Lady Bulldogs 2-0 after strong start, including 70-51 win over Kankakee Valley, 69-38 over Hebron

Saturday, November 14, 2009 - Non-conference game  and KV home opener at DeMOTTE, IN

CROWN POINT (70) Kelly Gross 1-2-5, Alle Geisen 2-8-12, Courtney Kvachkoff 5-1-12, Zarah Cecich 2-0-4, Kendall Brown 9-7-28, Lisa Kurth 1-3-5, Alexis Joseph 1-0-2, Hayley Bordui 1-0-2, Tori Connelly 0-0-0. TOTALS: 22 (21-26) 70.

KANKAKEE VALLEY (51) Brandee Hudspeth 5-5-16, Marissa Butler 2-1-5, Hailey Ruesken 2-3-7, Morganne Sytsma 3-2-8,Tiffany Conley 4-3-11, Katrice Patrick 1-0-3, Sammy Sullivan 0-0-0, Tori VanVuren 0-0-0. TOTAL: 17 (15-26) 51.

FREE THROWS: CP (19-26, 80.8%) Kelly Gross 2-2, Alle Geisen 8-8, Courtney Kvachkoff 1-1, Kendall Brown 7-11, Lisa Kurth 3-4; KANKAKEE VALLEY (15-26, 57.6%) Brandee Hudspeth 5-6, Marissa Butler 1-6, Sammy Sullivan 1-2, Hailey Ruesken 3-4, Tiffany Conley 3-4, Morganne Sytsma 2-4.

REBOUNDS: CP (26) Courtney Kvachkoff 8, Hayley Bordui 5, Kelly Gross 4, Alle Geisen 3, Madeline Moore 3, Lisa Kurth 2, Zarah Cecich; KV (35) Hailey Ruesken 9, Morganne Sytsma 7, Tiffany Conley 6, Brandee Hudspeth 4, Marissa Butler 4, Sammy Sullivan 3, Katrice Patrick 2.

ASSISTS: CP (12) Kelly Gross 8, Alle Geisen 2, Courtney Kvachkoff, Kendal Brown; KV (10) Brandee Hudspeth 7, Sammy Sullivan Marissa Butler, Katrice Patrick.

STEALS: CP (13) Courtney Kvachkoff 3, Lisa Kurth 3, Alle Geisen 2, Kelly Gross 2, Hayley Bordui, Kendall Brown, Tori Connelly. KV (7) Brandee Hudspeth 3, Marissa Butler 2, Morganne Sytsma, Tiffany Conley.

3-GOALS: CP (4) Kendall Brown 3, Courtney Kvachkoff, Kelly Gross; KV (2) Brandee Hudspeth, Katrice Patrick.

TURNOVERS: CP (4-4-3-6) 17, KV (5-8-6-7) 26

FOULED OUT: CP (1) Kelly Gross (4th Q) 1:34 left; KV (2) Marissa Butler (4th Q) :40 left; Tiffany Conley (4th Q) :34 left.

Friday, November 13, 2009 - Non-conference game  and season opener at HEBRON, IN

CROWN POINT (69) Kelly Gross 4-0-8, Alle Geisen 4-0-8, Courtney Kvachkoff 3-4-10, Zarah Cecich 0-0-0, Kendall Brown 9-0-20, Lisa Kurth 2-0-4, Alexis Joseph 1-0-2, Hayley Bordui 6-1-14, Tori Connelly 0-1-1. TOTALS: 30 (6-11) 69.

HEBRON (38) Alyssa Sheets 3-1-7, Lynn Tokarski 0-1-1, Julie Huettner 2-0-5, Kara Cunningham 2-0-4, Julie Hogg 3-3-9, Kaylie Asher 1-1-4, Paige Hickenbottom 4-0-8, Hayley Marshall 0-0-0, Christy Reick 0-0-0, Alix Shircliff 0-0-0. TOTAL: 15 (6-17) 38.

FREE THROWS:  CP (6-11, 54.5%) Courtney Kvachkoff 4-6, Kendall Brown 0-1, Hayley Bordui 1-2, Tori Connelly 1-2; HEBRON (6-17, 35.2%) Alyssa Sheets 1-2, Lynn Tokaraski 1-2, Paige Hickenbotham 0-1, Kaylie Asher 1-2, Julie Hogg 3-10.

3-GOALS:  CP (3) Kendall Brown 2, Hayley Bordui; HEBRON (2) Julie Huettner, Kaylie Ashler.

CP freshman guard Hayley Bordui (25) scored 14 points against Hebron, 11-13-2009.  (Photos by Mark Smith)

Zarah Cecich (33) heads up court against KV.  CP broke away from a 29-29 tie to win 70-51.

CP's Mike Cronkhite returned to coaching last weekend after a year as athletic director at Washington Township.

Madeline Moore (32) gets last second instructions from the bench before she heads out to take on KV, 11-14-2009.

WHEATFIELD, IN (11-14-2009) Okay, I know that Crown Point is supposed to defeat Hebron and Kankakee Valley to start the girls basketball season.  That's the way it's set up.  CP has defeated Hebron and KV to start six of the last seven seasons and the only time they didn't was in 2006 when Crown Point football postponed the Hebron game.  But the Lady Bulldogs do look good.  CP followed up a 66-40 win at Hebron Friday night with a 70-51 victory at Kankakee Valley Saturday.

Newcomer Kendall Brown, a 5-foot-9 sophomore wing player who scored 20 in her CP debut on Friday added 28 Saturday night, begging the question: Kendall who?

"She had a great summer," explained new CP coach Mike Cronkhite.  "All she needed was a little confidence.  She hit her first couple of threes against Hebron and you could see her confidence grow.  A sophomore puts up 48 in two games.  That's pretty good."

"She has a great AAU coach, added Cronkhite.  "She just plays and play and plays.  I hope she doesn't let up."

Against KV, the Lady Bulldogs benefited from 10 first half points from Brown and four assists from junior guard Kelly Gross, but the game was still tied 29-all at halftime.  In the third quarter, CP's 10-player rotation seemed to work on KV, which used seven players primarily.

Trailing 38-37, CP (2-0) mounted an 11-2 run with Brown scoring four baskets off the wing.  Crown Point went with a smaller lineup, including five guards in Gross, Brown, sophomore Courtney Kvachkoff, plus juniors Lisa Kurth and Alle Geisen.  Those five with some defensive aid from junior guard Tori Connelly, helped CP press and run the floor, building a 62-46 lead with 3:57 to play in the game.

"As deep as we are and with the athletes we have, we try to wear them down and outrun them," said Cronkhite.  "I realize we can't do that to everyone.  But we've outrun these two.  Defensively, we want to hold everyone to 50 or under.  We held them to 51 tonight and 38 last night.  I'm not going to be unhappy with that."

Crown Point did not play big forwards Alexis Joseph, Zarah Cecich and Madeline Moore and that was because KV didn't have any real back-to-the-basket players except for 5-foot-10 sophomore Hailey Ruesken.  Even 6-foot KV senior Marissa Butler is not a true center.

"We know when we get in the Duneland Conference, we're going to see 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-6," the new coach reminded.  "They (CP's bigger girls) are going to get their time.  They spread us out and went with five guards so we matched them."

"We're not going to have one kid who scores 25 a night," said Cronkhite.  "We have five or six girls who could score 20 on any given night."

Maybe, but everybody at CP may discover that balanced scoring is overrated.  You don't want to get carried away with the first two games, but Brown, a quick high jumping '2' guard, scored 28 against KV and could have scored 30 if she'd have been shooting better.

"I think she's taking over Daniela's number," said Gross, referring to the Number 22 worn by last year's leading Lady Bulldog scorer Daniela Tarailo, who is now at the University of South Carolina-Aiken.

Gross was cautious about the first two games.

"Our first two nights are usually wins," she said matter-of-factly.  "I'm waiting until we play Portage and Chesterton."

It will be interesting to see if CP can impose their up-tempo game on DAC teams.

Kvachkoff, another 5-foot-9 sophomore, grabbed a team high seven rebounds but still scored 12, her second consecutive double figure night.  Geisen posted a total of 20 in two games and Gross contributed a career-high eight assists at KV.

"Coach (Cronkhite) is all about pushing the ball up and down the floor," Gross said.  "He screams at you if don't do it.  But we're running more.  We're a bunch of guards.  It's easier for us to play that way."

Crown Point opens the season with four games in eight nights and that seems to suit Cronkhite, who came out of a one year 'retirement' as Washington Township's principal to return to coaching after five successful years (82-33 won-loss record) at Kouts.

"It's been a great move," said Cronkhite.  "These kids are fantastic.  The Crown Point community has welcomed me with open arms."

CPLB NOTES:  Crown Point's 5-foot-11 sophomore guard Michaela Prough missed the first two games of the year and was required to sit out Tuesday's home opener with Andrean.

"She had a concussion about a week and a half ago in practice," explained Mike Cronkhite.  "She's been cleared.  She's healthy.  She's ready to play but she has to get her five practices.  She'll be able to play against Portage."

Kankakee Valley senior guard Brandee Hudspeth had 11 points and four assists in the first half.  She scored just five in the second half and some of that was due to CP junior Tori Connelly, who was called on to guard the KV point guard.  Connelly was the 11th CP player to enter the game and she clearly helped a CP defense that collected 26 turnovers.

Crown Point doesn't want to play four games in the first eight days of the season and in the future, they probably won't.

"Mike Malaski (CP's assistant AD) is trying to work out a (future) game the night before Thanksgiving," said Cronkhite.  "On a Wednesday night, that would draw a good crowd. But that's for the future."

2010 CROWN POINT Lady Bulldogs (2-0)
Coach: Mike Cronkhite (1st year) CP was 12-9 last season
JV games at 6:00 p.m., DAC games in CAPS

Nov. 13 (W) 69-38 at Hebron (0-2)
Nov. 14 W) 70-55 at Kankakee Valley (0-2)
Nov. 17 (Tu) Andrean
Nov. 20 (F) PORTAGE
Nov. 27 (F) at CHESTERTON
Nov. 28 (Sat) Hanover Central - 6:30 p.m.
Dec. 1 (Tu) at Lowell
Dec. 4 (F) LaPORTE
Dec. 11 (F) at LAKE CENTRAL
Dec. 12 (Sat) Boone Grove
Dec. 15 (Tu) at VALPARAISO
Dec. 18 (F) at MICHIGAN CITY
Dec. 29 (Tu) at MERRILLVILLE
Jan. 2 (S) at PORTAGE (B/G) DH 6:00 pm
Jan. 8 (F) CHESTERTON (B/G) DH 6:00 pm
Jan. 16 (S) LAKE CENTRAL
Jan. 22 (F) MICHIGAN CITY
Jan. 26 (Tu) at LaPORTE
Jan. 29 (F) VALPARAISO
Feb. 4 (F) MERRILLVILLE

Hobart (4A) Sectional
(with MC, Merrillville, Valpo, Portage, Chesterton, Hobart and LaPorte)

Feb. 8 (Tues) quarterfinals
Feb. 9 (W) quarterfinals
Feb. 11 (F) semifinals
Feb. 12 (Sat) championship