Lady Bulldogs beat KV 59-31, start season 2-0

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
11-12-2007

Saturday, November 10, 2007 - Non-conference game at DeMotte, IN

CROWN POINT (59)  Sydnee Reeves 4-2-10, Maegen Maloney 6-0-12, Daniella Tarailo 10-1-21, Samantha Polus 1-0-2, Flori Garcia 0-4-4,  Nicci Brown 2-0-4, Abby Thomas 1-0-2, Jessica Martinez 0-1-1, Lauren Seils 1-0-3, Lynsey Brucato 0-0-0, Clare Grubnich 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 25 (8-13) 59.

KANKAKEE VALLEY (31)  Marissa Butler 5-0-10, Brandee Hudspeth 2-3-8, Paige Walczak 1-1-3, Ashley Van Kley 1-0-2, Brittany Heerema 1-0-2, Pam Zuchowski 1-0-2, Lauren Hamstra 1-0-2, Kendie Terborg 1-0-2, Katrice Patrick 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 13 (4-6) 31.

FREE THROWS:  CP (8-14, 57.1%)  Reeves 2-5, Tarailo 1-1, Garcia 4-4, Martinez 1-2, Polus 0-2.  KV (4-6, 66.7%)  Hudspeth 3-4, Walczak 1-2.

REBOUNDS:  CP (32) Reeves 7, Brown 5, Polus 5, Maloney 3, Tarailo 3, Grubnich 3, Thomas 3, Martinez 2, Brucato;  KV (19) Walczak 5, Zuchowski 4, Herema 4, Hamstra, Terborg 2, Van Kley 2, Butler.

ASSISTS:  CP (11) Tarailo 3, Maloney 3, Reeves 2,  Garcia 2,  Thomas;  KV (5) Hudspeth 3, Heerema, Terborg.

STEALS: CP (11) Maloney 7, Tarailo 2, Brown, Martinez;   KV (6) Butler 2, Hudspeth 2, Terborg, Heerema.

BLOCKS:  CP (4) Brown 2, Grubnich, Reeves; KV (2) Butler 2.

TURNOVERS:  CP (7-6-2-6)  21;  KV (7-8-9-7) 31

3-GOALS:  CP (1) Lauren Seils; KV (1) Brandee Hudspeth.

 

Friday, November 9, 2007 - season-opener for both schools at HEBRON, IN

CROWN POINT (54)  Sydnee Reeves 5-0-10, Maegen Maloney 6-1-15, Daniella Tarailo 3-3-9, Samantha Polus 3-0-6, Flori Garcia 0-0-0,  Nicci Brown 1-0-2, Abby Thomas 0-2-2, Jessica Martinez 3-3-9, Lauren Seils 0-0-0, Lynsey Brucato 0-1-1, Clare Grubnich 3-0-6.  TOTALS: 21 (10-19) 54.

HEBRON (39)  Kelly Kraker 0-2-2, Liz Bennett 2-5-9, Stacy Blank 1-3-5, Christina Cook 1-0-2, Kelli Matheney 2-4-9, Molly Marshall 5-3-13, Rebah Seidler 1-0-2, Kristin St. Germain 0-0-0, Kara Cunningham 0-0-0, Melissa Lyons 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 12 (15-25) 39.

FREE THROWS:  CP (10-19, 52.6%)  Reeves 0-1, Tarailo 3-6, Garcia 0-1, Martinez 3-4, Polus 0-1, Thomas 2-2, Brucato 1-2, Maloney 1-2.  HEBRON (15-25, 60%)  Matheney 4-5, Marshall 3-6, Blank 3-4, Bennett 5-8, Kraker 0-2.

3-GOALS:  CP (2) Meagen Maloney 2; HEBRON (0).

DeMOTTE, IN (11-10-2007) -  To put Crown Point's opening weekend in its proper perspective, Crown Point has beaten both Hebron and Kankakee Valley in gilrs basketball in each of the last seven seasons.  If you look at enrollment figures, Crown Point should beat Hebron and KV every year without exception.

With that said, Saturday night's 59-31 win at KV was very impressive.  CP (2-0) ran the floor well, passed and shared the ball well and accelerated to speed of the game to take out an opponent with decent talent.  The Lady Bulldogs, who have been a .500 team (22-23 the last two seasons), looked like they have a chance to be more than that.

"We're trying to win every quarter," said new head coach Scott Reid, after his team completed a sweep of two road games in two nights.  "We were 3-1 tonight and we tied one quarter last night (at Hebron).  That's how we're looking at it.  If we're ahead 20 or if we're down 20 going into the fourth quarter, we're just trying to win that quarter.  That's how we're looking at it.  In quarters, we're 6-1-1 right now."

Crown Point wasn't bad against Hebron the night before, but they didn't beat them like a 4A school should beat a 1A school.  Against 3A KV, after trailing 9-8 at the quarter, it was a different story.  Juniors Daniela Tarailo and Maegen Maloney led a 10-0 run that gave CP a 22-11 lead with 3:02 left in the half and the visitors went from there, stealing the ball on the 1-2-2 zone, or simply advancing the ball with half court passes after missed shots or takeaways.

The Kougars committed 15 first half turnovers, but many were caused by the 5-foot-9 Maloney, who had four steals in the first half.  Tarailo was best at running to the basket on breakaways and not settling for jump shots.

"I'm thrilled tonight," said Reid, in his first weekend of varsity coaching after 19 years in retired coach Tom May's program.  "Much better than last night.  Hebron is athletic.  We got a 16-point lead and then we let them back in the game.  Tonight. when we got the lead, I told them, 'This is where you let them back in the game last night.' And they didn't do it tonight."

The third quarter was all-CP as Maloney, Tarailo and 5-11 junior Sydnee Reeves all scored three baskets each and KV committed nine more turnovers.  CP themselves committed a too-high total of 21 turnovers but some of those came from pushing the ball up the floor with such vigor.  In the final period, senior center Nicci Brown sank a coupe of baskets, blocked a couple of shots and grabbed a couple of rebounds as CP continued to build the lead.

"Everybody played better tonight," said Tarailo.  "It was fun.  We're more aggressive this year so far.  I think we're the underdogs this year.  We're trying to use that."

In recent years, CP has had a lot of different classes represented on the varsity.  Last year, there were sophomores, juniors and seniors.  Several times, all four classes have been represented on the varsity.  That will not be the case this season as CP consists on one senior (Nicci Brown) and 10 juniors.  Tarailo is not sure if that's better or not, but she likes it so far.

"We're all friends," she said.  "I suppose that can go downhill if somebody gets mad at somebody, but right now, we're doing pretty well.  Everybody's pretty nice."

Two-game scoring averages mean nothing, but Tarailo (15.0 ppg.), Maloney (13.5) and Reeves (10.0) could be especially nice for coach Reid's debut season if the speedy trio can  consistently score and defend in a starting lineup that, right now, includes 5-11 volleyball star Samantha Polus and 5-5 soccer starter Flori Garcia.

The next 'report card' comes in after Friday night's home opener against defending 4A Sectional 2 champion Portage (1-0) and Saturday's road trip to Warsaw (0-1).  Portage defeated Crown Point three times last season by 10 points or more and they feature 5-10 power forward Gloria Hernandez and 5-9, 2007 junior all-star Lisa Samplawski.

"Samplawski is the best player in our league," said Reid, after the KV game.  "We've got some idea about how to guard her, but I wish she was just worried about her own points.  She makes everyone else better.  I'm telling you.  We're going to play well.  Now, whether that's going to be good enough against them, I cant say.  But I promise you we will play well."

"We put together three good quarters tonight.  The subs came in and there was no drop off at all.  I'm going to enjoy Sunday.  I told them, they'd better be happy tonight because this is how you win."

DOG NOTES:  The Crown Point schedule is back-loaded, meaning that the tougher games are stacked in the back end.  CP was 7-4 last year before finishing 10-11.  Two years ago, CP was 10-5 before finishing at 11-11.

Some of that is the the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) 14-game league schedule.  Some of that is the rise of Merrillville as a girls basketball power.  Since the 14-game schedule began three season ago, CP has played Merrillville twice in the second half of the season and they've been 1-5 against the Pirates.  The Lady Bulldogs were 3-0 against Portage two years ago and they were 0-3 against Portage last year.

New junior varsity coach Allison Isailovich was 2-0 after two games including a 54-23 win at Hebron and a 42-17 win at KV.  Isailovich, who played for CP five years ago, says her group, which has six of CP's 19 freshmen players, is very competitive against the varsity in practice.

"They're better than this," she said.  "They play really well against our varsity in practice, but they say they get nervous against other teams."

Varsity coach Scott Reid insisted, "You have not seen the best of the junior varsity yet."

Isailvolich was happy with her coaching debut.

"I was nervous last night," she said.  "But it was better tonight.  I've got a lot of good players."

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Revised: November 12, 2007 .