Roosevelt defeats Lady Wildcats 67-61 in Girls Basketball

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
12-17-2011

GARY ROOSEVELT (67) Earielena Johnson 2-0-4, Chantel McDonald 7-2-16, Tomisha Lee 2-0-4, Kelly Moten 17-5-42, Ja'mire Wayne 0-1-1, Andrea Wilson 0-0-0, Ashley Anderson 0-0-0. TOTALS: 28 (8-17) 67.

HANOVER CENTRAL (61) Blayr Poston 3-3-10, Emile Blue 4-0-8, Kristen Roper 3-8-14, Rylie Singleton 6-0-16, Frankie Turturillo 4-0-9, Hannah Blue 1-0-2, Tiphani Ward 1-1-2, Danielle Schwalm 0-0-0, Katie Dominguez 0-0-0. TOTALS: 22 (11-26) 61.

FREE THROWS: VELT (8-17, 47.0%) McDonald 2-3, Lee 0-2, Moten 5-6, Wayne 1-6; HANOVER (11-26, 42.3%) Poston 3-10, Roper 8-13, Turturillo 0-2, Hannah Blue 0-1.

REBOUNDS: VELT (30) Johnson 10, McDonald 6, Anderson 6, Wayne 3, Wilson 3, Moten 2; HANOVER (25) Emily Blue 10, Roper 5, Singleton 3, Turturillo 2, Schwalm 2, Dominguez, Ward, Hannah Blue.

ASSISTS: VELT (5) McDonald 2, Moten 2, Lee; HANOVER (8) Poston 3, Roper 2, Turturillo 2, Ward.

STEALS: VELT (16) Moten 14, Lee, McDonald; HANOVER (10) Poston 5, Turturillo 3, Roper, Schwalm.

TURNOVERS: VELT 21, HANOVER 24.

FOULED OUT: VELT (2) Ja'mire Wayne (3rd Q) 5;40 left, Earielena Johnson (4th Q) 3:20 left; HANOVER (1) Emily Blue (4th Q) 0:24 left.

3-GOALS: VELT (3) Kelly Moten 3; HANOVER (6) Rylie Singleton 4, Blayr Poston, Frankie Turturillo.

Roosevelt senior Kelly Moten scored 11 of her game-high 42 points in the fourth quarter to fight off a Hanover rally and give the Panthers a 67-61 win over the Lady Cats in an unscheduled Thursday night matchup. Moten, a 5-foot-7 guard zipped through the HC defense repeatedly after Hanover had rallied from a 13-point deficit to tie the game 58-58 with 3:03 to go. It was the kind of game Hanover (6-2) can't get in the Porter County Conference (PCC) and it was the kind of city-suburb matchup that Roosevelt needs if they have post-season championship hopes.

"We're trying to make our schedule a little tougher," said Panther coach Ron Swain. "We want to see the kind of team we're going to see if we went to the regional. When we play a lot of the Chicago teams, they play a lot of up tempo ball. This (Hanover) is good shooting team. They run a good offense. They're very well coached. I'm proud of us. We played together as a team when they made a run."

Moten, a 5-foot-7 senior who averaged 22 points a game last season, played up near the top of the Roosevelt defense and was somewhat of a one-girl full court press. Most of her steals were passes that were attempted over the top of her which she tipped and ran away with. Six steals were turned into runaway baskets. Moten 's 14 steals and
Hanover's 11 of 26 from the foul line were decisive.

The surprising statistic about Moten was not the 42 points and 14 steals. It was that she did not get called for one offensive foul. Why? Because Hanover never could set up in front of her on defense. Moten never deserved an offensive foul.

Roosevelt has seven seniors but the only junior to play was a factor late. When 5-foot-10 Ja'mire Wayne and 5-foot-8 Earielena Johnson fouled out in the fourth quarter, junior Andrea Wilson came into the game for the first time with 4:10 to play. The 5-foot-10 junior didn't score, but was credited with three late rebounds.

"That's all I told her (Wilson). I just need you to rebound. In a game this close, you can't give up second shots. She did what she had to do."

Roosevelt, playing without second leading scorer Takita Lenoir, trailed 19-12 in the second quarter. But Moten and senior Chantele McDonald rallied the visitors to a 30-27 halftime lead. Hanover starters Blayr Poston and Tiphani Ward did not start because they had missed school with illness during the week, but they did play as HC got 16 from sophomore Riley Singleton including 13 in the second half.

LADY CAT NOTES: Gary Roosevelt, which won for the seventh consecutive game, was a late substitute for Gary's Lighthouse Academy (0-3) which originally signed to play Hanover, but was so badly overmatched that they played Hanover's 'C' team Thursday while HC took on Roosevelt in a first time ever match up.

Coach Ron Swain didn't have much to say about the rumored closing of Gary Roosevelt because its out of his control.

"Its the same situation when I was at Wirt," he said. "I was the last girls coach at Wirt. I've been in a situation where you just don't know what will happen next year."

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Revised: December 21, 2011 .