Saturday, 11-13-2004 at Crown Point

KANKAKEE VALLEY (24) Michelle Schurman 2-0-4, Megan Passaloukos 1-2-4, Cassie Cofer 1-2-4, Jamie Anderson 1-0-2, Taryn Porter 0-1-1, Rachel Kickert 0-1-1, Keely Woods 2-0-5, Kirsten Fifield 1-1-3, Michelle Berg 0-0-0, CJ Pollard 0-0-0, Kirah Fifield 0-0-0. TOTALS: 8-7-24.

CROWN POINT (60) Kaitlyn Sertich 5-4-14, Cassie Pruzin 5-7-19m Hannah Plumley 3-0-7, Jill Weiand 2-0-4, Stephanie Poulos 2-0-5, Kaitlin Sauter 0-2-2, Michelle Lipton 1-0-2, Jackie Clements 1-0-2, Katie Kvachkoff 1-0-2, Anjellica Rospond 1-1-3, Courtney Perry 0-0-0, Amanda Moore 0-0-0. TOTALS: 21-14-60

FREE THROWS:  KANKAKEE VALLEY (7-15, 46.6 %) Megan Passaloukos 2-4, Taryn Porter 1-2, Rachel Kickert 1-2, Cassie Coffer 2-3, Kirtsen Fifield 1-2.

CROWN POINT (14-21, 66.7%) Kaitlyn Sertich 4-4, Cassie Pruzin 7-7, Anjellica Rospond 1-2, Kaitlin Sautter 2-6, Jill Weiand 0-2.

REBOUNDS: KV (24) Megan Kickert – 6, Cassie Cofer - 4 CROWN POINT (29) Anjellica Rospond – 8, Hannah Plumley – 6

ASSISTS: KV – Cassie Cofer 2 CROWN POINT – Cassie Pruzin 5, Kaitlyn Sertich 5.

STEALS: KV – Michelle Berg – 3; CROWN POINT -- Cassie Pruzin – 10, Kaitlyn Sertich - 4.

THREE POINT GOALS – KANKAKEE VALLEY (1) Keely Woods; CROWN POINT (4) Cassie Pruzin 2, Hannah Plumley, Stephanie Poulos.

CROWN POINT (11-13-2004) -  Three months from now, no one will remember the first weekend of the basketball season, and most teams will be better for that fact.

The first weekend of back-to-back contests is like the debut of a play. Opening night is often the worst show you'll ever perform.

Football coaches say that teams never improve more that they do between week one and week two.

Unfortunately for Kankakee Valley, CP almost made a quantum leap between game one and game two while the Kougars just jumped up in their level of competition.

It seemed that the Friday night games led to Saturday's CP victory over Kankakee Valley. KV was upset 49-46 at Bishop Noll Friday night while Crown Point had to overcome a first quarter deficit to beat Hebron 67-46. The Lady Bulldogs (2-0) came back 24 hours later and jumped all over KV 60-24 in a nonconference matchup where the home team started and finished with a rush.

“We set the tone early,” said CP coach Tom May. “Cassie (Pruzin) and Kaitlyn (Sertich) really controlled the game. We're a very good pressing team anyway. Now, we're pressing all the time. Last night (against Hebron) we made a lot of mistakes because it was the first time we've gone at it.”

“Last night, they (Hebron) made 10 layups while we tried to figure things out. Tonight, KV got no layups. Even in the third quarter where we had five points for the whole quarter, the shots we took were good shots.”

The key to the game was CP's full court press and the Lady Bulldogs' ability to take the ball away. KV recorded nine first quarter turnovers as the Lady Bulldogs jumped up to a 10-1 lead. CP used 10 plays as the lead increased to 17 points late in the second quarter.

The visitors took advantage of weak shooting by CP to close to within 31-17 in the third period. But the Kougars lost the ball repeatedly in the final period to the ever-changing CP press personnel, and a 17-0 run at the outset of the final quarter guaranteed that the final score would not be close.

“CP's quick,” said KV coach John Gray, “But we threw it (the ball) right to them. I'm disappointed in some of our older players. They should have had more confidence.”

Confidence wasn't a problem for the CP backcourt of Cassie Pruzin and Kaitlyn Sertich, who combined for 32 points and 14 steals.

The CP pressure consistently stopped the basketball and took advantage of turned backs and soft cross court passes. Kankakee Valley had an unofficial 25 turnovers and scored only eight field goals.

The Kougars, a Class 3A school in the Lake Athletic Conference, were, in more ways than one, out of their league against the Duneland Athletic Conference Class 4A Bulldogs.

“Pruzin and Sertich were very good,” said May, who likes to play a heavy schedule early. “Sertich was good last night and both of them were very good tonight. Sertich is much better. More aggressive. She's stealing the ball. Making the passes. Shooting the jump shot. She had 18 last night. 14 tonight.”

“Last night was a tough night for Cassie because it was Parents Night and her mom (who died suddenly over the summer) wasn't here. Kaitlyn picked up the slack for her last night and tonight, Cassie came out ready to go.”

Crown Point's first weekend began with the Lady Bulldogs falling behind 17-14 against Hebron in the season opener. After that first period, the Lady Bulldogs outscored two overmatched opponents 113-55. CP steps up in competition next Friday (Nov. 19-20) when the Lady Bulldogs play at DAC rival Portage and at home against 4A power Warsaw, an upset loser to highly-regarded Huntington North Friday night. (Internet radio USA-365.com will broadcast the Warsaw at CP game Sat, Nov. 20 with the pregame show starting at 6:45pm, CST.)

“KV has some good people,” said May. “He (Gray) said they were very timid with the basketball out front and that's obvious. But they have good size on the varsity and the JV.”

“Right now we're using a generic offense,” said May. “We'll be working on some options to open people up more offensively. We'll be doing a lot of work this week.”

The Lady Bulldogs always open with two-game weekends. Friday's foe Portage began with two games in one day. Most schools do not want a double-header on the first weekend but CP has such complicated offenses and defenses, it serves them well to play a lot early.

“We like to go as hard as we can,” said May. “We want to make the quick turnaround. We've always wanted to play as many nonconference games as we can early on.”

CP NOTES:  Portage split two games to open the season Saturday, losing a close game 40-36 to Penn after rolling over Mishawaka Marian 50-22.

May has a lot of complimentary players, all of whom do a little something. He's never shy to detail the plusses and minuses. “Hannah (Plumley) is strong,” said May. “When she's in, she gets the ball off the glass. Stephanie (Poulos) is a better shooter. But she doesn't get the ball off the glass as well. Kaitlin Sautter has more skills around the basket, but she doesn't get the ball off the glass as well. Anjellica (Rospond) is coming along. She's getting better.”

“Michelle (Lipton) is a strong kid and a good leader on the floor.”

May was impressed with Hebron, which could battle favorites Boone Grove and Washington Township in the Porter County Conference.

“They had us down three at the quarter,” May said. “They came at us real hard. A lot of it was our mistakes. But they are much improved.”

KV coach John Gray thought his team still has a volleyball hangover. 

"A lot of these girls were part of the volleyball team that lost that lead (they led 2-games-to-none in the regional title game and lost 3-2)," Gary explained.  "They don't seem to have regained their confidence from that."

Valparaiso, CP's main rival for the DAC championship, ran their record to 3-0 Saturday with wins 54-36 over Lafayette Jefferson and 50-29 over Carmel at the Tip-Off Classic in Lafayette.  Future CP foe Boone Grove (3-0) stayed undefeated with a 64-35 victory over Hebron Saturday night.  The Class 2A No. 4 Wolves have won every game by 30 points or more so far.

CROWN POINT Girls Basketball

	Coach Tom May  (25 years, 406-146)
	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}	7:30 pm
Nov. 30	Lowell {4A}	7:30 pm
Dec. 3	at LaPORTE {4A‡	7:30 pm
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: November 23, 2004 .