Friday, 2-4-2005 at Crown Point

MERRILLVILLE (34) Tamara Gaddy 0-2-2, Candace Wright 1-5-8, Britney Cruse 2-04, Brittany Ursery 4-1-9, Chrissy Lobodinski 1-1-3, Britney Curry 02-2-, Jennifer Addison 0-1-1, Nicole Shudick 0-0-0, Brittany Huish 0-0-0, Brittney Moore 2-1-5. TOTALS: 10-13-34.

CROWN POINT (68) Stephanie Poulos 3-3-12, Hannah Plumley 3-2-8, Kaitlyn Sertich 3-2-8, Cassie Pruzin 7-4-18, Jackie Clements 1-2-4, Jill Weiand 2-0-4, Courtney Perry 1-0-2, Anjellica Rospond 3-0-6. Ashley Zaucha 1-0-2, Kaitlin Sautter 1-0-2, Michelle Lipton 0-2-2, Amanda Moore 0-0-0. TOTALS: 25-15-68.

FREE THROWS: MERRILLVILLE (13-25, 52%) Gaddy 2-2, Wright 5-8, Ursery 1-2, East 0-2, Lobodinski 1-2, Huish 0-1, Curry 2-4, Addison 1-2, Moore 1-2.

CROWN POINT (15-15, 100%) Plumley 2-2, Clements 2-2, Lipton 2-2, Sertich 2-2, Poulos 3-3, Pruzin 4-4.

THREE-POINT GOALS: MERRILLVILLE (1) Candace Wright;CROWN POINT (3) Stephanie Poulos 3.

FOULED OUT: CROWN POINT (1) Jill Weiand - 4^th Q – 5:22 left.

CROWN POINT (2-4-2005) - On December 29th, Merrillville rolled over Crown Point 66-39. Five weeks later, the same Crown Point team ran away from the same Merrillville squad 68-34.

I'll pause now while you explain the contradiction there.

In all my born days, I have never seen two high school teams play games that are such polar opposites in the same season.

But you walked out of the big, red CP gymnasium after the 2005 regular season finale with the feeling that the Lady Bulldogs (15-5), who clinched second place in the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC), are where they want to be going into play at the Chesterton Sectional next week.

“Last time we played Merrillville,” said Tom May, “they hit 62% from the floor. we knew nobody could shoot like that again. We took the lane away from them and that's hard, because they are very athletic.”

“I don't really know,” said senior guard Cassie Pruzin, who was part of a blowout win in her final home game. “I really can't explain the difference between this game and the first one.”

Pruzin had 18 points, nine assists, eight steals and six rebounds, another of her wonderful montage of numbers, after the 5-7 four-year starter was honored with teammates Jill Weiand and Kaitlyn Sertich as the Lady Bulldogs' three graduating seniors.

CP's season-long weakness has been wing shooting when defenses gang up on Pruzin and Sertich. In that respect, 5-8 junior wing Stephanie Poulos was the biggest news in game 20.

Poulos, who has been a Bulldog without a bone shooting-wise for most of the season averaging just 3.7 points over 19 games, sank three three-point goals and scored a season-high 12 points.

“She really shot the ball great tonight,” said Pruzin.

“We made some adjustments with her and she now feels she can shoot,” said May. “She's got her confidence back and she can knock them down.”

For Merrillville, small questions got bigger. In the final week of the season, the Pirates lost 52-47 to a Lowell team with only one starter taller than 5-6 and then got buried in Crown Point.

On top of that, 6-3 junior center Brittney Moore, who had collected five points and six rebounds, in a quarter and a half, injured her left ankle in the middle of the second period and did not return to the game.

Moore, one of the state's top rebounders (11.7 per game through 19 games), was in good spirits on the bench in the second half and didn't appear to be hurt seriously.

But the Pirates got their feelings hurt as CP scored 16 of the final 19 points of the first half to take a 29-11 halftime lead. The Lady Bulldogs' full court press, which forced some of Merrillville's 28 turnovers, helped the home team steadily pull away in front of about 1,000 fans. The final score was the biggest lead of the game as Merrillville used 15 different players in an effort to find some ballhandling and shooting.

“I thought they played hard in the second half,” said May. “They did let down after the big girl left. But they picked it up and tried hard. This was a lot like what we went through when we went over there.”

The Lady Bulldogs weren't perfect, as 20 turnovers might indicate, but CP had 11 players reach the score book and the home team did sink 15 of 15 free throws, eclipsing their 14 win total of last season.

“We're 15-5,” said May. “Second place in the league. It's funny. We're still not happy with it. We're looking for more. We've got to get ready for a tough Hobart team. Then maybe we'll see a Merrillville team that's a little angry next Friday.

“And then we might see Valpo again. I've been telling you since the start of the year that Valpo's the best team. Nobody around here has beaten them. We've been in position to beat them. We just haven't gotten it done. Maybe we'll get one more chance.”

DOG NOTES: CP's losses were to Chesterton (10-10), Merrillville (11-9), Boone Grove (20-1) and Valparaiso (19-1) twice. The Bulldogs won their first eight and then were 7-5 over the last 12 games, closing out the season with a 10-1 home court record.

The Pirates inserted some of their top junior varsity players in the game as the score mounted and one to note is 5-3 freshman point guard Britney Cruse, who scored four points. The Pirates graduate guards Melissa Borom and Brittany Ursery after this season and Cruse is a carbon copy.

The Pirates' JV finished with an 18-2 record after a 36-25 win over CP Friday. Crown Point sophomore centers Anjellica Respond and Courtney Perry both grabbed four rebounds in limited playing time and May liked what he saw.

“They finished when they had a chance inside,” the coach explained, “And when they got their hands on rebounds, they got them.”

This was the final time this year that CP's girls will play on the same night as the CP boys team, which lost 47-45 at Merrillville Friday. That means that the Lady Bulldogs (and all other DAC teams) now regain the boys in the basketball program as fans for the upcoming sectional tournament, starting Tuesday night in Chesterton.

Valparaiso finished a 14-0 DAC season with a 58-50 win over Chesterton. The Vikings (19-1) only loss was 29-22 at Plymouth (19-2).

Fifteen wins in a 20-game regular season with a maximum of 27 or 29 including playoff games (in the old one-class format) is a lot, but this is Crown point's 18th season of 15 wins or more under coach Tom May in his 25 years.  The Lady Bulldogs have had two losing seasons in the past 25 years.

CROWN POINT Girls Basketball (15-5)

	Coach Tom May  (25 years, 419-150 )
	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	6:00 pm

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Revised: February 05, 2005 .