Lady Bulldogs start 2-0 after 20-point win at Kankakee Valley

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith
11-13-2005

CROWN POINT 48, Kankakee Valley 28
11-12-2005 in Wheatfield

CROWN POINT (2-0) Stephanie Poulos 0-3-3, Hannah Plumley 6-5-18, Jackie Clements 1-1-4, Amanda Moore 5-1-12, Courtney Perry 2-5-9, Ashley Zaucha 1-0-2, Michelle Lipton 0-0-0, Anjellica Rospond 0-0-0,  Katie Kvachkoff 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  15 (15-22) 48
Kankakee Valley (1-1) Cassie Cofer 1-1-4, Emma Cunningham 2-0-4, Kelli Hamstra 1--2, Brittney 1-0-2, Rachel Kickert 0-3-3, OJ Ortiz 1-2-4, Keely Woods 2-0-5, Stevie Alexander 2-0-4, Kirah Fifield 0-0-0, Jacki Scheidt 0-0-0.
TOTALS: 10-6-28

FREE THROWS:  CP (15-24, 62.5% ) Poulos 3-4, Plumley 5-6, Clements 1-4, Moore 1-2, Perry 5-7, Zaucha 0-1;
KC (6-20, 30%) Cofer 1-4, Kickert 3-6,  Scott 0-2, Woods 1-2, Fifield 0-2, Alexander 0-2,  Ortiz 1-2
REBOUNDS: CP (40) Plumley 7, Moore 10, Clements 6, Poulos 3, Lipton 2, Zaucha 4, Perry 7, Kvachkoff.
KV (25)  Cofer 8, Kickert 6, Alexander 5, Ortiz 3, Hamstra 2, Fifield.

ASSISTS:  CP (6) Plumley 2, Moore, Lipton, Zaucha, Clements;  KV (4) Fifield 2, Cofer, Alexander.
TURNOVERS:  CP 17, KV 21
3-GOALS:  CP (3) Plumley, Moore, Clements;  KV (2) Cofer, Woods.

DeMOTTE (11-12-2005) - Okay, so Crown Point isn't going to dazzle anybody early in the season with brilliant offense.  I think we knew that coming in.  But after two games on the road, albeit against smaller schools, Crown Point girls have gotten the job done.

Falling behind in the half both nights and struggling horribly at the offensive end of the floor, the Lady Bulldogs were able to pull it together both nights, defeating Hebron 45-33 Friday and Kankakee Valley 48-28 Saturday.

The stakes get raised this coming weekend in the home opener against Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) rival Portage and Northern Lakes Conference (NLC) favorite Warsaw.

Saturday night's game was rough in a lot of ways as officials let a lot of contact go and both teams handled the ball like they were imitating the Bears' Bobby Wade trying to catch punts.  Both teams were 'held' to five field goals in the first half by physical defense and some less than perfect shooting.  What was a concern was that the physical play, supposedly a Crown Point strength this year, was going KV's way.

While he admitted that officiating was not overly limiting KV's hands-on defensive tactics, CP veteran coach Tom May sat somewhat quietly through a very mediocre 15-13 first half and then looked at his own girls and asked, what are you going to do about this?

"We told them at the half," noted coach Tom May. "That's as despicable a display as we've ever seen.  This didn't have anything to do about basketball.  This was about not letting people embarrass.  We wanted them to reach down and protect space.  We don't play dirty. We don't undercut and we don't fight.  But we told them that you've got to protect your space.  You're going to make it more physical than they make it for you."

The Bulldogs trailed 17-13 with 7:21 left in the third quarter but a 20-5 run which included seven points by 5-9 junior Amanda Moore, turned the game in CP's favor.

"I thought it started off when Moore took the ball off the wing, went straight to the basket, got cross body blocked by two people and went to the line.  (Courtney) Perry started finishing. Jackie Clements got rough inside.  Hannah (Plumley) did a much better job and the game changed. You hate to say you've got to 'muck' it out, but that's what we had to do."

Crown Point made an unofficial 17 turnovers against KV but some of that is expected with two new guards in Hannah Plumley and Stephanie Poulos.  Plumley scored a career-high 18 points, 13 in the second half.  The 5-8 three-year varsity player, a forward for three years, added seven steals and eight rebounds in adjusting well to her new role.

"She listens to what you say," said May.  "She's a sponge.  She picks things up quickly and she doesn't repeat the same mistakes all the time.  She's not a dumb kid."

Crown Point's full court press contributed to 21 turnovers by KV, whose only true lead guard may be sub Kirah Fifield.

"The defense is a constant," May said. "I like the idea that we stopped them a little and then got back-cuts and got some easy baskets.  We've got nine kids and they all will play.  We'll just keep going.  But we should have been able to do better against their defense."

Crown Point's debut game in the new 2,500-seat Hebron gym Friday was much the same as the KV contest.  CP led just 21-19 at the half and pulled away after the intermission.  Jackie Clements scored 12 points while Plumley had eight points, 12 rebounds and four steals.

"Hebron returned all their kids," said May. "We played them at Crown Point last year and won by 18.  We've lost three kids and we played them there. We beat them by 12 and we missed shots everywhere.  What we're doing is when we're physically challenged, we adjust our shot and miss.  We just can't do that.  That doesn't have anything to do with fundamentals.  That's heart and we won't have that."

The Lady Bulldogs know that, other than this Saturday's foe, Warsaw, the DAC teams CP will face are a cut above the non conference foes.  So, the wins in non-league play aren't as significant as whether the team played well.  That's why there was no celebrating being 2-0 on the bus home from Jasper County late Saturday.

"Anybody who sees (scouts) us is going to press us full court woman-to-woman," says May.  "We've just got to be able to handle it."

CPLB NOTES:  Crown Point's starting lineup Saturday night had Courtney Perry at center with forwards Amanda Moore and Jackie Clements in front of guards Hannah Plumley and Stephanie Poulos.  But, with only nine varsity players and CP's full court pressure defense, every player had been in the game by the middle of the second quarter.

"Every time we moved," said May. "They grabbed us.  It should have been called.  Our kids changed their shots because they were getting hit."

May won't name any names, but he expects to move a 10th player to the varsity by mid-season.  Not only do they have only four players listed at guard (three of them are guard-forwards) but nine simply isn't enough for CP's style of play and you practice with 10 players anyway.

"We've got a lot of athletes on the JV," said May.  "They can give us (the varsity) a run for our money."

Friday's foe Portage split two games at the season-opening Penn Classic last Saturday, losing to Penn 58-41 after beating Marian 47-40.   Warsaw lost 56-51 in the season opener on the road at highly-regarded Huntington North.  Warsaw plays at Tippecanoe Valley Friday night (Nov. 18) before they host CP in a game scheduled to be broadcast on Internet radio, www.USA-365.com.  The Lady Bulldogs play 11 of their 20 games on the road and two of the final eight games are against sixth-ranked Merrillville (2-0), which pulled away in the late going to beat cross-town rival Andrean (1-1) 76-60 last Saturday. 

Defending DAC champ Valparaiso (1-1) lost to 4A No. 4 Carmel 48-41 last Friday after an impressive season-opening 53-37 win over Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) favorite Munster.

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Revised: November 14, 2005 .