Porter County Conference   -  Thursday, 12-11-2003 in Valparaiso

BOONE GROVE (64)  Danielle Jacobs 1-0-2, Becky Keller 4-0-9, Amanda Jenkins 0-0-0, Rachel Jenkins 0-0-0, Lani Marsh 3-0-6, Candace Wyatt 1-0-2, Cortney Flanigan 10-0-24, Karissa Walter 5-1-12, Sara Martinovich 2-1-5, Megan Dewell 2-0-4 Beth Uterfranz 0-0-0.   TOTALS: 28-2-64.

FTS: 2-5, 40.0 percent - Karissa Walter 1-2, Cortney Flanagan 0-1,  Sara Martinovich 1-2.
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (6) Cortney Flanigan 4, Karissa Walter, Becky Keller

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP (37)  Juli Doshan 2-1-5, Aimee Mishler 4-0-8, Ashley Taylor 5-1-13, Jen Smith 2-2-7, Kate Martin 1-0-2, Julie Nault 0-2-2.  TOTALS: 14-4-37.

FTS:  6-18, 33.3%  -  Doshan 1-2, Mishler 0-1, Smith 2-5, Martin 0-3, Taylor 1-3, Nault 2-5
FOULED OUT: Juli Doshan (5:18 left) 4th Q
3-POINT GOALS (2) Ashley Taylor

PORTER COUNTY CONFERENCE

                                    W - L     W - L
Boone Grove                           3   0      7     0
Kouts                                    1    0     3     3
South Central                                  1    0     1    3
Hanover Central                      1     1     1    4
Hebron                                  2    2     2    5
Washington Twp.                     1     2     4   4
Morgan Twp.                           0     1    3    4
LaCrosse                                0      3    0    7

Tuesday, Dec. 9
Washington Twp. 70, LaCrosse 43

Thursday, Dec. 11
Boone Grove 64, Washington Twp. 37
Rensselaer 50, Hebron 49
Westville 51, LaCrosse 31

Saturday, Dec. 13
Boone Grove at Crown Point, 7 pm
Hebron at South Bend Clay, 2:00 pm
LaCrosse at Hanover Central   1:30 pm
Morgan Twp. at Kouts   2:30 pm
River Forest at South Central  1:30 pm

Tuesday, Dec. 16
Boone Grove at Kouts 7:00 pm
Hanover Central at North Newton  7:30 pm
South Central (Union Mills) at Morgan Twp.  7:00 pm
Washington Twp. at Westville,  7:00 pm

Wednesday, Dec. 17
LaCrosse at Whiting  7:00 pm

Thursday, Dec. 18
Hanover Central at River Forest  7:30 pm
Morgan Twp. at Boone Grove  7:00 pm
South Central (Union Mills) at Hebron  7:00 pm

Saturday, Dec. 20
Hebron at Kouts  7:30 pm
LaCrosse at South Newton  2:30 pm

VALPARAISO (12-11-2003) -  It's good to be... Boone Grove.  At least for the time being.  Playing after a 10-day layoff and facing an outmanned, if spunky, foe, Class 2A No. 4 Boone Grove outran and outscored Washington Township in every period, scoring a decisive 64-37 victory in the Porter County Conference (PCC) Thursday night.

The Wolves, the defending PCC champs, continued to roll over all comers and the question now stands tall: are they ready for the next level?  The next level is a date Saturday night at Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) power Crown Point (5-2).

"We've got a tough one on Saturday and we've been preparing," said seventh year coach Candy Wilson. "Obviously the press is very tough but I played in the Duneland Conference. It's a different style. The referees call things a little different. It's a little more finesse. But we play all the Duneland teams over the summer. We've beaten them in the summer. I don't think they (Boone's girls) are afraid of them."

Boone exhibited all of their athletic full court game, expert ball handling and a notch above their usual low-rent jump shooting to dominate a Washington team that simply didn't have very many girls go out for the team this year.

The Senators (4-4) tried to overplay left-hander Karissa Walter (18.8 ppg.) to her right, forcing her to her off hand and preventing her from driving to the basket. The defensive 'game plan' was a passable success but Walter did have 12 points and eight assists in three quarters of the game. Boone's leading scorer didn't need to be a big scorer on this night.

Freshman Cortney Flanigan, a 5-5 guard who had scored just 32 points all season, scored 18 of her career-high 24 points in the first half, handling the ball well and showing a jump shot that no one else on her team has. Washington did not tightly guard Flanigan, a somewhat unknown freshman so it will be different for her at Crown Point as well.  But to score 24 points as a freshman point guard in a league game indicates a coming star.

A star coming off the bench, barring injury, for the remainder of this year.

"I like to have someone like that to bring off the bench," Wilson said. "If we didn't already have somebody at point guard, we all know she'd be starting. But we've got a lot of juniors who have played together. To start her ahead of one of them now would create some animosity, even if they like her.  I don't want to start her unless I have to and she's comfortable coming off the bench."

Washington coach Dustin Nelson didn't think his team actually stopped Walter and forced them to go to Flanigan.

"Karissa could have scored as many points as she wanted. We executed our game plan against her, but she could have done what she wanted. Boone is quicker, faster and stronger than we are. We have 11 girls in the program right now. There were some good things we did and when I watch the tape, I'll see them but I don't see many of them right now."

Other than a 67-64 overtime win over Class 3A Calumet, no team has come within 18 of Boone Grove. But the Wolves schedule is one of the weakest in the state and it will be an adjustment for them to play a perennial big school power that has lost only to Chesterton (5-1) and Warsaw (4-1) and is unbeaten at home.

"It'll be fun," said Wilson.
   
WOLF NOTES: Boone senior Rachel Jenkins twisted her knee late in the game and did not return. "I don't know," she said later. "Its the same knee I hurt two years ago."  Jenkins and 5-10 Lani Marsh are the only experienced low post players that Boone has. "The thing is, Crown Point doesn't have any big post players. Rachel had her best game last year against Crown Point. Hopefully, it was just tissue. I saw Angie Bush (Morgan Township) do the same thing last week and she came right back. She said she heard it pop but I told her, you're walking on it. You know how it felt before."

Boone owns the PCC 'Cup' a bizarrely decorated beer stein that is a PCC traveling trophy. Boone won it from Hebron early last season and has not lost it since. It's hard to hold the 'Cup', because there are 7 PCC regular season games, 2 more South County Tournament games and 3 more Porter County Conference (PCC) teams.
       
There is still no matchup announced for the South County Tournament at Hebron on Dec. 22-23. It is assumed that Hebron and Boone, arch rivals, will not meet in the first round. Boone's game at Wheeler (8-3) on Jan. 3 is growing larger in stature. Wheeler lost to Boone in the PCC finals last year and is in the final four in the PCC this year.   Crown Point, Calumet and Wheeler are the only teams on the Wolves schedule that had a winning record at the end of the week.

BOONE GROVE (7-0)
Coach Candy (7th seaon) 22-5 last season (2003)
Porter County Conference Games in all CAPS

Nov. 11: 82-20 River Forest
Nov. 14:  67-64 (OT) Calumet
Nov. 15:  67-49 HEBRON
Nov. 21:  73-33 Knox
Nov. 25: 84-25 at LaCROSSE
Dec. 2:  64-42 Kankakee Valley
Dec. 11: 64-37 at WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP
Dec. 13: at Crown Point 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 16: at KOUTS 7:00 p.m.
Dec. 18: MORGAN TOWNSHIP 7:00 p.m.

South County Tournament  (at Hebron)
Dec. 22:  Semifinals - 6:00 p.m.
Dec. 23:  Championship - 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 3: at Wheeler 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 6: North Newton 7:00 p.m.
Jan. 8: at SOUTH CENTRAL 7:00 p.m.
Jan. 14: at Lake Station 7:00 p.m.

Porter County Conference Tournament (at Morgan Township)
Jan. 19 (M) PCC quarterfinals
Jan. 20 (Tu) PCC semifinals
Jan. 23 (F) PCC semifinals  -  6:00 p.m.
Jan. 24 (S) PCC championship (at Boone Grove) 6:00 p.m.

Jan. 29: at HANOVER CENTRAL 7:00 p.m.
Feb.  5: North Judson 6:30 p.m.

Hanover Central (2A) Sectional
Feb. 10: Quarterfinals 6:00 p.m.
Feb. 13: Semifinals 6:00 p.m.
Feb. 14: HC Sectional final game 7:30 p.m.

Rensselaer (2A) Regional
Feb. 21: Semifinals 11:00 a.m.
Feb. 21:  Championship 7:00 p.m.

Warsaw (2A) Semistate
Feb. 28  one game 12 noon or 2:00 p.m.

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