Lady
Wildcats fall to Griffith, 50-42 in own Holiday Tourney finaleLady
Wildcats fall to Griffith, 50-42 in own Holiday Tourney finaleA USA-365.com Special Report
by Mark Smith
12-30-2007
| Team /Record | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| GRIFFITH (12-2) | 10 | 9 | 12 | 19 | 50 |
| HANOVER CENTRAL (7-5) | 11 | 17 | 4 | 10 | 42 |
Saturday, December 29, 2007 - Hanover Central Winter Classic Final at CEDAR LAKE, IN
GRIFFITH (50) Lauren Hansen 1-4-6, Shanlynn Bias 2-0-4, Amanda Stinnett 2-0-4, Ashley Parish 5-0-10, Maggie Butkus 3-0-6, Stephanie Negrete 4-0-8, Presley Corich 3-0-8, Brittany Tinnin 2-0-4, Carissa Quintero 0-0-0. TOTALS: 22 (4-11) 50.
HANOVER CENTRAL (42) Chrissy Homolka 2-3-7, Lindsay Martinez 5-2-12, Meghan Parkis 2-0-4, Jordan Kramer 5-4-17, Anna Plassman 1-0-2, Tori Dahlin 0-0-0, Danielle Graham 0-0-0, Shannon Kiraly 0-0-0. TOTALS: 15 (9-11) 42.
FREE THROWS: GRIFFITH (4-11, 36.3%) Hansen 4-9, Shanlynn Bias 0-2; HANOVER (9-11, 81.8%) Kramer 4-6, Martinez 2-2, Homolka 3-3.
REBOUNDS: GRIFFITH (23) Parish 6, Butkus 5, Negrete 5, Bias 3, Stinnett 2, Hansen, Corich; HANOVER (20) Parks 5, Kramer 4, Homolka 3, Graham 2, Martinez 2, Dahlin 2, Kiraly 2.
ASSISTS: GRIFFITH (15) Hansen 6, Bias 3, Cirich 3, Butkus, Tinnin, Stinnett; HANOVER (7) Kramer 2,Plasman 2, Homolka, Graham, Martinez.
STEALS:
GRIFFITH
(4)
Bias,
Tinnin,
Butkus.
Corich;
HANOVER
(6)
Martinez
2,
Graham
2. C
TURNOVERS:
GRIFFITH
(5-3-4-3)
15; HANOVER
(3-4-4-3)
14.
3-GOALS:
GRIFFITH
(2)
Presley
Corich
2; HANOVER
(3)
Jordan
Kramer
3.
In a game that was probably a little too
entertaining for the Panthers (12-2), an
8-0 run at the start of the third period
and a 14-0 run at the start of the
fourth quarter gave Griffith the first
championship trophy in the inaugural
four-team Hanover Central holiday
playoff.
"We thought the big adjustment at
half-time was stopping people," said
Griffith coach Tom Golumbeck. "We
didn't do a very good job of finding
their shooters in the second quarter.
They got open shots and they made them."
Hanover ran a weaving three-girl attack that shook loose shots for HC juniors Jordan Kramer and Lindsay Martinez, who split 20 first half points between them. Griffith's young team regrouped at halftime and 5-foot-8 sophomore guard Lauren Hansen led the charge against the Lady Cats (7-5), who seemed to tighten up when victory was within reach.
"You'd think us coaches went in at
halftime and told them to stand around
and stop shooting," said HC coach Doug
Nelson. "We told them Griffith would
regroup and make a run. We just were not
as aggressive. We missed a couple of
shots at the start of the third quarter
and they took over."
It seemed like Hanover got tense on
offense when they realized they had a
chance to win, something that teams that
have been . 500 or below for a long
time, tend to do. That might not be
giving enough credit to Griffith,
though, because the young Panthers are
an unknown quantity.
"Give them credit," said Golumbeck of
Hanover. "In the first half, we let them
come off their screens and get open. We
went over that at half-time and we did
a much better job of defending HC's
motion after half-time. They (starters
Maggie Butkus, Ashley Parish and sub
Presley Corich) are freshmen. They
played eighth grade basketball last
year. It takes them a while to
understand things at this level. We've
improved since the beginning of the
season."
Hansen also played confidently after the break, going head-to-head with HC's Kramer and getting the ball close to the basket.
"She makes us go," said Golumbeck. "She had eight assists and nine steals yesterday (in the semifinal win over Beecher). She had to guard their best player. She had a lot to do out there."
Griffith really locked onto Hanover's offense after half-time, limiting the Lady Cats to one shot on most possessions while they built up the 45-32 lead with 2:40 left. HC mounted a 6-0 run to close within 45-38, but Griffith free throws bumped the lead up again. The Panthers allowed only 30 points per game in their first 13 contests, but they were happy with the triumph any way they could get it.
"We're happy with it," said Griffith
coach Tom Golumbeck of being the first
Winter Classic champs. "Hanover
Central's always a pretty good team. There's a tournament atmosphere. It's
close. It's competitive and we don't have
to host it. That's exactly what you
want. But they're going to be good on their
floor. This is their tournament. Of
course they're going to play hard. We
may have under-estimated them in the
first half."
"That first half was about as good as
we can play," said Nelson, who knows
that January means the end of non-conference foes and
that it'll be hard-core Porter
County Conference (PCC) matchups until
the post-season.
"Griffith is as good a team as we'll see the rest of the way. We'll play Boone Grove and Kouts, but I think Griffith is better than Boone Grove and Kouts. This is a turning point in the season. In the big picture, we've got meaningful PCC games the rest of the way and playing them is good for us. If we remember how we play well, we can play with anyone else on the remainder of our schedule."
TOURNAMENT NOTES: The crowd wasn't good from a Hanover Central standpoint. Griffith had more fans in the stands for the title game than Hanover did. There was some confusion as the Saturday Times newspaper reported that the title game would be a night game, but the Griffith parents knew the game began at 3:00 p.m. HC athletic director Dave Seils said that for next year's tournament, he'll make sure that the annual Hanover-Lowell boys game does not go-head-to-head with the 'Winter Classic'.
There is also a strong likelihood that the tournament will expand from four to eight teams in 2008. Clark, Beecher and Griffith all expressed a desire to return. An eight-team tournament would allow all participants to play three times and get a 21st regular season game. IHSAA rules permit only 20 regular season games, 18 games and one tournament or 16 games and two tournaments. Seils has no commitments from new teams, but it would not be surprising if Kankakee Valley, North Newton, North Judson or Rensselaer showed interest. Lowell and Andrean are possibilities, but you don't want too many teams from the same conference because they have no interest in facing the same teams they see during the regular season.
Class 1A state champion Oregon-Davis (12-0) and sophomore all-state guard Gabi Minix would be a popular addition and O-D is less than an hour from Hanover, but many tournaments will want them in the next two years. Duneland Athletic Conference teams are unlikely to come to the HC holiday tournament because the 14-game DAC season virtually requires a league game be played between Christmas and New Year's Day.
"We could get some Illinois teams,"
said Seils. "The Beecher people said
that Bishop McNamara (of Kankakee, Illinois)
was interested. It's not really that far
for them."
To be honest, one of the most promising
teams in Northwest Indiana is already in
the tournament. Griffith starts no
seniors and four of the five starters
are freshmen or sophomores, which means
in two years, everybody in 3A in this
part of the state has a major problem. The Panthers start an excellent
sophomore lead guard in tournament MVP
Lauren Hansen, a strong wing in 5-foot-8
sophomore Shan Linn Bias and 5-foot-11
freshman Ashley Parish and 5-foot-10
freshman Maggie Butkus. The latter
two are both big, strong
back to the basket players, something
Hanover envies.
"I'd love to get even one of those big kids," said HC coach Doug Nelson, who has no one taller than 5-8. Tom (Golumbeck) is a good coach and they're always going to be good."
Beecher (5-8) won the third place game 39-30 over Clark (1-10). Griffith outscored Beecher 23-0 in the third quarter of a 68-29 semifinal win Friday afternoon. Hanover got a career-high 21 points from senior Chrissy Homolka to beat Clark 78-39.
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