Pruzin, Isailovich lead Lady Bulldogs to 42-30 win over Chesterton
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Saturday,  Jan. 18, 2003 in Crown Point

CHESTERTON (30)  Holly Melton 1-0-2, Shea Bardeson 2-0-5, Kate Cartwright 2-0-5, Mandi Loving 1-2-4, Stephanie Boyle 1-5-7, Cat Campbell 0-2-2, Alicia Babcock 1-0-2, Ali Hall 0-1-1, Kelly Pellar 1-0-2, Christina Vidimos 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 9-10-30.
FTS: 10-14, 71. 4 percent (Boyle 5-6, Campbell 2-2, Loving 2-3)
REBOUNDS: Boyle - 8
STEALS: Campbell - 3
ASSISTS: Bardeson - 3
FOULED OUT: Mandy Loving (4th Q - 1:33 left) Holly Melton (3rd Q - 0:33 left).
3-POINT GOALS (2) Shea Bardeson, Kate Cartwright.

CROWN POINT (42)  Cassie Pruzin 5-6-17, Blayre Reeves 0-1-1, Allison Isailovich 5-3-16, Jill Weiand 0-0-0,  Kaitlyn Sertich 2-0-4, Jen McMullin 1-1-3, Keri Cuculich 0-1-1, Kathleen Fredericks 0-0-0, Jessica Herdt 0-0-0, Missy Cooper 0-0-0, Danielle Brueck 0-0-0, Mallory Michaels 0-0-0, Stephanie Sandilla  0-0-0, Lauren Rhodes 0-0-0.    TOTALS: 13-12-42.

FTS: 12-24, 50 percent   (Isailovich 3-9, Pruzin 6-7, Sertich 0-1, McMullin 1-3, Reeves 1-2, Cuculich 1-2)
REBOUNDS: McMullin - 7
ASSISTS:  Pruzin - 4
STEALS:  Pruzin - 9
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (4)  Allison Isailovich 3, Pruzin.

CHESTERTON, IN (1-18-2003) -  The expectations for Crown Point girls basketball are so high, there's a tendency to speak more of what they could do than what they've done.  For once, let's look the other way.

With Saturday night's 42-30 victory over Chesterton (9-9), the Lady Bulldogs again reached the 10 victory mark for the 20-game regular season, the 21st time they've done that in coach Tom May's 23 years.  With a team that has no true center, a sophomore point guard and no one averaging as many as 10 points a game, Crown Point has again made themselves a player in region girls basketball.

"Everybody's getting better," said Tom May.  "Merrillville's getting better because they have a 6-2 girl in the middle.  Give me the same size kids and see how we'd do.  Chesterton and us, everybody we play is bigger than us."

Player for player, (except for Pruzin) Chesterton has as good a team as the Lady Bulldogs.  But when CP hit them with multiple defenses at the start of the game, the Trojans, who shoot less than 35 percent from the field for the season, scored only 13 first half points and trailed by 17.

Pruzin and Allison Isailovich combined for 15 first half points with the 5-7 point guard in the role of penetrator and distributor and the 5-9 Isailovich scoring off the wing.

"I was mad at some of our intensity early in the week," said May. "I told them that if you play like you're practicing, Chesterton's going to beat you by 15 points. Then, we had a real good practice the last two days.  Cassie did a real nice job.  She played really well.  Did a lot of nice things.  She should have had a lot more assists."

May likes Isailovich because she's willing to try to finish offensive plays.  After 15 games, Allison led Crown Point in three-point goals and shots attempted with 113.  In truth, for a starting player, that's not a lot of shots.  (10 shots a game for a scorer is not very many).  "She generates shots," he said. "And she's not our most athletic player.  But she took her own opportunities.  If she'd have made her free throws (she was only 3-of-9), she'd have had a 20-point game."

"I'm probably the only person on the team shooting better from three-point range, than I am from two-point range," Allison said later.  "He (May) told us that Chesterton was going to kill us.  He said that Cat Campbell was going to score a lot of points on Pruzin and that we couldn't handle them man-to-man.  But Cassie said she was going to shut down Cat Campbell and she did.  He said that Kaitlyn Sertich and I were going to have to do everything else (on the perimeter)."

"I think he (May) was happy his predictions didn't come true."

Chesterton got into foul trouble early with Holly Melton picking up four fouls in the first half.  5-9 forward Mandi Loving was also in early foul trouble and CP keyed on 5-8 junior guard Cat Campbell, who scored five three point baskets (and 23 points) in a 48-36 upset victory over Lafayette Jefferson two weeks ago.  Campbell (9.5 ppg.) did not score from the field for just the third time (McCutcheon, Valpo and CP) all season.

The second half was ugly as CP worked on their delay offense and Chesterton continued their offensive futility.  The Trojans were called for 23 fouls and they were upset by many of the calls.  Crown Point should have scored 60 points but, again, there's those high expectations.

CP NOTES:  Cassie Pruzin scored 17 points with nine steals and four assists. "That was her best game by far," said JV coach Scott Reid.  "She could have had a lot more."

Sertich started for the first time this season.  A 5-3 sophomore, she has played along side Pruzin for many years and the two appear very comfortable together.  "Kaitlyn made her first start," said May.  "She was nervous.  She probably had a nightmare game offensively but she was very good on defense."

The Trojans were held to a season-low nine field goals, coming off a 43-36 loss to Highland.

Chesterton has only three games to play in the final four weeks of the season.

The Purdue University cheerleaders with a couple of Crown Point graduates on the squad, entertained the crowd of about 1,000 at half-time.  Five members of Crown Point's 1997 state finalist team (Gail Weilbaker, Sarah Little, Jen Urbanski, Angie Babjak and Jennifer Sanders) posed for pictures before and after the game. All are college graduates now with Weilbaker (freshman volleyball) and Babjak (8th grade basketball) coaching in the Crown Point school system.

Saturday night's opponent, four-time state champion Bishop Luers moved to 14-4 on the season with a  47-43 victory over Northrup Friday night.

2003 CROWN POINT (10-6, 4-1)
Coach Tom May (23 years -378-128)
Start times are JV starting times

11-15-2002:  74-19 Hebron (5-11)
11-16-2002:  40-47  at Andrean (9-6)
11-22-2002:  55-30 Kankakee Valley (7-10)
11-23-2002:  52-30 at Munster (3-14)
11-29-2002:  42-46 Warsaw  (15-1)
12-3-2002:  34-53 Lowell (9-7)
12-6-2002:  47-28 at PORTAGE (9-7)
12-13-2002:  50-44 MERRILLVILLE (10-6)
12-14-2002:  55-49 at Boone Grove (13-3)
12-21-2002:  41-44 at Valparaiso (9-6)

Lady Bulldog Shootout (with Martinsville, Carroll and Noblesville)
12-28-2002:  40-41 Carroll (13-4)
12-28-2002:  32-40 Martinsville (7-11) 3rd place

1-3-2003:  39-47 at Highland (13-0)
1-4-2003:  62-22 at Hanover Central (6-10)
1-10-2003:  46-44 MICHIGAN CITY (5-10)
1-18-2003:  42-30  CHESTERTON (9-9)

1-24-2003 (F) at LaPORTE (2-13) 6 p.m.
1-25-2003 (S) Bishop Luers (14-4)  6 p.m.
2-1-2003 (S) HOBART (8-8) 6 p.m.
2-4-2003 (Tu) at Lake Central (9-3) 6 p.m.

Portage (4A) Sectional
2-11-2003 (Tu) Quarterfinals  (6 or 8 p.m.)
2-14-2003 (F) Semifinals  (6 of 8 p.m.)
2-15-2003 (S) Championship  (7:30 p.m.)

Valparaiso (4A) Regional
2-22-2003 (S) Semifinals  (11a.m.)
2-22-2003 (S) Championship  (7 p.m.)

Plymouth (4A) Semistate
3-1-2003 (S) Semistate championship (TBA)