Lady Bulldogs fall short at Chesterton, lose 35-30

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
11-25-2007

Friday, November 23, 2007 - Duneland Athletic Conference game at CHESTERTON, IN

CROWN POINT (30)  Maegen Maloney 3-0-7, Flori Garcia 0-2-2, Sydnee Reeves 1-0-2, Samantha Polus 3-0-6, Daniela Tarailo 2-0-4, Clare Grubnich 3-2-8, Abby Thomas 0-1-1, Jessica Martinez 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  12 (5-8) 30.

CHESTERTON (35)  Andrea Levrio 0-3-3, Jessica O'Brien 2-1-6, Morgan Palombizio 1-1-3, Rachel Crawford 2-0-4, Kathy McMannes 1-0-2, Abbe Skube 5-5-17, Amanda Gough 0-0-0, Dana Christensen 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 11 (10-18) 35.

FREE THROWS: CROWN POINT (5-8, 62.5%) Garcia 2-2, Thomas 1-2, Grubnich 2-2, Reeves 0-2. 
CHESTERTON (10-18, 55.5%) Levrio 3-4, O'Brien 1-4, Palombizio 1-1, Skube 5-7, Gough 0-2.

REBOUNDS: CROWN POINT (26) Tarailo 7,  Reeves 6, Grubnich 5,  Maloney 3, Thomas 3, Garcia 2; 
CHESTERTON (18) Skube 4, O'Brien 4, Gough 3, McMannes 3, Palombizio 2, Crawford, Levrio. 

STEALS:  CROWN POINT (7) Tarailo 3, Maloney 2, Garcia, Reeves; 
CHESTERTON (12) Skube 4, Gough 3, Palombizio 3, Levrio 2.

ASSISTS: CROWN POINT (8) Garcia 2, Tarailo 2, Reeves 2, Polus, Thomas;
CHESTERTON (9) Gough 4, O'Brien 2, Skube 2, Levrio.

3-GOALS:  CROWN POINT (1) Maegen Maloney; 
CHESTERTON (2) Abbe Skube 2, Jessica O'Brien.

CHESTERTON, IN (11-23-2007) -  It's good defense.  Changing defenses.  Half court and full court formations with people stopping people.  But it's not much to watch.  It's typical Chesterton-Crown Point.

"I don't know of a game Chesterton and Crown Point have played in the past 10 years that hasn't been ugly," said CP new coach and long time assistant coach Scott Reid.

But in the end it was a little uglier for the Lady Bulldogs, who lost on the road 35-30 in a Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) defensive struggle Friday night in Porter County.  The longer, taller Trojans were able to force Crown Point (2-3, 0-2 DAC) into 23 turnovers and that was the difference in a very slow, struggling game.  The difference in the game was 6-foot junior Abbe Skube who scored 17 points, including a three-point play with 52 seconds to go that put the Trojans ahead 32-30 after Maegen Maloney's jump shot gave the Lady Bulldogs their only lead of the game at 30-29 with 1:41 left.

CP had a good possession after that, but Maloney's shot would not fall and Skube added a foul shot with 18 seconds left.  Amanda Levrio sank two foul shots with 12 seconds left to ice the game.

"It was ugly," said Scott Reid.  "And I mean that as a compliment to Jack and Fred (Chesterton coach Jack Campbell and assistant coach and 'defensive coordinator' Fred Mitchell).  They're going to guard you and hopefully we're going to guard you so when you get open looks you've got to make them.  If you don't, you aren't going to win.  We still have a lot of kids who are going through this for the good time," said Reid.  "It's getting old to say that we're 'playing hard', but we are going to get better."

Crown Point's offense, which looked good and scored a lot of transition points in CP's first two games, has bogged down against better defensive teams that stopped them from getting the 'run outs' to score layups.  In the halfcourt, the Lady Bulldogs still sometimes pass the ball around the perimeter until it gets taken away from them.

"I want them to attack," Reid said.  "But I want them to attack to score.  Don't kick it out.  They're going to make mistakes and they're going to shoot bad shots, but they're going to keep coming."

If there was improvement for CP in the game it came in the middle on offense where both 5-foot-11 Samantha Polus and 5-11 junior back-up Clare Grubnich moved well in the lane, caught the ball and scored, combining for 14 points against a Chesterton team that had either 6-foot Abbe Skube or 5-10 Morgan Palombizio on the floor at all times.

"I was very happy with Clare Grubnich in the first half and Sam Polus in the sceond half.  She was battling with a tough post player (Skube).  We held Palombizio to one basket.  I told the kids this was an offensive loss, not a defensive loss."

"They have two Division I players," reported Campbell.  "One is a 6-foot-2 forward and the other's a 5-9 point guard.  Can they beat Washington?  I don't know.  Skyler (South Bend Washington star Skyler Diggins) causes so many problems."

Portage (4-0, 2-0) got a late basket from Gloria Hernandez to beat Merrillville 48-46.  Hanover Central plays at Crown Point on Dec. 15 and  after a 46-42 road win at Gavit Saturday, there is a significant chance Hanover will be 8-0 when they get to CP that night.