."

But Rensselaer missed some shots that kept Boone in the game and the Wolves turned the tide in that third quarter run.  When Kara Kessler scored on a pass from Flanigan with 3:45 to play, Rensselaer led 37-35. There were then two crucial calls.

Hesson missed the front end of a 1-and-1 foul shot opportunity and Flanigan brought the ball up the floor.  Cutting to her right, she collided with Malone and was called for an offensive foul with 2:54 left.  Had the call gone the other way, Flanigan, a 70% foul shooter, would have been shooting to tie the game.  After the game, there was discussion of whether it was truly an offensive foul.

"I don't know," said Malone. "I was sliding over there but she charged into me.  I'm not sure.  I'll say it was a charge."

Flanigan didn't come right out and say that the official call was wrong but others did.

"That was a terrible call," said Kristyn Kessler, who was called for a foul on what appeared to be a jump ball with 4:50 to play and fouled out with 3:23 to go.  "I had one too. That had been a jump ball all game."

With Rensselaer leading 41-38 and 56 seconds left, Kara Kessler was called for her fifth foul trying to screen for Dowdy, Boone's best three-point shooter.  Meyer hit two free throws with 35 seconds left and the game was out of reach.

"Two offensive fouls called within the last three minutes of the game," noted Wilson.  "That's a lot."

Boone missed three, three-point shots in the final 20 seconds when they might have gone for two.  But the game was probably gone by then.

"Some of our girls, their three-point percentage is better than their two," Wilson explained.  "Either way, you have to make two baskets there.  Is this one we could have won?  Yes.  But we've come so far, it would be crazy for me to say I was disappointed in these guys."

The Wolves return four starters next season. Sophs Kristyn Kessler, Fauser and Dowdy return for two more years along with 5-10 sophomore forwards Kelly Shurr and Amanda Spears.  With South Central, Washington Township, Hebron and Morgan Township graduating team leading scorers and vital players, Boone returns next season as the PCC favorite, a role that is a mixed blessing.  

Boone has won sectional titles in 2003 and 2006 when they were underdogs. They lost in 2004 and 2005 when they were favorites or co-favorites.

"These guys have grown up a lot," said Wilson.  "They've matured.  We've got some kids on the bench like Kelly Shurr.  She's gong to be a player once she gets her confidence.  You always go back in a game you lose like this, what you could have done."

"There are things I would like to have back.  I wanted to get 32 (Kanne) out of there and I needed to do something different.  We finally found something that worked."

REGIONAL NOTES:  Rensselaer coach Jeff Marlow called junior point guard Allison Malone "the best 2A point guard in the northern part of the state" in post-game comments.  Say what?  Coaches often boast about their own players.  Usually, they are sucking up to the players' parents.

Malone's athleticism is superior but her equal talent was not in evidence in the matchup with Boone Grove's Cortney Flanigan.  Malone played well defensively but she scored just two points on 1-of-4 shooting with six assists. She had no points and no assists in the second half.  Flanigan, who was 'marked' all over the floor alternately by 5-foot-7 juniors Malone and Shayna Hesson, was 3-of-12 from the floor for 12 points.  But Flanigan, who averaged 18 points a game over the second half of the season, also had nine rebounds and five assists and was the best player on the floor on either side.

Not only does Rensselaer return all but three seniors but Westview, 40-8 over the last two years, also has just one senior on the roster. Westview (23-3) also has 6-foot-1 (and still growing) center Tiffany Fisher, who scored 21 against North Montgomery and 16 more against Rensselaer.  

North Montgomery, which lost a 16-point lead and fell 60-59 to Westview in the semifinals, has only three seniors, including two starters.

Rensselaer got turnovers on eight consecutive Boone possessions in the second quarter when Boone went scoreless for 3-1/2 minutes. Rensselaer was 15 of 34 from the floor while Boone was 14 of 38.  The Bombers, a tall team for Class 2A and a good rebounding squad all season, had just 13 rebounds against Boone Grove, which is not an especially good backboard team.

Westview (23-3) shot 18 of 32 from the field and 17 of 20 from the foul line to beat Rensselaer (20-5) in the title game. The Bombers shot just 18 of 53 from the floor in the losing effort.