Crown Point cleans up after snow cancellation to sweep girls-boys basketball double-header against Chesterton

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
01-11-2010

CHESTERTON (45)  Ryan Bozak 0-2-2, Alyssa White 3-1-8, Lindsey Gorman 2-4-9, Claire Holba 7-3-17, Riley Taubert 4-1-9, Sydney Kurtz 0-0-0, Reva Key 0-0-0. TOTALS: 16 (10-17) 45.

CROWN POINT (57)  Kelly Gross 3-0-7, Courtney Kvachkoff 2-4-8,
Michaela Prough 11-2-24, Kendall Brown 4-1-10, Alle Geisen 0-6-6, Hayley Bordui 1-0-2, Lisa Kurth 0-0-0, Madeline Moore 0-0-0, Zarah Cecich 0-0-0, Alexis Jospeh 0-0-0. TOTALS: 12 (13-24) 57.

FREE THROWS:  Chesterton (10-17, 58.8%) Bozak 2-2, White 1-4, Gorman 4-5, Holba 3-5, Key 0-1; CROWN POINT (13-24, 54.2%) Geisen 6-6, Kvachkoff 4-8, Prough 2-3, Brown 1-4, Joseph 0-2, Gross 0-1.

REBOUNDS:  Chesterton (25) Taubert 11, Holba 8, Gorman 3, White 2, Kurtz; CROWN POINT (31) Kvachkoff 6, Brown 5, Gross 4, Prough 4, Bordui 4, Geisen 3, Moore 3, Jospeh 2.

ASSISTS:  Chesterton (15) Gorman 4, Holba 3, Taubert 3, White 3, Bozak, Key; CROWN POINT (19) Gross 8, Kvachkoff 5, Kurth 2, Geisen 2, Moore 2.

STEALS:  Chesterton (6) Gorman 2, Bozak, Key, Kurtz, Taubert; CROWN POINT (11) Gross 3, Prough 2, Kurth 2, Brown, Kvachkof, Geisen. Moore.

3-GOALS:  Chesterton (3) Alyssa White, Lindsey Gorman, Riley Taubert; CROWN POINT (2) Kendall Brown, Kelly Gross.

CHESTERTON (49)  Remy Lewis 2-1-5, KeMonte Price 2-4-8, Freddy Price 7-2-16, Scott Homner 2-1-5, Jon Watson 1-0-2, Alec Houpt 3-5-11, Blake Sleicher 1-0-2, Andrew Bobrowski 0-0-0, Zach Rochowiak 0-0-0. TOTALS: 18 (12-15) 49.

CROWN POINT (57)  Evan Langbehn 2-1-5, Tony Patrick 0-1-1, Scooter Jacobus 1-0-2, Zak Bostian 1-3-5, Sean Crary 4-4-12, Jared Smoot 3-1-7, Michael Albrecht 7-8-25, Dejan Stefanovic 0-0-0, Jordan Jurasevich 0-0-0. TOTALS: 18 (18-26) 57.

FREE THROWS:  Chesterton (12-15, 80%) Freddy Price 2-3, Kemonte Price 4-4, Houpt 5-5, Lewis 1-2, Watson 0-1; CROWN POINT (18-26, 69.2%) Albrecht 8-10, Crary 4-8, Bostian 3-3, Langbehn 1-2, Patrick 1-2, Smoot 1-1.

REBOUNDS:  Chesterton (24) Homner 3, Houpt 2, Freddy Price 3, KeMonte Price 2, Watson 12, Sleicher, Lewis; CROWN POINT (28) Smoot 10, Albrecht 7, Langbehn 4, Crary 4, Stefanovc 2, Bostian.

ASSISTS:  Chesterton (8) Fred Price 2, DeMonte Price 2, Houpt 2, Watson, Homner; CROWN POINT (9) Albrecht 5, Stefanovic 2, Bostian, Crary.

STEALS:  Chesterton (7) Fred Price 4, KeMonte Price 2, Jon Watson; CROWN POINT (11) Michael Albrecht 5, Dejan Stefanovic 3, Sean Crary 2, Scooter Jacobus.

BLOCKED SHOTS:  Chesterton (1) Alec Haupt; CROWN POINT (6) Jared Smoot 5, Evan Langbehn.

FOULED OUT:  Chesterton (1) Remy Lewis - 4th Q (0:38 left)

3-GOALS:  Chesterton (1) Scott Homner; CROWN POINT (3) Michael Albrecht 3.

Click Here for Girls-Boys Photo Gallery: Chesterton at Crown Point, 01-09-2010.

CROWN POINT, IN (01-09-2010)  It's a snap judgment, but I don't think Saturday afternoon double-header basketball is ever going to catch on.  So if last week's girls/boys twin bill was Crown Point's only Saturday afternoon double-header for the foreseeable future, let the record show that Crown Point is undefeated within the concept.

"We had to make way for the dance," smiled Lady Bulldog coach Mike Cronkhite, after his girls' 57-45 win over the Lady Trojans preceded CP coach Clint Swan's 57-49 win over Chesterton's boys in front of a small crowd of friends and neighbors.

"I asked the girls, 'I know there is a big dance tonight.  Just please give me 32 minutes of hard basketball.  Except for our usual problems in the third quarter, I thought they did that."

Counting the boys and girls junior varsity teams, CP was 4-0 on the day, but some players made a quick exit into the midday sun to get ready for something called the 'turnabut' dance, which some estimate would bring somewhere from 900-1000 kids back to the school later that night.

"We knew pretty much right away that because of the dance that when last night's game was called that we'd be playing this afternoon," said Swan after his team won.  "They (Chesterton) were very understanding."

Crown Point was of the understanding that they needed two varsity wins and they got them.

CP's girls had gone from 7-3 at mid-season to 7-7 with four Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) losses and they trailed 42-40 with 4:45 to play in Saturday's morning (10:30 a.m.) game.  But CP scored eight in a row, six by 6-foot-1 sophomore Michaela Prough to take a 48-42 lead with 2:40 to go.  Prough, who was not even on the varsity at the start of the year and who was a guard in middle school, has been a big find for Cronkhite.  The CP coaches turned her around and made her a back to the basket player.  She's displayed a consistent turnaround jump shot inside 15 feet and strong post defense.  Prough was 11 of 13 from the floor, scoring 24 points and blocking four shots, three by 6-foot Chesterton leading scorer Claire Holba, who finished with 17.

"The four-game losing streak brought us down," Michaela said after the game.  "But this will go a long way towards rebuilding our confidence.  I think we've been starting to be more positive.  We had some extra effort today."

When CP lost to Chesterton in December, Holba scored 21 points.  Prough not only wasn't on the varsity then, she was out with a concussion.  But since then, Prough has moved into the starting lineup and she was able to keep Holba from getting off easy shots in the decisive fourth quarter.

"She's 6-foot-1 and she can jump out of the gym," said Cronkhite, who changed Prough's position.  "She ran track last year so I didn't see her in the spring.  But when we saw her in open gym, we knew we had something.  She's so young and she'll get so much stronger."

Chesterton is shorthanded after ACL injuries to both Annette Frank and Brooke Gardner.  Gardner may be back by the post-season, but until then, coach Jack Campbell is dressing just eight varsity players.

"That may have been a factor tonight," he said after the game.  "We haven't practiced for two days (snow postponements at school).  I can't dispute our effort.  But what did '21' (Prough) have?  Fifteen in the first half?  We'll probably see them (CP) again.  That's the way it usually works in the DAC."

Junior guard Kelly Gross had eight assists and Alle Geisen, who missed the Jan. 2 loss at Merrillville (she was sick) was 6-of-6 from the foul line in the final minute to clinch a typically defense-oriented CP-Chesterton matchup.

"We should have won a lot of games that we've led late," said Cronkhite, who is still frustrated by CP's shooting (21 of 55, 38.2% vs. Chesterton).  "We play LC next Saturday (Jan. 16).  We led them last time in the fourth quarter and lost.  We led Michigan City at the half and lost by 20.  The Merrillville game is the only one we've really been out of."

CP's boys got back to the .500 mark as guard Michael Albrecht scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half.  Jared Smoot grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked five shots and CP slowed the Trojans with a 2-1-2 press that bothered speedy Trojan guards KeMonte and Freddy Price.

"I dont know if it was so much what we did," said Swan.  "They (Chesterton) weren't in school the last two days and I thought that wore on them as the game went on.  You've got to give them a lot of credit for how they started the game."

Chesterton, which will regain the services of injured 6-foot-10 all-stater Mitch McGary next week (Jan. 15) against Hobart, built a 29-21 lead in the final minute of the first half as Fred Price had nine points and three steals.

But CP's second half defensive pressure slowed the Trojans largely by forcing them to hesitate in passing the ball up the floor.  Still, when asked what the major factor in the game was, Swan didn't hesitate.

"It was Spike," Swan said, referring to Albrecht.  "He's a real luxury for us.  He has so much skill in controlling the game and he seems to know when to take it over."'

Albrecht, the 5-foot-11 junior point guard, scored 12 points in a 24-9 CP third quarter run that pushed CP to the lead.  Smoot collected all five of his blocked shots in the second half and intimidated at last 10 others.

"Jared is another luxury for us," said Swan, who is encouraged by the development of his first year varsity center.  "He changes so many things defensively.  I thought Chesterton did a good job of denying him the ball.  He'll get better at moving towards the ball.  This is just his first 10 games on the varsity."

"I don't think you can look at this team in terms of the won-loss record at this point.  We just have two seniors and we only had two guys who played at all last year.  We're making strides."

CP NOTES:  The Crown Point-Chesterton double-header was postponed early Friday after six inches of snow fell on Northwest Indiana Thursday and more was predicted for Friday.
Few Northwest Indiana teams played their scheduled games Friday and Michigan City and Valparaiso were also postponed Saturday.

The snow may have prevented Chesterton's 6-foot-10 junior Mitch McGary, who averages 22 points a game, from playing against CP.  McGary, who has been out a month with a foot injury, said Saturday that he was ready to play.

"I haven't gotten in my six practices yet," McGary explained.  "We weren't in school the last two days and one of my practices didn't count because the trainer didn't see it.  I'll be playing next week against Hobart."

Michael Albrecht reached midseason with averages of 20.1 points per game, 5.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists.  Jared Smoot officially has 25 blocked shots in 10 games, but he may have more. In Saturday's games the official stats gave him two blocked shots while some unofficial totals (like mine) gave him five.  Smoot averages 7.0 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks.

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Revised: January 13, 2010 .