Lady Bulldogs fall victim to slower-style Chesterton, 51-43

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
12-02-2009

CROWN POINT (43) Kelly Gross 5-0-10, Courtney Kvachkoff 5-1-11, Kendall Brown 5-0-11, Zarah Cecich 1-0-2, Alexis Joseph 1-2-4, Madeline Moore 0-2-2, Hayley Bordui 0-1-1, Alle Geisen 0-0-0, Tori Connelly 0-0-0, Michaela Prough 0-0-0 Lisa Kurth 0-0-0. TOTALS: 17 (6-9, 66.6%) 43.

CHESTERTON (51) Ryan Bozak 1-0-2, Alyssa White 4-4-13, Lindsay Gorman 2-5-11, Riley Taubert 1-0-2, Claire Holba 9-2-20, Reva Key 1-1-3, Maddie Haupt 0-0-0, Annette Frank 0-0-0. TOTALS: 18 (12-24, 50%) 51.

FREE THROWS: CP (6-9, 66.6%) Joseph 2-2, Bordui 1-3, Kvachkoff 1-1, Moore 2-3; CHESTERTON (12-24, 46.1%) Gorman 5-11, White 4-5, Key 1-2, Holba 2-4, Taubert 0-2.

REBOUNDS: CP (19) Gross 3, Kvachkoff 6, Moore 3, Brown 2, Joseph 2, Cecich, Kurth, Rivich; CHESTERTON (20) Holba 7, Gorman 6, Taubert 6, Key.

ASSISTS: CP (10) Lisa Kurth 4, Courtney Kvachkoff 2, Alle Geisen 2, Kelly Gross, Alexis Joseph. CHESTERTON (11) Lindsey Gorman 4, Riley Taubert 3, Ryan Bozak 2, Claire Holba, Reva Key.

STEALS: CP (10) Courtney Kvachkoff 4, Alexis Joseph, Sarah Rivich; CHESTERTON (6) Alyssa White 2, Claire Holba, Ryan Bozak, Annette Frank, Reva Key.

TURNOVERS: CP 16, CHESTERTON 22.

3-GOALS: CP (2) Kelly Gross, Kendall Brown; CHESTERTON (2) Lindsey Gorman 2, Alyssa White.

CHESTERTON, IN (11-27-2009) The 'good' thing about the Duneland Athletic Conference basketball season is, if you lose to a team early in the league schedule, don't worry.  There's 14 league games.  You'll get to see them again.  And they're probably in your sectional.  Guess what.  You'll get to see them two more times!

"I don't know if that's that good a thing," said new Crown Point coach Mike Cronkhite, after his side struggled to score 43 points in a 51-43 loss at Chesterton Friday.  The Lady Bulldogs (4-2, 0-2 DAC) had all kinds of shots.  But as often happens against coaches Jack Campbell and Fred Mitchell and Chesterton, baskets are hard to come by.

"Give them some credit," said Cronkhite.  "Their defense had a lot to do with it.  But we were 7-of-23 on shots inside 10 feet.  I mean, we were 3-of-17 from three point range.  But 7 of 23 inside 10 feet?  We got shots.  We just didn't make them."

Chesterton was playing its first game without junior leader Brooke Gardner, who had ACL surgery this week.

The Lady Bulldogs, who rallied with an up-tempo 74-65 victory over Hanover Central Saturday night, missed a chance to jump on a Trojan team in transition.  The Lady Bulldogs want to 'play fast' and there's going to be few teams in Northwest Indiana that will outrun them.

But teams like Portage and Chesterton have slowed the pace and future foes Valparaiso and Lake Central certainly will take note.  Playing that dull, boring and effective Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) ball, foes clearly are going to take one look at the long Lady Bulldog bench (they used 12 players at Chesterton) and some of their new young dribblers and scorers and order up a half court style of basketball.

After six games, CP was averaging 68.5 points in the four wins and 49.5 in the two losses.  Cronkhite and CP want to make everybody play a full court game.  But to do that, they have to hit some shots.  At Chesterton, the Lady Bulldogs seemed nervous.  They got good shots but they threw them up with no touch at all and shot 33% (17 of 51) from the floor.

"We wanted to make them shoot the ball off the dribble," said Chesterton coach Jack Campbell.  "There's not a lot of girls.  There's not a lot of players who do that well."

Without Gardner, Chesterton used shooting guard Lindsey Gorman as the point guard, and while she had some shaky moments at the foul line, she came through as the Trojans (2-2, 2-0 DAC) grabbed a second early league win.

"She's played the point at lower levels," said Campbell.  "She's not that smooth yet, but she can do it.  She missed some free throws but she's a really good shooter.  It might have been because of her bringing the ball up all night.  Her legs got a little tired, but she'll be okay.  She's got a short memory.  She'll be fine.  She can do it."

The difference on the scoreboard was 6-foot-1 forward Claire Holba, who scored nine field goals, most of them on quick moves in the post.  CP is going to have to find a physical post presence defensively.  But with offensive players like sophomores Kendall Brown and Courtney Kvachkoff, they also win if they can press full court and create more possessions.  Either way, CP needs more confident shooters.

"We can only use the excuse that we're young for so long," Cronkhite says.  "We gave up 32 points in the first half and I told the girls in the locker room, 'We're not going to win many games giving up 32 points in a half.  In the second half we were much better, but we've got to make some shots.  We're missing layups and five foot shots."

CPLB NOTES:  Crown Point improved to 4-2 with the 74-65 victory over Hanover Central (3-2), ending the Lady Cats three-game winning streak.  Junior Kelly Gross led the way with 18 points, and freshman Hayley Bordui scored a season-best 16 points.  Center Alexis Joseph added 10 points for CP, which sank nine three-point goals.

The Crown Point junior varsity improved to 6-0 with a 50-14 win over Hanover and they were set to face Lowell's undefeated junior varsity (5-0) Tuesday night.

Chesterton starting guard Brooke Gardner, who averaged 9.3 points over her first three games, tore an ACL and is probably out for the season.  In theory, if all goes well, she could be back on the court in two months at the Valparaiso Sectional.  But sitting out virtually the entire season and then playing effectively is not a realistic scenario.

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Revised: December 02, 2009 .