Class 4A, Sectional 2 Championship Game - Saturday, 2-12-2005 at Chesterton

CROWN POINT (42) Kaitlyn Sertich 3-2-8, Jill Weiand 1-0-2, Hannah Plumley 2-1-6, Stephanie Poulos 1-0-2, Anjellica Respond 0-1-1, Cassie Pruzin 7-6-23, Jackie Clements 0-0-0, Kaitlin Sautter 0-0-0, Courtney Perry 0-0-0, Michelle Lipton 0-0-0, Ashley Zaucha 0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-10-42.

VALPARAISO (45) Lauren Prow 2-0-5, Ashley Glaser 2-0-5, Lindsey Humes 1-5-7, Cassie Kerns 3-7-13, Erica Humes 5-3-13, Grace Sutherland 1-0-2, Brittany Woldt 0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-15-45.

FREE THROWS - CROWN POINT (10-18, 61.1%) Sertich 2-2, Plumley 1-2, Pruzin 6-7, Weiand 0-3, Respond 1-4. VALPARAISO (15-18, 83.3%) Kerns 6-6, Lindsey Humes 5-6, Erica Humes 4-4, Glaser 0-2.

ASSISTS – CROWN POINT (7) Pruzin 4, Sertich 3. VALPARAISO (6) Kerns 2, Erica Humes 2 , Lindsey Humes, Prow.

TURNOVERS – CROWN POINT (2-5-3-3) 13; VALPARAISO (2-6-3-2) 13

THREE-POINT GOALS - CROWN POINT (4) Pruzin 3, Plumley. VALPO (2) Prow, Glaser.

Class 4A, Sectional 2 Semifinal Game - Friday, 2-11-2005 at Chesterton

CROWN POINT (49) Kaitlyn Sertich 2-0-4, Jill Weiand 5-2-13, Hannah Plumley 4-5-13, Stephanie Poulos 0-0-0, Anjellica Respond 1-0-2, Cassie Pruzin 5-4-15, Jackie Clements 0-0-0, Kaitlin Sautter 1-0-2, Courtney Perry 0-0-0, Michelle Lipton 0-0-0, Ashley Zaucha 0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-11-49.

MERRILLVILLE (45) Melissa Borom 2-3-8, Brittany Huish 0-0-0, Brittany Ursey 0-0-0, Angie East 0-0-0, Brittney Moore 2-3-7, Tamara Gaddy 1-0-2, Candace Wright 1-7-10, Britney Cruse 7-1-17, Britney Curry 0-1-1. TOTALS: 13-15-45.

FREE THROWS - CROWN POINT (11-21, 52.3%) Sertich 0-1, Pruzin 4-8, Plumley 5-6, Weiand 2-6, Sertich 0-1. MERRILLVILLE (15-20, 75%) Borom 3-4, Moore 3-4, Wright 7-8, Cruse 1-2, Curry 1-2.

ASSISTS – CROWN POINT (11) Sertich 7, Pruzin 3, Weiand; MERRILLVILLE (4) Borom 2, Moore, Wright.

TURNOVERS (by quarter) CROWN POINT (2-2-2-5) 11; MERRILLVILLE (4-5-2-2) 13.

THREE-POINT GOALS - CROWN POINT (3) Plumley 2, Pruzin.  MERRILLVILLE (4) Cruse 2, Wright, Borom

FOULED OUT - MERRILLVILLE (1) Angela East (4^th Q) 0:53 left.

CROWN POINT (2-12-2005) - You'd rather play and lose a great game than win a mediocre one.

But I don't expect any great groundswell at Crown Point high school next week rushing to adopt that philosophy.

“When you play teams like this,” said 25^th year Crown Point coach Tom May after his side's 45-42 last-second loss to sixth-ranked Valparaiso. “You've got to get some breaks. What you hope doesn't happen is that the team that was favored, gets the breaks.”

That's what happened Saturday night in the 2005 Chesterton Class 4A Sectional championship game.

The better team won and the luckier team also won.

With the score tied at 42-42 and 2,000 fans on their feet in the brightly lit Chesterton gym, Valparaiso star Cassie Kerns turned in the foul lane to shoot for the win with eight seconds. Crown Point double-teamed the 6-foot-3 Vikings' top scorer and Bulldog sophomore Anjellica Respond blocked her shot.

The loose ball bounced back out beyond the three-point line to unknown and nondescript senior 5-6 Ashley Glaser, whose time had apparently come. Glaser knew that, 1.) The clock was running out and 2.) In a tie game, she had nothing to lose.

The little blond girl hoisted a long range shot-put like attempt off her right shoulder and the orange ball hit the back on the rim. Bouncing perhaps 10 feet into the air as players jockeyed for position under the basket, the ball clearly touched one of the support wires that held up the glass backboard at the Chesterton gymnasium. Amazingly, the ball then fell directly down through the net without touching the rim, giving Glaser a three-point goal and Valparaiso a three-point win.

“She's not what we consider a three-point shooter,” admitted a smiling Valparaiso coach Greg Kirby, watching his girls' post game celebration. “Of course, that wasn't really a shot. 'It was more of a throw. Luckily, she shot it straight because if it wasn't straight, it wouldn't have a chance to bounce in like it did. I have no idea whether it hit the chord. I've asked and I've gotten a 50-50 response.”

Kirby clearly asked 50 percent Valparaiso people.

“The shot did hit the wire,” said May. “And (Cassie) Pruzin also picked the girl clean at midcourt with 12 seconds and they called that a foul.”

In what was another crucial play, Crown Point's Pruzin, who had scored 15 of her game-high 23 points in the second half, reached across the front of Glaser and tapped the ball behind her as the Valpo guard was dribbling laterally parallel to the time line.

With the score tied, Pruzin grabbed the ball behind Glaser and raced towards the basket only to be halted when a foul was called. The 5-7 CP senior would have scored uncontested with about five second to go, leaving the Vikings (21-1) with only hope. The steal appeared to be clean to about 1,000 Lady Bulldog fans but the 'slap away' steal on a moving dribbler almost always looks clean from a distance.

“We stopped (Erica) Humes from making all the decisions,” said May. “We wanted to get other girls to handle the ball. Defensively, we played our butts off. I thought we made them work hard for everything.”

“Keys to the game were, free throws. We were one-up, two-up and we missed throws. You can't miss throws. At the end, we only had five (team) fouls on us. We told Pruzin and (Kaitlyn) Sertich to shoot (go for the steal), make it clean. If you get the foul, you had six.

“Pruzin went for the steal and she said she never touched her. Never touched her. Once in while, you've got to let the kids determine the game. Then, at the end, we get a great double-team on Kerns and the ball rolls out and they get a three-point shot.”

This was a classic game played in front of two enthusiastic cheering sections. Valparasio jumped to leads of 10-5 and 22-11 as the trio of 6-3 Cassie Kerns, 6-2 Lindsey Humes and 6-0 Erica Humes made open shots difficult.

But Pruzin drove the length of the floor for a three-point play to start a Bulldog rally. Two jump shots for five points by 5-8 junior Hannah Plumley brought the CP crowd, which included the boys basketball team, behind the west basket, into the game.

With lead guard Erica Humes in foul trouble, CP was able to force a half dozen second quarter Valpo turnovers and close to within 25-23 at the half. Actually, CP's Jill Weiand was fouled as the second quarter ended but the CP senior missed two free throws with no time on the clock.

The Lady Bulldogs, who had lost earlier contests 50-39 and 36-26 to Valpo, continued to rally as the third quarter began. Switching from man-to-man, zone and trapping presses, CP scored the first six points of the third period to take a 29-25 lead with 5:07 left in the quarter.

Valparaiso rallied with Erica Humes scoring a three-point play for a 32-31 lead before Pruzin's driving layup gave the Bulldogs a 33-32 lead after three quarters. Bulldog missed free throws sparked a 6-0 run for Valparaiso at the start of the final period as Kerns began to aggressively post up down low instead of playing a face-the-basket forward. Kerns, who was 7-of-8 from the foul line, sank a short turnaround shot for a 37-33 Viking edge.

CP responded with six points in a row including a 20-foot three-point shot by Pruzin to create a 37-37 tie. Erica Humes scored another three-point play after blocking a shot by Pruzin and Valpo regained the lead at 40-39 with 2:06 to go.

Down the stretch, Pruzin, who is an 85% foul shooter, missed the second of two foul shots with 1:56 left, leaving the game tied 40-40. Kerns fed Prow for a 12-foot shot and a 42-40 lead but Pruzin scored on a driving layup to tie the game 42-42 with 34 seconds remaining.

Pruzin's attempted steal was called a foul with 12 seconds to play before Valpo got the ball to Kerns early enough for Glaser to have time for a rebound three-point attempt.

It was the fourth consecutive season that Valparaiso had eliminated CP at the sectional level. This game was nothing like last year's 53-36 Valpo win in Crown Point but it was oddly reminiscent of Valpo's 41-38 victory three years ago in the Portage Sectional when Allison Isailovich's three-point half court shot that even Valparaiso people later admitted was good, was ruled by game refs to be after the third quarter clock had run out.

In that game, Valpo senior Kelly Compton sank what would be her only career three-point shot, a desperation three-point goal with five seconds left in the quarter.

But CP can also blame this loss on 10-of-18 free throw shooting. Valparaiso cleaned up from the foul line while the Lady Bulldogs, who were just 11-of-21 in the 49-44 sectional semifinal win over Merrillville (12-10) 24 hours earlier, sank just 10-of-18 gift points against Valpo.

“That's a strength of ours,” said Kirby. “We shoot about 70 from the line for the season. That was a big factor tonight. You've got to give Pruzin credit. She's fantastic. I read in the paper where she didn't think she's played well over the second half of the season. Well, she played very well tonight. They rattled us. We were able to pull it back together after they had us disorganized.”

“What we told them was that we wanted nothing left in the locker room,” said May. “We wanted everything left on the floor. We've got girls who are so tired they can't move. We played against girls four or five inches taller than us and we still had a chance to beat them.”

May had earlier said that Valpo was the region's best team from day one and he wasn't surprised with news that East Chicago (20-2), the only team ranked ahead of Valparaiso in state polls, was eliminated at the EC sectional on the same night.

But he also said that losing to three-time defending 4A sectional champ and the region's best team did not soften the blow.

“There's no consolation,” said May. “The game was in our hands. We were up three or four and shooting to be up by five or six. If we go up five or six, we can (spread the floor) and go up 10 or 15. Every game comes down to three or four things and we didn't take advantage of the chances we had.”

CP's Jill Weiand spoke for the team when she was asked if there was any part of the game she'd like to get the chance to do over again. “How about that last shot?” she smiled.

SECTIONAL NOTES:  Tom May has an officiating class at Crown Point and, before the game, he talked to them about some of the different varsity gymnasiums.

“I told them there are two gyms in NW Indiana with construction flaws,” he began. “LaPorte and Chesterton. The center strap above the basket extended straight out. There's supposed to be an additional piece that hooks on the basket that pulls the strap back at a 90-degree angle and the ball cannot touch it. Every gym has that other than LaPorte and Chesterton.”

“It's ironic we say that and then the ball hits the rim. We have three officials. Once the ball hits the strap, it's automatically out of bounds. But we have two outside officials and nobody sees it.”

Boone Grove, which had beaten Crown Point in overtime earlier in the year, was eliminated by Wheeler 55-49 at the 2A Boone Grove sectional.

The same four teams that advanced to the 2004 4A Valparaiso regional will again be there on Feb. 19. Elkhart Memorial (16-6) will take on Gary West Side (19-4), a 46-42 winner over East Chicago in the EC Sectional final.

Powerhouse South Bend Washington (19-3) will take on Valparaiso in Saturday's other 4A regional semifinal.

In 2004, Valparaiso rallied to beat Memorial 47-44 in the final minutes and then routed Gary West Side 55-37 for the regional title. West Side had beaten Washington 73-60. Washington is 59-7 over the last three years. West Side and Valparaiso have met at the regional level for three years in a row with Valpo wining two out of three.

CROWN POINT Girls Basketball (17-6)

	Coach Tom May  (25 years, 421-151 )
	Start times are Varsity starting times

Date	Location ALL CAPS = Duneland Athletic Conference game	Time / Result
Nov. 12	Hebron {1A}	W, 67-48
Nov. 13	Kankakee Valley {3A}	W, 60-24
Nov. 19	at PORTAGE {4A	W, 63-21
Nov. 20	Warsaw {4A}	W, 58-53
Nov. 26	CHESTERTON {4A}	W, 55-35
Nov. 30	Lowell {4A}	W, 60-42
Dec. 3	at LaPORTE {4A‡	W, 41-30
Dec. 10	LAKE CENTRAL {4A}‡	W, 53-38
Dec. 11	at Boone Grove {2A}	(OT) L, 52-57
Dec. 14	VALPARAISO {4A}‡	L, 26-36
Dec. 17	at MICHIGAN CITY {4A}‡	W, 54-42
Dec. 18	at Hanover Central {2A}	W, 67-34
Dec. 29	at MERRILLVILLE  {4A}‡	L, 39-66
Jan. 5	PORTAGE {4A}‡	W, 53-23
Jan. 8	at CHESTERTON {4A}‡	L, 23-48
Jan. 14	at LAKE CENTRAL {4A}‡	W, 46-42
Jan. 21	MICHIGAN CITY {4A}‡	W, 73-37
Jan. 25	LaPORTE {4A}‡	W, 54-48
Jan. 28	at VALPARAISO {4A}‡	L, 39-50
Feb. 4	MERRILLVILLE {4A}‡	W, 68-34
Feb. 8	Hobart {4A} at Chesterton Sectional Quarterfinal	W, 49-44
Feb. 11	MERRILLVILLE {4A} at Chesterton Sectional Semifinal	W, 49-45
Feb. 12	VALPARAISO at Chesterton Sectional Championship	L , 42-45

 

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Revised: February 21, 2005 .