Crown Point Lady Bulldogs put together back-to-back wins over Michigan City, neighboring Hanover Central

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith and Dave Woodworth 
12-18-2005

Saturday, 12-17-2005 - nonconference game at Crown Point

CROWN POINT (58)  Hannah Plumley 7-1-17, Jackie Clements 0-0-0, Anjellica Rospond 4-0-8, Courtney Perry 2-5-9, Stephanie Poulos 4-0-10, Amanda Moore 2-0-5, Ashley Zaucha 1-1-3, Michelle Lipton 0-1-1, Katie Kvachkoff 1-1-3, Daniella Tarailo 0-0-0, Melissa Spisak 1-0-2, Christy Quigley 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 20 (9-15) 58.

HANOVER CENTRAL  (35)  Jordan Kramer 1-0-3, Krysta Rickey 2-1-6, Chrissy Homolka 0-0-0, Andria Trock 2-0-4, Megan Parks 0-0-0, Anna Turturillo 5-1-11, Brittany Griner 0-0-0, Christy Bader 2-0-4, Samantha Plant 1-4-6, Brandy Flores 0-0-0, Bethany Flores 0-0-0, Lindsay Martinez 0-1-1, Danielle Graham 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 13 (7-16) 35.

FREE THROWS:  CP (9-15, 60.0%) Plumley 1-2, Lipton 1-2, Zaucha 1-2, Perry 5-8, Kvachkoff 1-1;
HANOVER (7-14, 50.0%) Rickey 1-4, Turturillo 1-4, Plant 4-4, Martinez 1-2.

3-GOALS:  CP (5) Plumley 2, Poulos 2, Moore;  HANOVER (2) Kramer, Rickey.

REBOUNDS:  Plumley (CP) 10;  Turturillo (Hanover) 4.

ASSISTS:  Zaucha (CP) 4; Rickey (Hanover) 5

STEALS:  Plumley (CP) 7

TOTAL FOULS:  HC 10;  CP 9.  FOULED OUT:  None.

Friday, 12-16-2005 - Duneland Athletic Conference game at Crown Point

CROWN POINT (56)  Hannah Plumley 2-3-7, Jackie Clements 3-3-10, Anjellica Rospond 0-1-1, Courtney Perry 2-4-8, Stephanie Poulos 8-2-21, Amanda Moore 2-1-5, Ashley Zaucha 1-0-2, Michelle Lipton 1-0-2.  TOTALS: 19 (14-21) 56.

MICHIGAN CITY (50)  Stefani Sanders 2-0-4, Natalie Studtman 3-0-7, Katie Knoll 4-0-9, Melissa Johnson 3-0-7, Ta'Kenya Nixon 3-0-6, Bianca McGee 4-0-12, Emma Tucker 2-1-5.  TOTALS:  21 (1-4) 50.

FREE THROWS:  CP (14-21, 66.7%) Plumley 3-6, Perry 4-6, Poulos 2-2, Clements 3-4, Moore 1-1, Rospond 1-2;
MC (1-4, 25.0%) Nixon 0-2, Tucker 1-2.

REBOUNDS:  Michigan City (30) Johnson 7, Tucker 6, Nixon 5, McGee 4, Studtman 3,  Knoll 3, Sanders, Ramona;  CP (20)  Poulos 7, Clements 5, Moore 3, Plumley 2, Perry 2, Rospond.

STEALS:  Michigan City (9) Nixon 4, Studtman 2, Knoll 2, Tucker;  CP (12) Zaucha 5, Plumley 4, Poulos, Moore, Rospond.

ASSISTS:  Michigan City (10) Nixon 5, Sanders 2, Studtman, Knoll, Johnson;  CP (14) Zaucha 5, Poulos 3, Clements 2, Plumley 2, Lipton 2.

3-GOALS:  CP (4) Poulos 3, Clements;  MC (7)  McGee 4, Studtman, Knoll, Johnson.

ASSISTS:  Zaucha (CP) 4; Lipton (CP) 2

TOTAL FOULS:  MC 18;  CP 13.  FOULED OUT:  Tucker (MC) 4th Qtr - 2:48 left.

CROWN POINT  (12-16-2005) -  I don't know how much longer Crown Point can keep defeating Michigan City.  In coach Tom May's 26 years, CP has never lost to any team from Michigan City in 19 tries.  The Wolves have become taller, faster and more athletic.  But the Lady Bulldogs are still the better team.  CP built up a big lead Friday night and held on, turning back the Wolves 56-50 in a roller-coaster Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) game.

Lady Bulldog coach Tom May, after going through a litany of what his team didn't do right against the visitors from LaPorte County, paused and said.  "We're 7-4 and all I can talk about is how bad we played."

Crown Point led 11-5 and 28-17, watched that lead slip away in the fourth quarter, and squeezed out the win when seniors Stephanie Poulos and Hannah Plumley combined for 11 fourth quarter points and Michigan City hurried their shots.

After freshman Ta'Kenya Nixon missed two foul shots, Poulos, a 5-8 senior, hit a 15-foot shot for a 43-42 lead with 6:10 left.  Another basket by Poulos and a steal and score by Ashley Zaucha made it 47-42 and the Bulldogs were able to survive two late three-point baskets by 5-8 MC freshman Bianca McGee.

Poulos had scored 15 points in a 51-42 win at Valparaiso three days earlier (12-13-2005) after going without a field goal three times in the first eight games.  It's no coincidence that the offensively challenged Lady Bulldogs have cracked the 50-point barrier four games in a row.

"This team beat Lake Central," said May. "They've got the athletes.  What happened was what I thought would happen.  We won a big game and we think we don't have to work as hard.  We've arrived.  The kids will tell you that I spent all of practice yesterday (Thursday) yelling from one end to the other.  We were slow.  We looked slow."

Michigan City, with just one senior on the roster, committed 23 turnovers, but the Wolves' full court press rattled CP in the third quarter. Once the momentum changed, CP had a terrible time regaining it.  If the visitors had not fallen behind so far early and MC's 6-3 junior center Emma Tucker does not foul out with 2:48 left, the result might have been different.

"I know coach (Gary) Collins and all he's ever wanted to do was for his kids to come at us and not be back on their heels," said May.  "At the start, we had them on their heels but then a couple of things went right for them, they started playing and we didn't have anybody step up.  It came down to taking care of the basketball and keeping them off the boards.  The game was won because of one kid, (Stephanie) Poulos.  She shot the ball.  She stole the ball.  She rebounded the ball.  She made really good decisions."

Nixon, a skilled dribbler, made some decisions indicative of her freshman status.  She would break the CP defense and then throw the ball away trying to score.

"She needs to learn how to finish," said Collins.  "She had no problem at all in the open court.  But when she gets near the basket, she needs to learn how to finish.  Pull up.  Make contact.  Go to the basket for a layup.  Or just pull it back out when she doesn't have anything.  She's going full boat.  Full steam.  She gets excited.  She had nine turnovers tonight and she had seven against Merrillville (in a 68-50 loss on Dec. 13) and they're unforced errors.  We've just got to settle her down."

Crown Point's offense is a hybrid concoction of the CP coaching staff.  About half the time, you will see Hannah Plumley or Michelle Lipton get the ball up the floor only to hand it over to Ashley Zaucha who runs the offense from the top of the key.  The sub-letting of the point guard position led to consecutive wins 67-43 over Boone, 51-42 over Valpo and 58-50 over MC with CP totaling 68 field goals and Zaucha getting 18 assists.

"She's one of the most intelligent kids we have," said May simply.  "She fought her way to school today.  She was violently ill.  But she really wanted to play.  She came right over to me in the third quarter and said they're chasing 'Pouly' (Stephanie Poulos).  They were using a box and one one her.  She was the first to notice it.  She's just bright and she really is as good an athlete as anyone we have."

Crown Point's season so far is hard to figure.  The Lady Bulldogs defeated Hanover Central Saturday night 58-35 to go to 8-4, but inexplicably, they have a victory over Valparaiso (7-3) and a loss to Lake Central (2-7).  The Lady Bulldogs will now take a 10-day break before they host undefeated Merrillville on Dec. 28.  On paper, CP can't beat Merrillville, which is a more polished, experienced version of Michigan City.  But, on paper, Michigan City had a better team than CP and the Lady Bulldogs led them 31-19 at the half.

"We gave them life," said May of MC.  "We were slow.  That's an indication that we were not mentally into it.  But at the start of the year, we thought we'd be in the upper half of the second division (of the Duneland Conference).  We thought we'd be ahead of Portage but Michigan City had a lot coming back.  Chesterton had a lot coming back.  Valpo had two really good players coming back.  Merrillville had everybody coming back.  But here I am telling you that I'm unhappy because we didn't win by more."

CPLB NOTES:   "I'm proud of the way we came back," said MC coach Collins.  "What killed us was weak-side rebounding Plumley got one of them and the other girl (Courtney Perry) gets a weak side rebound and gets fouled.  The gap jumped from zero to five. Normally when we play CP on their court.  We lose by 20.  So, I'm proud of the effort."

Conventional logic said that CP slows the game down against a much more athletic MC team.  But May said he didn't really want to slow the game down and play a half court game against MC and the 6-foot-3 center Emma Tucker.

"They make an effort to send five kids to the boards," he explained.  "If you get the ball off the glass, they have nobody back.  It was a matter of getting the ball and making follow up shots.  We just didn't do that."

MC's Tucker appeared to twist an ankle in the second quarter, but the 6-foot-3 junior returned to start the second half.  Tucker blocked four shots and actually played much better after she was injured.  All nine MC players who got into the game at Crown Point are underclassmen who will return for next season.

After Friday, Crown Point is 13-0 against the school that is now Michigan City.  CP was 6-0 against the old Michigan City Rogers and there is no record of them playing Elston.  Rogers and Elston combined to form Michigan City in 1995.  The Lady Bulldogs' win over Valparaiso was just the 14th for CP in 35 meetings.  The Lady Bullodgs are now 6-0 against Hanover Central.

Crown Point 58, Hanover Central 35

In the Saturday night (12-17-2005) game, the Lady Wildcats hung close in the first quarter, trailing CP just 16-14.  But a solid second quarter by the Lady Bulldogs built a 35-20 halftime lead and then coasted through the second half behind a stingy defense for a 23-point win, 58-35.

Senior Hannah Plumley scored 14 of her game-high 17 points in the first half against Hanover, including a series of quick steals on in-bounds passes during a full court pressure defense that she was able to convert into three quick layup baskets.  Hanover could seemingly do nothing right the second quarter as the Lady Cats turned the ball over numerous times and the Lady Bulldogs had a hot-shooting hand, outscoring HC 19-6.  In the second half CP was able to control the tempo of the game both offensively and defensively.

CP was able to draw just 10 fouls from the Lady Cats, and made 9 of 15 free-throw attempts on Saturday night.

Crown Point improves to 8-4 on the season and 4-2 in the DAC, good for a third place tie in the conference standings, while MC drops to 4-4 overall and 2-4 for a 5th place tie in the DAC.  Crown Point resumes their DAC schedule after Christmas with a December 28 home date with conference leader Merrillville (9-0, 6-0 DAC). 

Hanover Central drops to 4-4 overall and resumes action after Christmas with the Momence, Illinois Tournament December 29-30. 

USA-365.com Notes:  The next Crown Point girls basketball game to be broadcast via the Internet on USA-365.com will be Chesterton at Crown Point in a rare boys/girls varsity double-header on Friday, January 6.  Live coverage begins with the pregame show at 5:45 p.m. and the tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 p.m., CST.  The Chesterton-CP boys game will follow 20-minutes after the conclusion of the girls game.

The next Crown Point boys basketball game to be broadcast via the Internet on USA-365.com will be Portage at Crown Point on Tuesday, January 3.  Live coverage begins with the pregame show at 7:15 p.m. and the tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., CST.  Dave Woodworth (play-by-play) and Mark Smith (analysis) return to call the action. The PODcast and story will be posted later that weekend on www.USA-365.com.   

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Revised: December 19, 2005 .