Lady Bulldogs begin season 4-0 with 72-46 DAC win at Chesterton in Girls Basketball

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
11-26-2011

Crown Point's Courtney Kvachkoff (20) tries to slow up Chesterton's Sarah Richards (10) in last Fridays' DAC game in Chesterton. (All photos by Mark Smith)

CP's Kendall Brown (31) starts a fast break at Chesterton. Brown had 14 points and five assists in CP's 72-46 win.

Chesterton's Kelly Braun (21) tries to get around CP's Morgan Frame (32) during Friday's game in Chesterton. Frame came off the bench to grab 14 rebounds.

Crown Point coach Anne Equihua and Chesterton's Lindsay Gorman strike the same pose as they watch the action Friday in Chesterton. Gorman played through a broken nose and led the Trojans with 16 points.

Crown Point's Abby Kvachkoff (30) and Kendall Brown (31) share the ball in the backcourt in CP's 72-46 win at Chesterton Friday. (All photos by Mark Smith)

Teammate Taylor Equihua (34) watches as Courtney Kvachkoff (20) breaks away for a layup late in the game. Courtney (16) and Abby Kvachkoff (11) combined for 27 points.

Crown Point's Alexis Joseph (40) seems to be asking 'Just what is a foul?' as Chesterton's Caroline Puntillo (15) covers her Friday night in Chesterton.

Chesterton coach Jack Campbell knows his girls can't do much about CP's rebounding advantage in last week's DAC matchup. CP had 48 rebounds to just 16 for Chesterton. (All photos by Mark Smith)

CROWN POINT (72) Michaela Prough 3-3-9, Alexis Joseph 2-3-7, Courtney Kvachkoff 5-6-16, Abby Kvachkoff 5-0-11, Kendall Brown 5-2-14, Morgan Frame 3-1-7, Taylor Equihua 4-0-8, Beth Ingram 0-0-0, Katija Tarailo 0-0-0. TOTALS: 27 (13-17) 72.

CHESTERTON (46) Sarah Richards 3-0-7, Carline Puntillo 4-7-15, Jocelyn Lipscomb 2-0-5, Lindsay Gorman 4-6-15, Hannah McCafferty 1-0-2, Kelly Braun 1-0-2, McKenzie Sullivan 0-0-0, Annette Frank 0-0-0, Kelsey Conway 0-0-0. TOTALS: 15 (13-22) 46.

FREE THROWS: CROWN POINT (15-19, 78.9%) Prough 3-4, Joseph 3-3, Brown 2-2, Frame 1-2, Equihua 0-1, C Kvachkoff 6-7. CHESTERTON (13-24, 54.1%) Puntillo 7-10, Gorman 6-14.

REBOUNDS: CROWN POINT (48) Frame 14, Joseph 8, Equihua 7, Brown 7, C. Kvachkoff 6, A. Kvachkoff 3, Prough 3. CHESTERTON (16) Braun 5, Puntillo 4, Gorman 3, Lipscomb 3, Frank.

ASSISTS: CROWN POINT (14) Kendall Brown 6, Courtney Kvachkoff 3, Abby Kvachkoff 2, Morgan Frame, Katija Tarailo, Beth Ingram. CHESTERTON (7) Jocelyn Lipscomb 3, Lindsay Gorman 2,Caroline Puntillo, Kelsey Conway.

STEALS: CROWN POINT (6) Courtney Kvachkoff 3, Kendall Brown, Michaela Prough; CHESTERTON (7) Jocelyn Lipscomb 3, Caroline Puntillo 2, Kelly Braun, Sarah Richards.

3-GOALS: CROWN POINT (5) Abby Kvachkoff 3, Kendall Brown 2; CHESTERTON (2) Lindsay Gorman, Jocelyn Lipscomb.

The Lady Bulldogs led all the way and won by 26 over a team that had won its first two games 75-39 and 60-39.

"Their size is a big factor," said Chesterton coach Jack Campbell. "We couldn't get the ball. They had 26 offensive rebounds."

The Lady Bulldogs, who start four players (Michael Prough, Alexis Joseph, guards Kendall Brown and Abby Kvachkoff) who are all listed at 6-foot or taller, out-rebounded the much smaller Trojans 48-16.

Leading 8-7, CP started a 17-3 run with Brown scoring 12 first half points. The Lady Bulldogs passed the ball very well.

Crown Point's big focus with the injury loss of junior guards Haley Bordui and Sarah Rivich is the guard position. Senior starters Kendall Brown (14 points, five assists) , Courtney Kvachkoff (16 points, three steals) and reserve Beth Ingram are the only remaining guards on the roster. Everybody who plays CP is going to pressure them in the back court, but that did not work for Chesterton as CP committed a relatively low 15 turnovers.

"Courtney and Kendall both did a job of getting the ball up the floor," said CP coach Anne Equihua. "Kendall plays the point most of the time, but our outlet situation is, which ever one of them gets it they push the ball up the floor. They do a great job of reading each other offensively and defensively."

Coach Equihua moved sophomore Abby Kvachkoff into the starting lineup, replacing 5-foot-11 forward Morgan Frame. Kvachkoff scored 11 points, her third consecutive double figure scoring game. Frame came off the bench to grab 14 rebounds. CP has so many tall forwards, it's clear they're going to match up according to who the Lady Bulldogs play.

"That was because she's a good three-point shooter," said coach Equihua. "We figured Chesterton plays a lot of zone. Abby gives us another outside shooter."

CP also got good bench play from 5-foot-11 junior Taylor Equihua. The coach's daughter had eight points and seven rebounds. Coach Equihua seems a little hesitant to praise her daughter publicly, but if she stopped talking about folks who are related to her (coach Equihua is Abby and Courtney Kvachkoff's aunt), she wouldn't be able to say anything about a quarter of the team.

"Taylor did a great job coming off the bench," said Equihua. "I know that's a mom moment for me. I've got to keep that under control. But Taylor knows her role. She's basically going to come in, rebound and box out. Tonight she made a few baskets for us, too."

Chesterton scoring leader Lindsay Gorman had an interesting night. After scoring 30 and 29 in her first two games, Gorman, a 5-foot-9 senior, had to go to the bench with a bloody nose in the second quarter. Trainers quickly stopped the bleeding, but Gorman, who wears number 20, ran into the locker room and borrowed a new jersey (number 30) so she could return to the game. Facing a 6-foot defender all night, the Chesterton senior scored 15 even though she was only 6-of-12 from the line.

"We had some girls on the JV team pretend to be her all week," said CP's Courtney Kvachkoff. "She's been shooting 'lights out' for the last couple of games so we came in prepared. We wanted the other four girls on the floor to beat us."

"She's a tough girl," said Campbell of Gorman. "I think she got an elbow at the foul line. The first two games, we really shot the ball well. But we missed some early in the game and then we started to force some stuff. We couldn't stop the bleeding."

"Their seniors did a good job. Kvachkoff is a good ball handler. So is Brown. But they (CP) have got a lot of size. Prough, she's going to play at Evansville. She's 6-foot-1. The other girl (Alexis Joseph) is 6-foot."

Campbell and assistant coach Fred Mitchell will definitely cook up some defensive strategies for the next CP-Chesterton meeting next month. In the Duneland Conference' s double round robin schedule everybody plays everybody twice.

"If we have the ball, they can't score," smiled Campbell. "That's the best strategy we can come up with."

CPLB NOTES: This is the fourth time in eight years that CP has won the first four games of a basketball season. The Lady Bulldogs were also 4-0 last season.

Coach Anne Equihua reported that junior guard Sarah Rivich had knee surgery in Indianapolis on November 21. She was not with the team Friday. Rivich, named an all-state soccer player last month, will not play basketball this season, but hopes to be able to play soccer next fall.

"It's going to kill her to have to sit out and watch," said Equihua, "but this is what's best for her."

After two weeks of the season, Crown Point, Michigan City and Merrillville were all tied at the top of the league with 2-0 records. Crown Point hosts Michigan City (4-0, 2-0 DAC) the night of Friday, Dec. 16 and they play a girls-boys double-header at Merrillville two days after Christmas on Tuesday, Dec. 27.

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Revised: December 01, 2011 .