Lady Bulldogs overcome taller LaPorte 60-50 in DAC opener

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
11-28-2015

Crown Point's 5-foot-5 Mya Scheidt (23) tries to compensate for a lack of height against LaPorte's 5-foot-11 Abby Vaughn last Friday at Crown Point. LaPorte has eight varsity players who stand 5-foot-10 or taller. (All photos by Mark Smith)

Crown Point's Hannah Albrecht (11) charges up the floor past LaPorte's Kate Ulmer (44) in last Friday's DAC game. CP rallied from a 23-23 halftime tie for a 60-50 win.

CP's Caitlin Phillips (10) tries to deflect a pass from LaPorte's Jocelyn Coburn (42) last Friday in Crown Point. CP was 21 of 34 from the foul line in a 60-50 win.

CP' sophomore Mya Scheidt (23) fires an off balance pass to the corner after dribbling through the LaPorte defense. CP was 7-of-24 on three point shots in the win over LaPorte.

Crown Point junior Sydney Taylor (14) looks to keep LaPorte's Savannah Vaughn (30) from making a positive pass. Taylor scored 13 in CP's victory over the Slicers.

Crown Point's Hannah Albrecht (11) gets special attention Abby Vaughn (22) in the LaPorte-Crown point game last Friday. Albrecht gets an out of town 'buddy' during each and every Lady Bulldog game.

CP's Sydney Taylor (14) blocks the view of LaPorte's 5-foot-6 Riley Ott (10) in last week's DAC game in Crown Point. CP improved their won-loss record to 4-2.

Crown Point's Kennedy Krutz (21) scores over the defense of LaPorte sisters Savannah (30) and Abby Vaughn (22) last Friday in Crown Point. The Slicers were 4-2 before last Friday's 60-50 loss.

Crown Point coaches Andrew Gross and Chris Seibert join Sydney Taylor watching free throws during last week's game. The Lady Bulldogs were 21 of 34 from the foul line in a 60-50 victory.

Many of us were not aware that last Friday's Crown Point-LaPorte basketball game was going to be broadcast by ESPN. Rarely has there been so much high profile broadcast talent in the same building. (All photos by Mark Smith)

Copyright © 2015 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved. Revised: December 11, 2015 .

Team /Record	1	2	3	4	Final
LaPORTE (4-2)	9	14	13	14	50
CROWN POINT (4-2)	11	12	22	15	60

Friday, November 27, 2015 - Duneland Athletic Conference game at CROWN POINT, IN

LaPORTE (50) Riley Ott 3-3-9, Jocelyn Coburn 4-0-8, Savannah Vaughn 5-3-14, Abby Vaughn 4-2-10, Kate Ulmer 2-0-4, Karson Williams 1-2-5, Olivia West 0-0-0, Kimani Woodard 0-0-0. TOTALS: 19 (10-14) 50.

CROWN POINT (60) Sydney Taylor 5-3-13, Hannah Albrecht 2-10-15, Katie Pawlowski 1-3-6, Kennedy Krutz 1-0-2, Andrea Kutemeier 1-0-2, Megan Morgan 2-2-8, Mya Schiedt 4-3-14, Jessica Barclay 0-0-0. TOTALS: 16 (21-34) 60.

FREE THROWS: LaPORTE (10 of 14, 71.3%) Savannah Vaughn 3-6, Abby Vaughn 2-2, Ott 3-4, Williams 2-2, CROWN POINT (21-35, 60.0%) Hannah Albrecht 10-10, Sydney Taylor 3-8, Mya Scheidt 3-4, Megan Morgan 2-4. Pawlowksi 3-7.

REBOUNDS: LaPORTE (30) Ulmer 9, Coburn 5, Savannah Vaughn 5, Abby Vaughn 3, Ott 3, Williams 3, West 2, ;
CROWN POINT (20) Albrecht 7, Taylor 4, Kutemeier 2, Pawlowski 2, Barclay , Scheidt 2, Morgan 2.

ASSISTS: LaPORTE (10) Savannah Vaughn 5, Abby Vaughn 3, Jocelyn Coburn, Olivia West: CROWN POINT (10) Albrecht 4, Pawlowski 3, Taylor , Scheidt , Morgan.

BLOCKED SHOTS: LaPORTE (3) Karson Williams, Savannah Vaughn, Abby Vaughn; CROWN POINT (0) .

3-GOALS: LaPORTE (2) Savannah Vaughn, Karson Williams CROWN POINT (7) Mya Scheidt 3, Megan Morgan 2, Katie Pawlowksi, Hannah Albrecht.

FOULED OUT: LaPORTE (1) Jocelyn Coburn (4th Q) :28 left.

Then here comes LaPorte (4-2) and, while the Slicers top two guards transferred out of LaPorte after last year, the LaPorte County team still has 5-fot-11 twins Abby and Savannah Vaughn plus 6-foot Kate Ulmer and 6-foot-1 Jocelyn Colburn.

But maybe CP got used to tall company.

Finally the Bulldogs topped a tall team last Friday, pulling away in the third quarter for a 60-50 win over the Slicers in the 2015-2016 Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) opener for both schools.

The game was tied 23-23 at the half but CP (4-2) began the second half with a 14-4 run. Sophomore Mya Scheidt scored eight of the 14 points and Hannah Albrecht passed out three assists during the deciding five minutes.
Despite 24 points from the Vaughn sisters, LaPorte would not get closer than seven points in the fourth quarter.

“We’re going to play certain style,” said new CP coach Chris Seibert. “We want to get open shots and shoot the ‘3’. We really didnt change anything from the first half to the second half.

“Mya really took advantage of her opportunities and set up chances for teammates. The more people we get involved in the offense the more difficult it will be for teams to defense us.”

LaPorte played a half court trapping defense with its taller players and CP was able to sink only six field goals.

“We got a lot of wide open three-pointers,” said Seibert. “We didn’t just make them. We told our kids at halftime to keep shooting them and attack the basket when you have the chance.”

How do you practice against taller players when you don’t have any taller players? You go find some tall practice dummies.

“We bring in boys,” smiled Seibert. “We’ve had our coaches play. We do anything we can to try to simulate that. They (the Slicers) are so physical. After played EC on Tuesday night, it did prepare us a little for this.”

Even though she took only seven shots from the field and made just two, this might have been the best game I’ve seen Hannah Albrecht play. Against larger players all night, the 5-foot-8 senior had 15 points, seven rebounds, five steals and four assists against physical defense. She also was 10 of 10 from the foul line and made just two turnovers.

“The big thing with Hannah is that she’s such a complete player,” said Seibert. “She affects the game in so many ways. Steals, Rebounds. Assists. She understands that if she’s getting chased, somebody else has to be open. She’s mentally tough and if teams want to foul her, we’ll take her going to the free throw line.”

CAT/DOG NOTES: Crown Point has a 6 p.m. varsity starting time for its Saturday Dec.12 game against undefeated Penn (7-0). The CP girls visit the new gymnasium at Lake Central (6-1) on Friday night, Dec, 18. CP’s game with undefeated Morton (6-0) is set for Tuesday, Jan. 5.

Hannah Albrecht (14.7 ppg.) is averaging 7.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 2.2 steals and 2.2 turnovers after six games. Sydney Taylor (17.2 ppg.) is averaging 7.7 rebounds and 2.3 steals.