Merrillville is tested by Lady Bulldogs but comes out on top, 63-49 in regular season finale

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
02-05-2010

MERRILLVILLE (19-1)  Raveen Murray 7-2-16, Bryonna Davis 7-3-20, Tracee Mitchell 10-0-20, Latoi Merriweather 1-0-2, Lydia Hawkins 2-1-5, Jasmyne Miller 0-0-0, Jasmine Wade 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  28 (6-17) 63.

CROWN POINT (49)  Kelly Gross 3-1-10, Courtney Kvachkoff 3-1-7, Madeline Moore 2-0-4, Michaela Prough 3-0-6, Lisa Kurth 1-0-2, Kendall Brown 6-0-15, Hayley Bordui 2-0-5, Alle Geisen 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  20 (2-8) 49.

FREE THROWS:  MERRILLVILLE (6-17, 35.2%) Murray 2-4, Davis 3-6, Mitchell 0-5, Hawkins 1-2; CROWN POINT (2-8, 25%) Gross 1-2, Kvachkoff 1-6.

REBOUNDS:  MERRILLVILLE (31) Mitchell 13, Hawkins 6, Murray 4, Davis 2, Merriweather 3, Miller 3; CROWN POINT (35) Prough 9, Brown 7, Kvachkoff 6, Moore 4, Gross 3, Kurth 3, Geisen 2, Bordui.

ASSISTS:  MERRILLVILLE (7) Murray 3, Davis 2, Merriweather 2; CROWN POINT (8) Gross 2, Kvachkoff, Prough, Geisen, Kurth.

3-GOALS:  MERRILLVILLE (3) Bryonna Davis 3; CROWN POINT (7) Kelly Gross 3, Kendall Brown 3, Haylei Bordui.

Crown_Point_Lady_Bulldogs_Season_Final_Statistics_02-16-2010.pdf

CROWN POINT, IN (02-04-2010)  It was a good game.  It was an entertaining game.  But you just got the feeling that both teams (and occasionally the referees) had more important things on their minds.

If Crown Point plays for an entire game the way they did in the third quarter, they'll be a factor in next week's Class 4A sectional 2.  If sixth-ranked Merrillville plays for an entire game the way they did in the fourth quarter, the Pirates will sweep 4A Sectional 2.  But the likelihood is that neither will happen.  This was a season-finale played on a Thursday night between teams that frankly, are tired of playing each other.  With that said, both teams got something good out of Merrillville's 63-49 victory in the final girls game at CPHS this season.

Crown Point (10-10), which was 30 points behind in a 68-51 loss at Merrillville on Dec. 29, was tied 42-42 after three quarters last Thursday night and they trailed just 52-49 with two minutes left.  That's a moral victory.

But Merrillville (19-1), which completed a 13-1 record in the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC), ran up and down the CP floor like they owned it at times in the second and fourth quarters and you just got the feeling they were waiting for the playoffs to start.

"I hope that's true," said Merrillville coach Amy Govert, "who thought her team went to sleep somewhat in the third period.  "We were moving the ball.  We were going by them and then we just stopped.  Plus we let them get some wide open shots.  We know who their shooters are and we're letting her (Kelly Gross) shoot from the corner.  That's her shot and we were letting her have it.  I don't know why."

CP coach Mike Cronkhite was not happy with the final score, but he knows that even that margin shows improvement over the earlier slaughter.

"We were down three points with 1:40 left," he said.  "We were right where wanted to be.  Against a team that is arguably the best in Northwest Indiana."

There are a lot of similarities between Hobart (18-2) and Merrillville and this game was as good a preparation for CP's quarterfinal sectional opponent as they could find.

"We told the girls, 'You are playing Hobart tonight,'" added Cronkhite.  And we were 41-41 going to the fourth quarter.  We sat back in our zone and got them to throw up some shots. They (Bryonna) Davis hit a couple.  But we were right with them.  We missed some shots.  We missed a lot of free throws.  And they pulled away.  But I think we've got a chance to beat Hobart and that's all we're going to think about now."

Merrillville jumped to leads of 6-0 and 10-3, but Crown Point bounced back with two first quarter three-point baskets from junior guard Kelly Gross.  In a fast paced, turnover friendly first half, the Pirates' Tracee Mitchell scored the final two baskets of the first half to give her side a 28-21 lead.

But the Lady Bulldogs rallied behind 6-foot sophomore Michaela Prough, who scored all six of her points in the third quarter as CP forged ties at 28-28, 32-32 and finally 41-41.  CP's 1-3-1 zone seemed to slow Merrillville, but it may have been that CP just influenced the Pirates to be impatient, something a team with no one taller than 5-foot-9 cannot be.

With the Pirates leading 51-48, largely on 20 second half points by the 5-foot-7 high speed guard Davis, CP had at least four possessions and failed to score.  Merrillville then picked up the fast break pace and scored the next eight points to ice the game.

"I'll be glad when she (Davis) graduates and we don't have to see her anymore," said Cronkhite, who knows a CP upset over Hobart probably means a third CP-Merrillville game in the sectional semifinals.  "She's got another gear she can go to.  But we're not worried about them right now.  We're playing Hobart.  They haven't seen us all year like all these other teams.  We wanted to be playing our best at the end of the season and I don't know how anyone could say we're not."

CPLB NOTES:  Merrillville's 19-1 regular season record is the best in the history of the program and it was accomplished without guard Melanie Stubbs, projected to be the team's second-leading scorer, who was out all season.  The Pirates have no one taller than 5-foot-9 Tracee Mitchell on their varsity, yet they were 19-1 and 10-0 at home.

"I'm very proud of this team," said coach Amy Govert.  "Nobody thought we'd do much this year."

The problems they pose is two-fold.  Raveen Murray, who is listed as being 5-foot-7 (but appears smaller) has a crossover dribble that just blows by people.  If she could teach that, she'd never have to go out and get a real job.

"She's always been able to do that," said Govert.  "She's had a bad couple of games where she's taken some bad shots.  She's struggling and I don't know why.  But even with that, she had 16 points tonight."

Bryonna Davis, who averages 20.2 points per game, was scoreless at halftime and Govert didn't say anything about it.

"Oh, she knew," said the coach.  "We just stopped going to the basket.  I thought we could go by them (CP's perimeter defenders) whenever we wanted to.  We just stopped doing it.  We can't play that way next week.  We can't let teams stay in the game with us."

Crown Point's Kelly Gross hit three more three-point baskets to give her a total of 34 for the 20-game regular season.  Kendall Brown also sank three three-pointers to finish the 20 games with 28 bonus balls.  As a ream, CP sank 81 three-point shots in 20 games.  The Lady Bulldogs shot about 30% from behind the arc.  Courtney Kvachkoff was 1-of-6 from the foul line against Merrillville which was odd, because she was 37 of 56 (66.1%) in the first 19 games.

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Revised: March 21, 2010 .