Lady Bulldogs tune up for playoffs with 54-40 win over Merrillville

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
02-07-2009

Thursday, February 5, 2009 - Duneland Athletic Conference girls basketball at MERRILLVILLE, IN

CROWN POINT (54) Maegen Maloney 2-0-5, Flori Garcia 4-0-9, Alle Geisen 3-1-7, Daniela Tarailo 9-5-24, Sydnee Reeves 0-2-2, Zarah Cecich 2-1-5, Courtney Kvachkoff 1-0-2, Madeline More 0-0-0, Clare Grubnich 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  21 (9-14) 54.

MERRILLVILLE (40) Raveen Murray 4-0-8, Bryonna Davis 7-0-15, Lydia Hawkins 2-0-4, Latoi Merriweather 2-2-6, Tracee Mitchell 2-1-5, Jasmyne Miller 0-0-0, Meline Stubbs 1-0-2, Jasmine Wade 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  18 (3-5) 40.

FOUL SHOTS:  CP (9-14, 64.3%) Tarailo 5-5, Reeves 2-4, Geisen 1-2, Cecich 1-2, Grubnich 0-1;  MERRILLVILLE (3-5, 60%) Merriweather 2-3, Mitchell 1-2.

REBOUNDS:  CP (19) Garcia 5, Kvachkoff 4, Geisen 3, Reeves 2, Geisen 2, Grubnich, Tarailo, Maloney;   MERRILLVILLE (18) Mitchell 7, Hawkins 6, Davis 2, Miller, 2, Merriweather..

ASSISTS:  CP (11) Maloney 4, Garcia 3, Tarailo 2, Geisen 2; MERRILLVILLE (7) Davis 4, Murray 2, Merriweather.

BLOCKED SHOTS:  CP (4) Cecich 2, Maloney, Reeves;  MERRILLVILE (4) Mitchell 3, Stubbs.

TURNOVERS:  CP (17), MERRILLVILLE (23).

3-GOALS:  CP (3) Maegen Maloney, Daniela Tarailo, Flori Garcia;  MERRILLVILLE (1) Bryonna Davis.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 - Duneland Athletic Conference girls basketball at CROWN POINT, IN

LaPORTE (32) Brittany Beane 4-3-11, Stephanie Duff 1-8-10, Tay Hurt 2-0-4, (Jr.) Jessica Craft 1-2-5, Anna Gerick 1-0-2, Hailee Bowser 0-0-0, Jessica Wilson 0-0-0, (Soph) Jessica Craft 0-0-0, Katie Kruse 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 9 (13-16) 32.

CROWN POINT (79) Maegan Maloney 2-0-5, Flori Garcia 3-0-6, Sydnee Reeves 4-2-10, Daniela Tarailo 8-0-19, Clare Grubnich 3-1-7, Zarah Cecich 6-0-12, Alle Geisen 1-2-4, Kelly Gross 1-1-4, Tori Connelly 1-0-2, Alexis Joseph 1-2-4, Chrissy Kvachkoff 3-0-6, Kelsey Batz 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 33 (8-14) 79.

FREE THROWS:  LaPORTE (13-16, 81.2%) Beane 3-5, Craft 2-2, Duff 8-9;  CROWN POINT (8-14, 57.1%) Reeves 2-6, Gross 1-2, Geisen 2-2, Grubnich 1-2, Joseph 2-2.

REBOUNDS:  LaPORTE (16) Hurt 4, (Jr.) Jessica Craft 4, Bowser 2,  Beane 3, Duff, (Soph) Jessica Craft, Gerick;  CROWN POINT (35)  Taraillo 8, Reeves 6, Grubnich 5, Cecich 4, Garcia 3, Kvachkoff 3, Geisen 2, Moore, Joseph, Connelly, Gross.

ASSISTS:  LaPORTE (4) Gerick, (soph) Jessica Craft 2, Hurt;  CROWN POINT (19) Tarailo 10, Garcia 4, Geisen 3, Batz, Gross.

STEALS:  LaPORTE (6) Hurt 2, (Jr) Jessica Craft 2, Duff, Beane;  CROWN POINT (15) Tarailo 5, Garcia 5, Geisen 2, Reeves, Grubnich, Reeves.

3-GOALS:  LaPORTE (1) (Jr) Jessica Craft; CROWN POINT (5)  Daniela Tarailo 3, Kelly Gross, Maegen Maloney.
 

MERRILLVILLE (02-05-2009) If it's a roller-coaster season Crown Point has had, the Lady Bulldogs are on the rise as the playoffs begin.  CP (12-8) was 9-0 after nine games, 10-7 after 17 games and they enter the post-season with a quality 54-40 victory over neighbor Merrillville on the final Thursday of the regular season.

"On to the next show," said coach Scott Reid, who watched his girls sweep the season series from the injury-weakened Pirates (10-10).  "We get to go scout Michigan City and then we'll go from there."

Crown Point could easily look at the speedy Merrillville team, minus injured leading scorer Tierra Turner, and imagine what a similarly speedy Michigan City would play like.  MC is the CP opponent for the opening game of the 2009 state tournament set for Wednesday, Feb.11 at the Class 4A Chesterton Sectional.  The Pirates, while not what they were earlier in the year, were a good test for a team that has to play the Wolves (16-4).

"I think so," agreed Reid.  "They're very quick.  We handled it, for the most part.  We have got to get smarter about when we don't have anything and we still push.  We could have pass faked them.  Of course, Amy's shorthanded.  That was terrible what happened to their kid.  She was seven points from 1,000."

Merrillville started freshman guard Raveen Murray and sophomore Melanie Stubbs.  They played hard but without Turner (17 ppg.), who tore her ACL four games ago (she was sitting in the stands behind the home bench) they scored little that was not transition, fast break points.

Crown Point jumped to the lead and went to a zone defense which cut off the Pirates driving to the basket in half court situations.  Other than 15 by junior Bryonna Davis, CP shut down Merrilville, largely with a zone defense.  That's something that could be a weapon against Michigan City, a team that has defeated CP seven times in a row.

"I liked our zone," said Reid.  "I thought it bothered them.  But we could have had seven girls on Davis and she would have scored.  She made some great shots."

CP senior Daniela Tarailo also made some great shots.

Surviving foul trouble, Tarailo, the 5-foot-10 senior guard, scored 16 of her 24 points in the second half as Merrillville was never closer than four points in the final two quarters of their final home game.  This contest was somewhat free form in that there weren't that many fouls called and there were a lot of fast break baskets.  And CP excelled at that.

"And we haven't always," said Reid.  "That hasn't always happened this year."

Crown Point's 12th win was the most since 2005.  The Lady Bulldogs were 6-15 last year.  The only downside of this final night was a final minute leg injury to senior guard Flori Garcia, who missed three games (all CP losses) in January with a foot injury.  The immediate fear was that Garcia would not recover in time to face Michigan City in six days.

"It's not as bad as it was before," reported Reid.  "You know Flori.  She'll play."

DOG NOTES:  Crown Point's junior varsity finished the season with a 14-6 record, even though Courtney Kvachkoff was moved up from JV to varsity at midseason.

"She was averaging a double double (10 points and 10 rebounds) every game for us," said JV coach Allison Isailovch.  "We could have won a couple more games, but it's okay."

The official Crown Point statistics had 5-foot-11 senior forward Sydnee Reeves for a season-high 18 rebounds in the Jan. 30 loss to Valparaiso.

"She's been making strides," said Reid.  "She's been playing well.  Sydnee's actually had a very good season."

CP coach Scott Reid knows his offense probably won't carry the Lady Bulldogs in sectional play and he's happy with holding the opposition to 46 or less six times in the second half of the season.

"We take this as showing what can happen when we play defense," Reid said.  "We get points off of it."

In 2008, the only graduate of the Crown Point basketball team was center Nikki Brown, so 2009 was the first time that the second year CP head coach has faced losing a large percentage of his team to the passage of time.

"The five seniors are special to me," said Reid after the final home game.  "They're kinda my seniors.  I can't believe they're seniors already.  I really like the way they cheer for the sophomores.  They've always been good about that.  I think those sophomores are going to be the same way when they get older.  Bad kids we do not have."

"I coached with one of the best coaches, if not the best ever," said Reid of Tom May, CPs' longtime coach for whom Reid was an assistant.  "I learned that from him at an early age.  It's not about us.  It's about them.  It always should be about them.  We may do a couple of things right.  But you win because of kids."

CP's Daniela Tarailo was 9-of-16 from the floor and 5-of-5 from the foul line in her final regular season game.

"I don't think it's hit me that it's my final home game," she said after CP defeated LaPorte in the home finale on Jan. 27.  "We had so many players in this class.  It was a really good (senior) class.

Tarailo is grateful for the fellow students who have shown up to watch her class play for four years.

"We have strong supporters," she said.  "Ones who were here last year.  Some just laugh at us, but we didn't have a good year last year.  This season, we stated pretty fast and I think a lot of people came out.  We had a slump, but I think we've turned it around here at the end.  I think the ones who are in sports admire us for sticking it out."

"I think the five sophomores we've been with all year (Kelsie Batz, Alle Geisen, Madeline Moore, Kelly Gross and Zarah Cecich) are a group that's going to do very well if they can stick together the next two years.  If they step up and be good leaders, they have a really bright future."

Tarailo says that when she and Sydnee Reeves and Maegen Maloney were freshman, they didn't receive what they would term a warm welcome by the seniors.

"They were good people," she said.  "They just didn't take to us.  But they weren't with us all summer like we were with the sophomores this year.  We still make a point to be close to them and the ones that are not playing.  They're in our social network."

Crown Point will play the third of four quarterfinal games in the Class 4A Chesterton Sectional Feb. 11 at 6:00 p.m.  Tickets are $6 for each quarterfinal double-header on Feb. 10 and 11.

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Revised: February 13, 2009 .