H.S. Girls Basketball: Boone Grove 60, River Forest 23

BOONE GROVE 60, River Forest 23
11-8-2005 (Season opener) at Hobart Township

BOONE GROVE (1-0) Jessica Dowdy 5-0-13, Jessica Fauser 3-0-7, Kelly Shurr 2-0-4, Amanda Spears 1-0-2, Kara Kessler 4-1-9, Kristyn Kessler 3-1-7, Cortney Flanigan 4-2-10, Brittney Roach 4-0-8.   TOTALS: 26(4-6) 60.
RIVER FOREST (0-1) Mikal Minarich 1-2-4, Kim Saklak 1-0-2, Angel Trinidad 0-0-0, Alyssa Trinidad 0-0-0, Amanda Russi 3-0-7, Cristal Cisneros 1-0-2, Maddy Hardin 1-0-2, Sovich 2-0-4, Sisk 1-0-2.    TOTALS: 10-2-23

REBOUNDS: Flanigan 9, ASSISTS: Flanigan 8, STEALS: Flanigan 6
3-GOALS: BOONE GROVE (4) Dowdy 3, Fauser;  RIVER FOREST (1) Amanda Russi.

BOONE GROVE (2-0) Jessica Dowdy 4-0-9, Jessica Fauser 4-1-9, Kelly Shurr 3-0-6, Amanda Spears 1-4-6, Kara Kessler 3-3-9, Kristyn Kessler 1-0-2, Cortney Flanigan 6-5-19, Brittney Roach 2-4-8. TOTALS: 24 (17-19) 68
CALUMET (0-1) Nakia Finley 7-2-17, Aleshia Washington 1-1-3, Theresa Hunter (1-0-2, Tanita Bond 3-1-7, Lakeishia Walker 1-1-3, Mary Hunter 1-0-2, Chyna Kelley 1-0-2, Vicky Caldwell 1-0-2, Dominique Jackson 1-0-2. TOTALS : 17 (5-14) 40.

HEBRON (0-1) Lauren Kalis 3-3-10, Heidi Freund 2-0-4, Cindi Boricich 3-1-7, Courtney Robinson 4-5-13, Jessica Sheets 6-7-19, Molly Marshall 0-0-0, Kelly Kraker 0-0-0. Taylor Asher 0-0-0. TOTALS: 18 (16-32) 53
ANDREAN (1-0) Meagan Stickler 2-4-8, Val Tyburski 7-2-20, Michelle Hynes 3-0-8, Amy Blane 2-0-4, Suzanne Cunningham 2-5-9, Rachel McGinty 5-0-10, Courtney Pishkur 2-0-6. TOTALS: 23 (11-17) 65

3-GOALS: HEBRON (1) Kalis; ANDREAN (8) Tyburski 4, Hynes 2, Pishkur 2.
FOULED OUT: Amy Blane (W)

Junior guard Courtney Flanigan #23 will be called upon to direct the Lady Wolves attack this year.

Sophomores Kelly Shurr #12, Amanda Spears #14 and Kristyn Kessler #22 on court at River Forest, 11-8-2005.

Senior Kara Kessler #20will be an inside presence for the Lady Wolves this year.

GARY (11-11-2005) - Boone Grove will not go 21-2 this season as they did last year. That type of year does not come along very often at a small Class 2A school. But it is obvious after the first weekend that Boone will finish the 2006 campaign with a winning record. Junior guard Cortney Flanigan scored 19 points Friday night and the Wolves jumped up to 2-0 after two road games in the new season with a 68-40 rout of Calumet.

The Wolves raced to a 26-9 first quarter lead as Flanigan, who had 19 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in the season opening 60-23 win over River Forest on Nov. 8, added six assists and two steals Friday.

Coach Candy Wilson was pleased, but she wanted to wait a little while before getting too happy.

"Good start," she said. "Our scrimmage (against Rensselaer) didn't go quite as well. We're young and we played young. They're good . We're coming along."

It's hard to judge wins over River Forest and Calumet, who were a combined 16-27 last year. You don't know whether the margins of victory say more about the vanquished or the victor. Wilson knows she has to build the confidence of this team, which returned only two starters (Kara Kessler and Flanigan) from last season.

"We were jittery the other night," she said. "On top of playing a hard team. We're going to be 'peaks and valleys, peaks and valleys.' When you're young that happens. We're definitely not at the speed we were last year."

The biggest positive Friday was foul shooting. The Wolves made 17 of 19 from the line after just 4-of-6 in the opener. What the Wolves need now is a close game and they'll get that either Friday (Nov. 18) in the home opener against Knox or Saturday in the Porter County Conference (PCC) opener against arch-rival Hebron.

Boone Grove begins the season with just eight varsity players and most of them are guards and small forwards. Only Kara Kessler and 5-9 junior Brittney Roach can remotely be called centers. But that could be enough with Flanigan and soph guard Jessica Dowdy, who should form a top team in the backcourt.

"I'd rather have a team of guards than a team of forwards," says Wilson, who was a guard at Chesterton in the 1980s. "We only had one big girl when I played."

"I tell her to shoot the ball," said Wilson. "She only had one outside shot the other night (at Rensselaer). I told her that if she's not shooting, someone else is. I want her to shoot a lot."

That's not going to be a major problem.

BOONE NOTES: 2002 Boone graduate Heather Moy is the new junior varsity coach for the Wolves even though she's still in college.

"I was at school in Bloomington," she explained, "and I transferred to go to the nursing school up here. Coach called and she said, I hear you're in school up here. I need a freshman coach. I said 'OK.' We had a different JV coach and she ended up resigning. She said, 'Do you want to move up?"

Moy is 0-2 so far, but Boone has four sophomores on the varsity so JV wins are going to be scarce this season. The job of the JV coach is to get players ready for the varsity. The former Boone forward will have to adjust to some very young players.

"I want to go in," she says. "I cant do anything about what's going on. I'll get the hang of it. It's so different. We just have to work on fundamentals. That's all there is to it."

Upcoming foe Hebron is 0-2 but they have looked good in a 65-53 loss to Andrean and a 47-35 loss to Crown Point Friday. Knox (0-1) got beat 56-29 by powerful Winamac Friday night.

CLASS	SECTIONAL	JOHN HARRELL'S INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL		GIRLS' SEASONS
2A	33	E-MAIL CORRECTIONS	MAP TO SCHOOL	2-0
2A	33	TOURNAMENT HISTORY		2-0
BOONE GROVE WOLVES Coach: Candy Wilson, 106-72 in 9th year at school

DATE	OPPONENT	RESULT / CST	OA 64.0, DA 31.5
Nov. 8	at River Forest {1A}	W 60- 23
Nov. 11	Calumet {3A}	W 68- 40
Nov. 18	Knox {3A}	7:00 pm
Nov. 19	Hebron {1A}‡	7:30 pm
Nov. 22	at LaCrosse {1A}‡	7:00 pm
Nov. 29	Kankakee Valley {3A}	7:30 pm
Dec. 8	at Washington Twp. {1A}‡	7:00 pm
Dec. 10	at Crown Point {4A}	7:30 pm
Dec. 13	Kouts {1A}‡	7:00 pm
Dec. 15	Morgan Twp. {1A}‡	7:00 pm
Dec. 22	South County Tournament		through Dec. 23
Jan. 3	North Newton {2A}	7:00 pm
Jan. 5	at South Central (Union Mills) {1A}‡	7:00 pm
Jan. 11	at Lake Station {2A}	7:00 pm
Jan. 12	Wheeler {2A}	7:30 pm
Jan. 16	Porter County Conference Tournament		through Jan. 21
Jan. 26	at Hanover Central {2A}‡	7:00 pm
Feb. 2	North Judson {2A}	6:30 pm
‡PORTER COUNTY CONFERENCE GAME

Varsity coach Candy Wilson is in her 9th year

JV Coach Heather Moy

Freshman coach Angie Aquino

Lady Wolves open basketball season with wins over River Forest 60-23, Calumet 68-40

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith