Andrean holds off Lady Wildcats 43-30 in Girls Basketball

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
12-25-2010

HANOVER (30) Blayr Poston 1-4-6, Becky Fortner 1-0-2, Emily Blue 1-5-7, Rylie Singleton 0-3-3, Tiphani Ward 1-0-3, Kristin Roper 3-1-7, Kayla Garthus 0-0-0, Megan Kirn 0-0-0, Kim McKeague 0-0-00, Katie Dominguez 1-0-2. TOTALS: 8 (13-26) 30.

ANDREAN (43) Anna Nicksic 1-8-10, Kelsie Plesac 2-4-8, Diamond Rembert 1-0-2, Abby Quint 2-0-4, Colleen Daugherty 0-2-2, Shelby Stickler 4-1-11, Marija Nicksic 2-0-4, Jessica Gray 1-0-2, Brenna Boyle 0-0-0. TOTALS: 13 (15-19) 43.

FREE THROWS: HANOVER (13-26, 50.0%) Poston 4-8, Blue 5-8, Singleton 3-4, Roper 1-6; ANDREAN (15-19, 78.9%) Ana Nicksic 8-8, Marija Nicksic 0-1, Daugherty 2-2, Plesac 4-6, Stickler 1-2.

REBOUNDS: HANOVER (24) Roper 9, McKeague 4, Garthus 3, Poston 2, Blue 2, Ward 2, Kirn, Dominguez; ANDREAN (25) Ana Nicksic 8, Quint 5, Plesac 4, Daugherty 3, Rembert 2, Stickler, Marija Nicksic.

ASSISTS: HANOVER (2) Poston, McKeague; ANDREAN (6) Daugherty 3, Ana Nicksic 2, Gray.

STEALS: HANOVER (6) Poston 4, Roper, Ward; ANDREAN (4) Gray 2, Ana Nicksic, Quint.

BLOCKED SHOTS: HANOVER (1) Poston; ANDREAN (6) Ana Nicksic 5, Marija Nicksic.

3-GOALS: HANOVER (1) Tiphani Ward; ANDREAN (2) Shelby Stickler 2.

MERRILLVILLE, IN (12-22-2010)  Both teams just wanted to survive this final game before Christmas. And they did. Andrean beat Hanover Central 43-30, nobody got hurt physically or mentally and the girls headed home with a little something.

Hanover Central has never defeated Andrean, but they stayed with the shorthanded 59ers until late in the game. The Lady Cats (5-4) used 10 players and were never out of the game. Something that will be a positive when they return to small school Porter County Conference (PCC) play in January.

Andrean (6-5) played without three regulars, so they were happy to win without anyone else getting sidelined. The Niners had lost three of their last four so they needed a win and probably didn't much care that it wasn't an impressive statement.

"What were we (from the line)," asked Hanover coach Doug Nelson. "13 of 26? What did we lose by? 13. I thought we missed more than we lost by. But that's it right there. I thought we battled them but we couldn't finish. Make free throws."

Andrean was glad to get the win. The Niners led by 12 at halftime and Hanover's leading scorer Blayr Poston was in foul trouble most of the night. The 59er lead was only 30-24 with seven minutes to go and just 35-28 with 3:44 left even though Hanover made just eight field goals all night. Andrean (6-5), which has lost four times to Class 4A teams, didn't have three players. But they did have 6-foot senior Kelsie Plesac, 6-foot-1 Ana Nicksic and 6-foot-4 soph Marija Nicksic, who gave the home team a significant size advantage.

"We were short three starters," said Andrean coach Ken Markful, referring to seniors Natasha Zurek (knee), Aleena Spinqa (concussion) and Brittany Anderson (coaches decision). "So we had some girls out there who hadn't played a lot of minutes."

The Niners got a little glimpse of next season when when the Nicksic sisters were on the floor with junior guard Shelby Stickler. Junior Ana Nicksic and freshman Marija Nicksic combined for 14 points, nine rebounds and six blocked shots.

"She got in there and she battled and scrapped," said Markfull. "And she didn't look out of place. That was her first real meaningful varsity action. She has a nice touch on her shot. We should have made some better decisions out there but we hit free throws and we won."

Hanover isn't going to win any game where Blayr Poston has to sit on the bench. The 5-foot-8 guard picked up two fouls in the first quarter and two more in the third period. That's a sore spot with Nelson, who doesn't want to take away Blayr's aggressiveness, but insists she understand that she cannot foul.

"They played her tight," he said. "But she's got to know that everybody's going to do that. There are certain things she just can't do. Defensively, if you'd have told me we'd give up 43 points, we'd be happy. But eight field goals? That's terrible. We would like to have had a win but we learned some things today."

CAT NOTES: Andrean senior leading scorer Natasha Zurek has a knee injury that's not that bad, as knee injuries go.

"I ran into that brick wall over there," she said leaving the gym after the Hanover game. "I have six stitches in my knee. Just stitches. I think I'll be back in 7-10 days. I just have the crutches because I can't bend it."

"She has to be careful," said coach Ken Markful. "Because the cut is near the bursa sac. If she gets infected, that's very serious. We've got to be very, very conservative with her because an infection would be long term. Very long term."

Aleena Spina, a 5-foot-5 guard, has been out for some time.

"Aleena got a concussion in the East Chicago game (Dec. 7)," said Zurek. "I think she's been getting better."

Hanover Central takes on Covenant Christian (2-8) in the semifinals of the Hanover 'Winter Classic' Tuesday night at 7 p.m. If they win, they'll face either Knox or Hammond Noll. The game against Andrean should be good preparation for those smaller school matchups.

"We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores out there," Nelson said, "and I think this is a good game for them. It'll help us in our conference. It's a good atmosphere. I know they didn't have all their players, but it's still good to play here. We don't see that size. We don't get outworked by anybody. We may not be as skilled as some teams, but we worked hard on the floor."

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Revised: December 25, 2010 .