Merrillville girls win 68-51, Pirate boys win 61-55 over Crown Point in girls-boys basketball double-header

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
12-31-2009

CROWN POINT (51)  Kelly Gross 2-0-6, Courtney Kvachkoff 3-1-7, Kendall Brown 0-5-5, Madeline Moore 2-0-5, Hayley Bordui 1-0-2, Zarah Cecich 3-0-6, Lisa Kurth 1-4-6, Micheala Prough 7-0-14, Tori Connelly 0-0-0. TOTALS: 19 (10-19) 51.

MERRILLVILLE (68)  Raveen Murray 6-5-19, Bryonna Davis 5-2-12, Tracee Mitchelm 6-0-12, Lydia Hawkins 4-2-10, Jasmyne Miller 3-0-6, Bianca Blanchard 0-1-1, LaToya Reeves 0-0-0, Chambra Brown 0-0-0, Robin Wiliamson 0-0-0, Amanda Banashak 2-0-5, Mia Patikos 1-1-3, Jasmine Wade 0-0-0, Rasheeda Robinson 0-0-0. TOTALS: 27 (11-20) 68.

FREE THROWS:  CP (10-17, 58.8%) Kvachkoff 1-2, Brown 5-6, Moore 0-1, Kurth 4-7, Prough 0-1; MERRILLVILLE (11-20, 55%) Murray 5-8, Davis 2-4, Patikos 1-2, Hawkins 2-4, Blanchard 1-2.

REBOUNDS:  CP (28) Prough 8, Kvachkoff 5, Geisen 4, Cecich 4, Brown 3, Moore 2, Gross, Kurth; MERRILLVILLE (42) Mitchell 12, Hwkins 7, Banasak 4, Miller 4, Brown 4, Davis 3, Reeves 3, Wade 2, Murray, Williamson, Robinson

ASSISTS:  CP (9) Gross 4, Bordui 3, Connelly, Kvachkoff; MERRILLVILLE (11) Murray 4, Davis 2, Mitchell, Williamson, Brown, Hawkins, Mitchell.

STEALS: CP (9) Gross 6, Geisen 2, Joseph; MERRILLVILLE (17) Murray 3, Davis 5, Miller 3, Hawkins 2, Mitchell 2, Blanchard, Brown.

BLOCKS:  CP (1) Courtney Kvachkoff, Madeline Moore; MERRILLVILLE (5) Tracie Mitchell 2, Raveen Murray.

TURNOVERS:  CP 13-3-5-2 (23) MERRILLVILLE 4-2-5-9 (20).

3-GOALS:  CP (3) Kelly Gross 2, Madeline Moore; MERRILLVILLE (3) Raveen Murray 2. Amanda Banashak.

CROWN POINT (55)  Sean Crary 4-2-11, Jared Smoot 1-3-5, Michael Albrecht 4-5-16, Evan Langbehn 6-3-15, Dejan Stefanovic 3-1-8, Zak Bostian 0-0-0, Tony Patrick 0-0-0, Billy Brown 0-0-0, Jordan Jurasevich 0-0-0. TOTALS: 18 (14-20) 55.

MERRILLVILLE (61)  Brandon Clark 1-8-10, Christian Matthews 3-2-8, Jeremiah Jones 4-3-11, Rico Spikes 2-1-5, Ed Seay 4-4-12, Brandon Smith 2-2-6, Josh Hogan 2-0-4, Tokumbo Fashawe 1-0-2, Jason Simpson 0-3-3. TOTALS: 19 (23-32) 61.

FREE THROWS:  CP (14-20, 70%) Albrercht 5-7, Smoot 3-4, Crary 2-4, Langbehn 3-4, Stefanovic 1-1; MERRILLVILLE (23-32, 62.5%) Clark 8-9, Matthews 2-5, Jones 3-5, Spikes 1-5, Seay 4-6, Simpson 3-4, Smith 2-4.

REBOUNDS:  CP (21) Crary 5, Langbehn 4, Stefanovic 4, Albrecht 3, Smoot 2, Jurasevich 2, Patrick; MERRILLVILLE (26) Spikes 6, Seay 5, Jones 4, Matthews 4, Sampson 3, Clark 2, Smith, Fashawe.

STEALS:  CP (6) Crary 2, Langbehn 2, Stefaovic, Smoot; MERRILLVILLE (8) Clark 2, Matthews 2, Spikes 2, Smith, Simpson.

ASSISTS:  CP (7) Michael Albrecht 6, Sean Crary; MERRILLVILLE (9) Brandon Clark 5, Christian Matthews, Ed Seay, Brandon Smith, Josh Hogan.

BLOCKED SHOTS:  CP (5) Jared Smoot 4, Jordan Jurasevich; MERRILLVILLE (3) Ed Seay 2, Jeremiah Jones.

TURNOVERS:  CP (5-4-3-5) 17; MERRILLVILLE (4-1-6-5) 16.

3-GOALS:  CP (5) Michael Albrecht 3, Sean Crary, Dejan Stefanovic; MERRILLVILLE (0).

FOULED OUT:  CP (1) Zak Bostian (4th Q) :18 left.

Free download of Crown Point Boys Basketball team statistics: CrownPoint_at_Merrillville_12-29-09.pdf ,  CrownPoint_at_Portage_01-02-10.pdf , CPSeasonStats_1st-9-games_01-02-10.pdf

MERRILLVILLE, IN (12-29-2009)  For Merrillville, these are the good, old days.  For CP, there's been better days.  And there could be better days again.  It was a purple Pirate holiday party Tuesday night as Merrillville defeated arch-rival Crown Point in a girls/boys double header 68-51 in the girls game and 61-55 in the boys contest.

As the calendar year 2009 came to a close, both the Merrillville girls and boys had perfect won-loss record.  It may be the first time in school history that has ever happened.

The home team jumped to a monster second quarter lead in both games, played in front of a Christmas break crowd of about 2,000 including many former players home for the holidays.  CP's boys rallied in the second half to make the contest very competitive.  CP's girls could not say the same thing.  Merrillville (11-0) totally dominated the Lady Bulldogs (7-6) for as long as coach Amy Govert left the first string on the floor.

"This league is tough," Govert said.  "I don't care what anybody says.  If we all played (a lot of games) outside the league, I don't know what would happen.  But playing teams two and three times every year is tough."

"In the first quarter tonight, we could hit a shot, but we still hustled.  Hustle creates turnovers.  To be 7-0 and undefeated halfway through the season, it makes you a target.  But you'd rather have it that way.  With all the injuries we've had, I couldn't ask for anything more from the girls."

Crown Point just didn't come off the Christmas holiday with any intensity.  They made 13 turnovers in the first quarter and were out rebounded 42-28 for the game by the smaller, faster Pirates.  Led by 5-foot-6 sophomore point guard Raveen Murray, the Pirates outscored CP 15-3 in the middle of the first half for a 23-10 lead.  Merrillville only had 11 assists on 27 baskets because many of their scores were offensive rebound lay ups.

New CP starter Michaela Prough, a 6-foot sophomore forward, scored when she got the ball inside and Kelly Gross had four steals in the final period, but CP could not stop Murray's dribble drives towards the basket and they never led.  The Lady Bulldogs are 6-0 in nonconference games and 1-6 in league play.

The Pirate-Bulldog boys game was headed in the same direction as Merrillville (8-0) led 32-17 in the first minute of the third quarter.  But the Pirates 'lost' CP leading scorer Michael Albrecht, who hit three, third quarter three-point baskets to cut the Merrillville lead to 34-26 with 5:10 left.  When the Pirate defense leaned on Albrecht, junior Sean Crary got loose for seven third quarter points and the Pirate lead was only 39-36 with 1:28 left.  But Merrillville was more careful with the ball in the fourth quarter, and when CP's fouls sent the Pirates to the foul line, senior Brandon Clark sank 6-of-6 free throws to hold off the 'Dogs.

At the start of the night, there was a question of whether a sub-.500 CP team could stay with the undefeated Pirates.  When the Bulldogs meet Merrillville the next two times (including a possible sectional match), CP will, at least know, they aren't overmatched.

"Let's not put us down for three meetings with them," smiled CP coach Clint Swan.  "We're only guaranteed to play them once more.  Our most important game is our next one at Portage next Friday.  That's how we're looking at it."

The match up of Crown Point's 6-foot-10 junior Jared Smoot and Merrillville's 6-foot-8 sophomore Ed Seay ended in a split decision for the Merrillville center.  Seay scored 12 points while Smoot sat half the game with foul trouble.  The Crown Point center blocked four shots and altered a few more, but he was not one of three Bulldogs starters who scored in double figures.

DOG NOTES:  There was a disturbance in the stands in the final minute of the CP-Merrillville boys game.  Harsh words were spoken among what appeared to be a group of parents rooting for the rival schools.  No punches (or any other objects) were thrown.  One parent was escorted out of the gym and the game was completed.  As police officers tried to calm the rowdy fans, players on both teams stopped playing (the Pirates were at the foul line) and looked up in the stands.  Crown Point coach Clint Swan pulled his team off the floor and sent them to the locker room, a move that seemed to anger game officials, who re-started the game immediately even though the entire CP team had not come back to the bench.

Swan didn't want to comment on the situation, but a coach can't just stand there while his boys are looking at a disturbance in the stands where their parents are sitting.  One cup of Pepsi gets thrown and here comes 10 boys up into the crowd to protect their relatives.  Game officials may have thought the disturbance was not worth players going to the locker room (officials from both schools headed into the crowd to calm the bickering adults) but that's not their call to make.  The head coach is responsible for his players and Swan made sure that if there was going to be a fight, none of his boys would not be involved in it.

It should be noted that the spectator dispute involved adults only.  There were no hard fouls during the game, which was not unusually physical for a Duneland Conference game.

Boys with Gary West Side and Bowman Academy jackets were visible in the crowd during the double-header.  Neither school plays Merrillville or Crown Point, but the West Side boys could see the Pirates or Bulldogs in the Michigan City Regional in March.

Merrillville's girls are 11-0 playing without starting players Melanie Stubbs and Latoi Merriweather, who both have serious injuries.  Stubbs is out for the season and Merriweather is still weeks away from returning.

"Melanie was our second leading scorer," said Govert.  "Toi was our defensive stopper.  She just began practicing again, but her knee is now strong enough to play."

One of the problems with the girls-boys double-headers is that fans treat the first game like it was a junior varsity contest, walking around aimlessly and standing in front of seated fans.

2010 CROWN POINT Bulldogs (3-4)
Coach: Clint Swan - 44-24 (4th year) -- 15-8 (2009), 17-7 (2008), 12-9 (2007)
...all games begin with JV game at 6 p.m.
Nov. 28 (W) 41-39 Hanover Central (6-1)
Dec. 4 (L) 43-65 at LaPorte (7-2)
Dec. 8 (W) 70-51 at Morton (0-6)
Dec. 11 (L) 47-53 (OT) Lake Central (3-2)
Dec. 15 (L) 51-66 Valparaiso (8-0)
Dec. 18 (L) 47-53 at Michigan City (3-3)
Dec. 22 (W) 69-62 Griffith (6-2)
Dec. 29 (L) 55-61 at Merrillville (8-0)

Jan. 2 (Sat) at Portage (2-8)
Jan. 8 (Fri) Chesterton
Jan. 15 (Fri) at Lake Central
Jan. 22 (Fri) Michigan City
Jan. 23 (Sat) at East Chicago
Jan. 29 (Fri.) at Valparaiso
Jan. 30 (Sat) Boone Grove
Feb. 5 (F) Merrillville
Feb. 11 (Thurs) LaPorte
Feb. 19 (Fri.) Portage
Feb. 20 (Sat.) at Lowell
Feb. 26 (Fri.) at Chesterton

Michigan City (4A) Sectional
March 2 (Tu.) quarterfinals
March 5 (Fri) semifinals
March 6 (Sat) championship

Michigan City (4A) Regional
March 13 (Sat.) semifinals (a.m.)
March 13 (Sat.) championship (p.m.)

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