Lady Wildcats up record to 3-0 with 45-20 win over Lowell
 

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
11-28-2007

Wednesday, November 21, 2007 - Non-conference game at CEDAR LAKE, IN

LOWELL (20)  Gabi Goetz 2-3-7, Kim Bell 2-2-6, Jessica Scheissle 1-0-2, Katie Haberlin 1-0-2, Kaitlyn Utley 1-0-2, Megan Bolanowski 0-1-1, Mallory Pratt 0-0-0, Erin Gavelek 0-0-0, Kelsi Blankenship 0-0-0, Mallory Lampa 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 7 (6-15) 20.

HANOVER (45)  Lindsey Martinez 7-1-15, Jordan Kramer 4-5-15, Chrissy Homolka 0-3-3, Danielle Graham 1-2-4, Shannon Kiraly 2-0-4, Megan Parks 1-0-2, Anna Plassman 0-2-2, Tori Dahlin 0-0-0, Kourtney Lindley 0-0-0, Abby Schweitzer 0-0-0, Kayla Higginbotham 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 15 (13-28) 45.

FREE THROWS:  LOWELL (6-15, 40%) Goetz 3-9, Bell 2-2, Bolanowski 1-2, Gavelek 0-2.
HANOVER (13-28, 46.4%) Kramer 5-10, Homolka 3-4, Martinez 1-2, Plassman 2-4, Graham 2-5, Parks 0-1, Lindley 0-2.

REBOUNDS:  LOWELL (36) Goetz 12, Bell 5, Haberlin 5, Schiessle 4, Blankenship 3, Gavelek 2, Utley 2, Bolanowski 2, Pratt;
HANOVER (35) Parks 9, Graham 7, Kiraly 6, Plassman 5, Dahlin 4, Martinez 2, Kramer, Schweitzer.

ASSISTS:  LOWELL  (2) Pratt, Bell;  HANOVER (10)  Kramer 3, Homolka 2, Parks 2, Graham, Martinez, Higginbotham .

STEALS:  LOWELL (7) Pratt 2, Schiessle 2, Goetz, Gavelek, Utley;  HANOVER (11) Kramer 3, Dahlin 2, Homolka 2, Parks 2, Martinez, Plassman.

3-GOALS:  LOWELL (0);  HANOVER (2) Jordan Kramer 2.

CEDAR LAKE, IN (11-21-2007) -  It wasn't a pretty game and both sides would just as soon we all leave it behind.  The season opener for Hanover Central will still show a Hanover victory as the Lady Cats pulled away from Lowell 45-20.  But nobody was very happy with this one.  After an uncomfortably bad 20-15 first half, Hanover was able to mount a 13-0 run and pull away from the Red Devils in the annual Thanksgiving-eve border battle between neighbors.

Lowell committed 38 turnovers.  Some of them forced.  Some of them very unforced.  I can't draw any conclusions about Hanover Central from this home opener.  Lowell has major problems.

"These last three games have been the same," said Lowell coach Patti McCormack.  "We can't get the ball up the floor.  We'll just keep trying different people until we do."

HC coach Doug Nelson wasn't overjoyed.

"It was ugly, wasn't it?" he said, wishing to quickly move on to Saturday's home game with Gavit.  "I don't know, everybody was in a holiday mood or something.  Playing the day after Thanksgiving is almost as bad as playing the day before."

Lowell (1-3), which had lost back-to-back home games to Hammond and Morton, held early leads of 4-0 and 7-4 as they stymied Hanover's offense with a 2-3 zone defense.  Even when 5-foot-3 junior Lindsey Martinez came off the Hanover bench to scored eight-second quarter points, Lowell was still in the game.  The Devils' guard Mallory Pratt missed a lay-up in the final five seconds of the first half to allow Hanover a 20-15 halftime lead.

But the one constant was Lowell turnovers.  Twelve in the first period and a total of 21 at halftime.  All varieties.  Steals, traveling, palming the ball.  The taller Devils were good on the boards and better when they could get the ball inside to 5-11 senior Kim Bell and 5-10 senior Gabi Goetz.  But the 'getting the ball inside' occurred rarely in the first half and almost never in the final two quarters.

Hanover stopped settling for jumpers and attacked the basket in the third quarter with Martinez and point guard Jordan Kramer giving HC the ball movement that Lowell lacked.  A three-point basket by Kramer started a 13-0 run that expanded an eight-point Hanover lead to 35-17 with 7:10 left in the game.

While Martinez and 5-8 forward Megan Parks had the best games, possibly of their careers, this match highlighted the value of the lead guard.  Kramer had a poor night shooting and was just okay passing the ball until the second half.  But while Hanover pressed Lowell's guards most of the game, when the Lady Cats got the ball they gave it to Kramer and both sides conceded that she would get it up the floor.  Hanover had 17 turnovers in winning the first home game.

Martinez, who is just 5-foot-3, played with speed and confidence, something the very small Cats (nobody taller than 5-8) must do in every game.  Parks, a 5-8 senior, came off the bench to grab a career-best nine rebounds and 5-8 senior Shannon Kiraly added six more.

Nelson wants to keep his forwards in line for praise when its due.

"We have a guard-oriented offense," he explained.  "We don't really post anybody up.  We don't run any plays for the post.  The guards are going to get all the points.  But we need a great effort out of their forwards for us to win."

The HC coach was also happy to have double figure scorers other than Kramer, who scored 35 in the season-opener against River Forest.

"We've had a different leading scorer in every game.  Jordan in the opener.  Chrissy Homolka (17) at Wheeler and Jordan and Lindsey Martinez tonight.  I really think we have an offense where a lot of people can score a lot depending on what the defense gives us."

Lowell's defense (allowing 41 points a game) is fine.  But they have to come up with a community action program to get the ball up the floor.  The Devils have some shooters and rebounds, but no one they have tried has consistently gotten the ball into scoring position.

"Turnovers aren't all the fault of the guards," said McCormack.  "Everybody's got to help.  We'll just keep trying different combinations until something works."

Lowell is averaging over 30 turnovers a game and it's no secret as to why.  All the Lowell forwards are experienced seniors and all their guards are new to varsity action.

"We keep asking ourselves what haven't we tried," said McCormack.  "We tried high post offense.  We tried a screen.  We tried a low post offense.  But we stopped playing defense.  You can try a lot of things on offense but they don't matter if you miss close shots, don't get any offensive boards and you can't get the ball past the half-court line."

The highlight of the night for Lowell was when Hanover public address announcer Ron Szayni wished the Lowell football team good luck in Saturday's state championship game.

CAT-DEVIL NOTES:  Very quietly, Hanover has gotten off to an undefeated start, and if you look at their next five games, they are a win over Calumet away from an 8-0 start, which would be unprecedented in school history.  The bar would then be raised significantly in late December games with Crown Point, Andrean and Griffith.

"We're not looking ahead," said Nelson.  "But we need to win that first PCC game (at Hebron on Nov. 30).  "When you get that first one.  You know what I liked tonight?  After the game that we won by 25, nobody was really happy because they didn't think they played very well."

Lowell will again make a holiday trip down to Carroll County to play in the four-team, Carroll County Classic on Saturday, Dec. 15 where they tentatively will play Rossville (3-2) and Carroll (1-3).  The other team in the field is University, a tiny 1A private school in Carmel, Indiana.  University's game is not tiny.  University (3-1) was 18-5 last year and 18-4 the year before.  If the format has not changed, Lowell will play only Rossville and Carroll in a two-game showcase format.

Lowell graduates Rachel Thiel (2006), Ashley Cosentino, Julie Swisher and Kara Lamb (2007) were all at the game Wednesday as was former Lowell star tailback Toby Goetz, whose sister Gabi is Lowell's center.

Hanover graduate Samantha Plant was also home for the holidays.  She is attending Ball State but will be transferring back home to Indiana-Northwest next semester.

"I want to go to IU in Bloomington next year," she said.

The Lady Cats may field the state's shortest starting lineup with 5-8 Tori Dahlin, 5-7 Chrissy Homolka, 5-6 Danielle Graham, 5-5 Jordan Kramer and 5-3 Lindsey Martinez.

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Revised: December 01, 2007 .