Tuesday, 11-30-2004 at Crown Point

LOWELL (42) Kelly Johnson 1-0-2, Bailey Wagner 3-0-6, Rachel Thiel 3-4-10, Ashley Cosentino 2-7-12, Julie Swisher 5-0-12, Michelle Johnson 0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-11-42

CROWN POINT (60) Kaitlyn Sertich 2-1-6, Jill Weiand 4-1-9, Hannah Plumley 4-0-8, Courtney Perry 1-4-6, Cassie Pruzin 5-2-15, Stephanie Poulos 1-0-2, Anjellica Respond 2-0-4, Kaitlin Sautter 4-0-8, Amanda Moore 1-0-2, Jackie Clements 0-0-0, Michelle Lipton 0-0-00, Katie Kvachkoff 0-0-0. TOTALS: 24-8-60.

THREE POINT GOALS: LOWELL (3) Julie Swisher 2, Ashley Cosentino; CROWN POINT (4) Cassie Pruzin 3, Kaitlyn Sertich.

CROWN POINT (11-30-2004) - For Crown Point, this was just another game. They played well enough to win against a team they should have beaten. For Lowell, it's the first step up the mountain.

Since Lowell last played two weeks ago, two of their first seven players, forward Wendy Broukal and guard Whitney Magley have been ruled out for the season for different reasons. A team that was only going to go with predominately seven players, as far back as the preseason, now has that core group cut down to the minimum.

That puts Lowell's 60-42 loss at undefeated Crown Point in a different light. Lowell used center Rachel Theil and guards Bailey Wagner, Julie Swisher, Ashley Cosentino and Kelly Johnson almost the entire way and never trailed by more than 20 on CP's home floor.

If CP has one of the top 20 Class 4A teams in the state, which the state polls indicate, Lowell (2-1), which suffered their first loss of the season, is a significantly improved, albeit significantly smaller, squad.

“First of all, I want to give Lowell all the credit in the world,” said CP coach Tom May. “They played hard. We just told our kids, 'They outhustled you. they out rebounded you, they outscrapped you. They played harder than you the entire game.”

“The only kid we had that hustled every minute she was in was (Cassie) Pruzin. Everybody else was out there. People say you're sluggish. People are waiting for everything to happen and then feeling sorry for themselves. Cassie didn't score in the second half because she was the only one penetrating and making passes. Everybody else did nothing.”

Lowell coach Patti McCormack didn't want to dwell on the short roster because it isn't something that's going to change any time soon.

“We've got to go harder on the boards,” she said. “We've got to get some ownership of the boards. Even though we're little. We've got to get in front and block people out. Our cuts have to get sharper. Everybody knows that when you get tired, your cuts get slower. We've got to get the ball inbounds.”

“I still say that when we get a couple of holes patched, we're going to be hard to reckon with. We don't have a lot of guys. We need one more big banger inside. We need to get Kelly outside. She and Ashley in tandem do a great job.”

“We had some quarters,” she said. “We had Mel (Smith) and Michelle (Johnson) for a couple of quarters after the JV game (you are allowed five quarters total) but, for the most part, we know the starting five is going to be out there. We've got to be the best conditioned team in northern Indiana. We have two choices. We can either start kicking the dirt and talking about how this isn't fair or we can move the dirt.”

“If you can beat our five, you're going to beat us. We've got to stick that on every team. I'm thrilled with the ones that we have. We have a boat load of talent and all kinds of potential and it's going to be a much different story next year when we have a senior heavy team.”

“We lost Whitney in one day and then we lost Broukal the next day. Back to back. We pulled the kids in right then and I said this is a defining moment for this team. We can talk about what we don't have or we can talk about what we do have.”

Lowell stayed even through the first quarter and trailed just 14-11 when senior Bailey Wagner hit a 12-foot jump shot from the right baseline. CP, which used different full court presses throughout the game, then scored 12 points in a row with Cassie Pruzin recording seven of her school record 13 steals in the first half. But Cosentino, Lowell's 5-2 junior guard, drove to the basket and picked up fouls, sinking four consecutive free throws to spark a 6-0 run that closed the lead to 31-19 at halftime.

The Devils were within 35-24 with 5:40 left in the third period before CP started a 10-2 run to end the period 45-28. Even though Lowell sank just 11 of 21 free throws, CP never led by more than 20 and the final quarter was virtually even as Lowell's tiring starters faced 12 different CP players.

“Crown Point does an excellent job in the full court and the half court,” said McCormack, “and we aren't as big as they are yet. But we're faster than almost anyone we'll see and how many times did we shake free tonight. We have the best shooting team we've had at Lowell since I've been there. Sometimes we shoot better off the move. This was a great time for us to see Crown Point. We're going to see presses. We now understand the stamina level it's going to take. The place that you can't give up is in the first 10 feet (in bounds). That's where our cuts got weak and CP smelled that and they leaned on us."

"And they do that. Tom always has a great pressing team. Pruzin had a great night shooting. She's been on and off but tonight she got hot. And I think Kelly, at times, gave her a little room and she started making them. She did a great job coming off the screen and, once she's playing anybody else but us, I'm glad to see her knocking it down.”

May didn't like the fact that Lowell, basically with five players, did not wear out and get buried by Crown Point, which used 11 players. But his words hinted that he still had high hopes for this season.

“The good thing was that we played one of our poorest effort games,” said May. “And we still won by 20.”

NOTES:  Hobart nipped Lowell 45-43 in overtime Friday night (Dec. 3) in the Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) opener. Julie Swisher led the Devils with 14 as only the starting five for Lowell scored points.

Senior Kelly Glidewell, a 5-10 forward, scored 20 points for Hobart (4-2), which lost 31-29 to undefeated Gary West Side.

Crown Point advanced to 7-0 on the season with a 41-30 victory at LaPorte (2-5). Kaitlyn Sertich (12) and Cassie Pruzin (11) combined for 23 points but CP needed a 22-10 second half to pull away. The total of 41 points was a season low for the Bulldogs who play three games in five days next weekend against Lake Central (2-4) on Dec. 10, Boone Grove (6-0) on Dec. 11 and Valparaiso (6-1) on Dec. 14.

Lowell's Wendy Broukal had to leave Lowell because her family moved out of the state. She wanted to stay with her grandmother in Crown Point so she could finish the year playing basketball but the school denied her eligibility so she chose to go with her parents.

Lowell's Whitney Magley, who has had back problems since she's been at the high school, has been diagnosed with a minor form of a major injury. “Actually, I have a broken back,” Whitney said at the CP game. “That's what the doctor said. He said he was amazed that I was playing with it.” Magley, who plays volleyball, basketball and softball for Lowell, has been playing since August even though she's had to take time off when the pain became too much. At the basketball scrimmage, she would be fine for a few minutes and then would be in pain and have to sit down.

“I'm going to be in a (walking) cast for three months,' said Magley, “They think it might heal by itself. If not, I have to have surgery.”

So Lowell lost two regulars permanently in a two day span during their 14-day layoff that was caused by postponements of games with Hanover Central and Andrean.

Lowell will use Kelly Johnson's twin sister, soccer regular Michelle Johnson, a 5-6 sophomore as a backup forward. The Devils need 5-10 sophomore soccer player Jen Sharkey and 6-1 freshman Kim Bell to get to the point where they can play varsity but wishing won't make it so.

“When they get meaner,” said McCormack. “I'm pulling them aside and telling them. Sharkey has the best offensive moves of any post we have. But she will not knock anybody silly and until she's willing to do that, she's not going on the floor.

“Bell has the prettiest shot in the post that I've ever seen. You saw Brooke's shot. (Kim Bell is the younger sister of 2004 graduate and two-year varsity starter Brooke Bell) Kim's can do the same thing. But if you can't bang people around, it doesn't matter what you can give us on offense. We're fishing. We can't be discouraged. I still think we're going to be good.”

Crown Point last won seven consecutive games during the 2001 season when they won nine in a row between Dec. 7 and Jan. 20. CP was 20-4 that season, losing the regional championship game to Highland, which lost at the semistate level.

The Lady Bulldogs won their first seven games in the 1991 season when they finished 20-3. They obviously also won their first seven during the undefeated 1984 state championship season.

CROWN POINT Girls Basketball

	Coach Tom May  (25 years, 411-145)
	Start times are Varsity starting times
Date	Location ALL CAPS = Duneland Athletic Conference game	Time

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}‡	7:30 pm
Dec. 11	at Boone Grove {2A}	7:30 pm
Dec. 14	VALPARAISO {4A}‡	7:30 pm
Dec. 17	at MICHIGAN CITY {4A}‡	7:30 pm
Dec. 18	at Hanover Central {2A}	7:30 pm
Dec. 29	at MERRILLVILLE  {4A}‡	6:00 pm
Jan. 5	PORTAGE {4A}‡	7:30 pm
Jan. 8	at CHESTERTON {4A}‡	7:30 pm
Jan. 14	at LAKE CENTRAL {4A}‡	7:30 pm
Jan. 21	MICHIGAN CITY {4A}‡	7:30 pm
Jan. 25	LaPORTE {4A}‡	7:30 pm
Jan. 28	at VALPARAISO {4A}‡	7:30 pm
Feb. 4	MERRILLVILLE {4A}‡	7:30 pm

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Revised: December 05, 2004 .