H.S. Girls Basketball: Crown Point loses to Chesterton, Portage

Team	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr	Final
Chesterton (10-4, 4-3)	5	11	8	13	37
CROWN POINT (9-6, 3-4)	11	5	3	8	27

CHESTERTON (37) Holly Melton 1-4-6, Kelly Pellar 3-4-11, Catherine Campbell 1-1--1, Heather Banghart 0-3-3, Stephanie Boyle 4-0-8, Alicia Babcock 2-0-5. TOTALS: 11-14-37.

FTS: 14-23, 60. 8 percent - Melton 4-7, Pellar 4-5, Campbell 3-4, Banghart 3-5, Boyle 0-2.

FOULED OUT: none
REBUNDS: Stephanie Boyle - 6
STEALS: Holly Melton - 3
ASSISTS: Holly Melton - 3
3-POINT GOALS (1) Kelly Pellar

CROWN POINT (27) Kaitlyn Sertich 3-0-7, Hannah Plumley 1-1-4, Cassie Pruzin 2-6-10, Mallory Michaels 0-1-1, Jill Weiand 1-0-2, Blayre Reeves 1-1-3, Stephanie Sandilla 0-0-0, Anjellica Rospond 0-0-0. TOTALS: 8-9-27.

FTS: 9-15, 60.0 % - Pruzin 6-6, Plumley 1-2, Reeves 1-4, Michaels 1-2.
REBOUNDS: Cassie Pruzin - 6
STEALS: Cassie Pruzin - 5
ASSISTS: Cassie Pruzin 2

FOULED OUT: Jill Weiand (4th Q) 2:37
3-POINT GOALS (2) Plumley, Sertich

Team	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr	Final
CROWN POINT (9-5, 3-3)	6	3	10	14	33
Portage (6-6, 3-5)	8	13	11	14	46

Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) - Wednesday, 1-7-2004 in Portage

PORTAGE (46) Amy Samplawski 4-2-11, Emily Safstrom 0-0-0, Heather Markwell 2-4-8, Krystal Rigoni 4-10-18, Nikki McDonald 1-7-9, Sara Olson 0-0-0, Emily Safstrom 0-0-0, Tracy Markwell 0-0-0. TOTALS: 11-23-46.

FTS: 23-31, 74.2 percent - Rigoni 10-13, McDonald 7-10, Markwell 4-4, Samplawski 2-4.

FOULED OUT: none
REBUNDS: Amy Samplawski - 9
STEALS: Nikki McDonald - 2
ASSISTS: Nikki McDonald - 4
3-POINT GOALS (1) Amy Samplawski

CROWN POINT (33) Kaitlyn Sertich 3-0-7, Hannah Plumley 0-0-0, Cassie Pruzin 2-0-5, Mallory Michaels 1-0-3, Jill Weiand 2-2-6, Blayre Reeves 3-0-6, Stephanie Poulos 0-2-2, Jackie Clements 1-0-2, Stephanie Sandilla 0-0-0, Anjellica Rospond 1-0-2, CC Martinez 0-0-0. TOTALS: 13-4-33.

FTS: 4-7, 57.1 percent - Weiand 2-4, Poulos 2-2, Plumley 0-1.
REBOUNDS: Jill Weiand - 8
STEALS: Jackie Clements - 2
ASSISTS: Cassie Pruzin - 2
FOULED OUT: Cassie Pruzin, Jill Weiand.
3-POINT GOALS (3) Pruzin, Sertich, Michaels.

CROWN POINT (1-10-2004) - I don't know how much Crown Point varsity coach Tom May thinks about the 400-victory milestone he is about to reach. But I'd guess he hopes to reach it this year.

Twice last week, it appeared that the Bulldogs had at least a 50-50 chance to record the 10th win of this season and the 400th for coach May in his 24 years at the head of the Lady Bulldog program. Twice last week against experienced and noble but offensively challenged opponents, Crown Point's girls came up short. Well short.

Portage reversed an earlier loss at Crown Point with a 46-33 triumph at Portage and then Chesterton, repeated a defensive-style win over CP, this time 37-27 Saturday night.

"The first time the score was 36-27," joked longtime Chesterton coach Jack Campbell. "This time it was 37-27. I guess we really rolled over them this time."

The Trojans, who improved to 10-4 on the season, made good on two end-of-the-quarter possessions, double-teamed CP star Cassie Pruzin and took their chances with everybody else to defeat CP twice in one season for the first time in the all-time series between the two schools.

"You have to be able to put the ball in the basket," said Tom May afterwards. "Defensively, we play well. We're not bad defensively. But the game tape is out on us. They (opponents) are not going to let Cassie beat them. They're going to send two people at her and, if necessary, they're going to send three people at her."

"They're always going to know where she is and when she gets the ball they're going to switch on her. The other girls had shots and they just did not knock them down. Until we start knocking them down, they're going to continue to do that to Cassie."

The night began slowly and never really picked up speed for any sustained periods. Crown Point didn't score for the first 3:20 of the game but then ran off nine points in 2:24 for a 9-2 lead. Cassie Pruzin's two free throws made it 14-6 with 5:41 left in the half as CP didn't score enough field goals to slap on their array of full court presses for any length of time. Chesterton did not allow Pruzin (16.7 ppg.) a field goal in the first half with a flowing zone defense that leaned towards the 5-8 junior guard. The Lady Bulldogs got open shots by reversing the ball but they missed almost all of them.

Trailing 16-10 with a minute to go in the half, 5-10 sophomore Kelly Pellar hit a three-point shot with 42 seconds left to cut the lead in half. Campbell's daughter, senior Catherine (Cat) Campbell then hit her only field goal of the game, a three-pointer with four seconds left to create a 16-16 half-time tie.

"She missed every shot she took in the first half," coach Campbell smiled. "But then she did hit that one. We always try to score the last basket of a period. That's always a big thing."

"We figured at half-time it should have been 30-16," he said. "With the missed layups and putbacks. Not the easy shots. But layups and little five foot shots. We couldn't make them. And you can't do that."

In the third quarter, junior Alicia Babcock hit a three-point shot with 5:38 left to tie the game at 19 and start what laughingly could be called 13-0 run. The scoring spree was more of a crawl as CP didn't score a point for 11:36, through several missed shots and four time outs. Before the time Pruzin scored on a layup with 3:01 left, the Trojans led 29-19 and had gained control of the evening even though neither team ever shot the basketball well in front of about 750 fans in the big new CP gym.

"Sometimes you miss a couple of shots and you become tentative," Campbell began. "Now, the parents say, you've just got to keep shooting. No. You've got to start making some of them. At some point, when you miss two or three in a row, you pass up the next one or you take it to the basket. You've got to do something different. You've got to make something happen."

The 'happening' girls for Chesterton included Stephanie Boyle, the Trojans' 6-foot center, who made herself available for passes and three-second half baskets in the Chesterton delay offense. Everything else was free throws. Pellar hit all three of her second half free throws and Heather Banghart made three of her last four. Holly Melton sank only 3-of-6 fourth quarter foul shots but the Trojans only turned the ball over 14 times against a team that forces, on average, 20 turnovers.

Crown Point needs a half dozen girls to regain confidence in their dribbling, shooting and passing skills. The more they see a team that they've played before, the more that team adjusts to their presses and traps. Talented teams will adjust to what they do defensively and, without a true center, CP is not, at present, a difficult team to shut down on offense.

"Now, its very obvious," said May. "They're going to play off of a lot of our girls until they shoot. I told the girls, 'It dosen't make you bad players.' But you've got to beat them by using your ball skills (passing, dribbling, shooting). Four kids of ours are going to have to beat three kids of theirs. The other two will be on Pruzin."

BULLDOG NOTES: The two losses last week make next Friday's Crown Point home game with Lake Central the next chance for the Bulldog's coach Tom May to record his 400th career victory. LC coach Tom Megyesi is also within range of 400 career wins. May would be the sixth Indiana girls coach to win 400 games. No coach has won 500.

The two Chesterton wins over CP marked the first time the Trojans have ever accomplished that. This is the first year that CP and Chesterton meet twice in the regular season. They were not in the same sectional until the late 90s and before 1992, they were not in the same league. Crown Point was formerly in the Lake Suburban Conference.

"He's got 400 wins," Campbell said of Tom May. "And I've been a lot of those. I was the 800th for (LaPorte baseball coach Ken) Schreiber and I was the 1,000th for Schreiber. I told Tom before the game. It's a lousy way to get into the record book."

	Coach Tom May (25 years -390-137) Assistant coaches: Beth Jacobs JV coach: Scott Reid - Freshman coach: Brian McClanahan 8th grade coach: Mike Malaski - 7th grade coach: Angie Babjak
	2003-2004 Schedule
	Start times are JV starting times
Date	Location ALL CAPS = Duneland Athletic Conference game	Time/Result
Nov. 14	at Hebron (3-5)	W, 66-38
Nov. 15	at Kankakee Valley (1-6)	W, 62-31
Nov. 21	PORTAGE (3-5)	W, 52-39
Nov. 22	at Warsaw (7-1)	L, 47-62
Nov. 28	at CHESTERTON (9-4)	L, 27-36
Dec. 2	at Lowell (10-4)	W, 50-31
Dec. 5	LaPORTE (4-9)	W, 59-42
Dec. 12	at LAKE CENTRAL (7-5)	W, 53-51
Dec. 13	Boone Grove (12-2)	W, 48-35
Dec. 16	at VALPARAISO (13-1)	L, 34-58
Dec. 19	MICHIGAN CITY (3-4)	W, 55-32
Jan. 2	MERRILLVILLE (12-2)	L, 47-50
Jan. 3	Hanover Central (6-8)	W, 84-53
Jan. 7	at PORTAGE (6-6)	L, 33-46
Jan. 10	CHESTERTON (9-4)	L, 27-37
Jan. 16	LAKE CENTRAL (7-5)	6:00 pm
Jan. 23	at MICHIGAN CITY (3-9)	6:00 pm
Jan. 27	at LaPORTE (4-9)	6:00 pm
Jan. 30	VALPARAISO (13-1)	6:00 pm
Feb. 6	at MERRILLVILLE (12-2)	6:00 pm
	CROWN POINT (4A) Sectional
2-10-4 (Tu)	Quarterfinals	6 or 8 p.m.
2-13-4 (F)	Semifinals	6 or 8 p.m.
2-14-4 (S)	Championship	7:30 p.m.
	Valparaiso (4A) Regional
2-21-4 (S)	Semifinals	11 a.m.
2-21-4 (S)	Championship	7 p.m.
	Plymouth (4A) Semistate
2-28-4 (S)	Semistate championship	(TBA)

Cold shooting again the nemesis for Lady Bulldogs in back-to-back losses to Chesterton, Portage

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith