Lady Wildcats knocked out in 1st round of PCC Tourney, 47-45 to South Central

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
01-16-2008

MORGAN TOWNSHIP (01-14-2008) -  The down side of the eight-team, single-elimination Porter County Conference (PCC) tournament is that quarterfinal losers have a long time to think about it.  If you lose Monday night in the six-day tournament, you get the week off to think about your status.  And if you didn't schedule anything the next Monday or Tuesday, assuming you would, at least, reach the PCC semifinals, your loss just created a week's vacation while the rest of your biggest rivals are involved in the league's showcase event.

One of those quarterfinal losers this year was Hanover Central.  In a game where the Lady Cats overcame deficits of 10 points in the second quarter and seven points in the fourth quarter, Hanover just couldn't make the ball go in the basket in the late going, falling 47-45 to South Central in the quarterfinals of the 35th PCC Tourney late Monday.

The effort Hanover put out most of the game was flawed but impressive.  But the 22-10 hole they dug on opening night of the league championship tournament was disappointing to say the least.

"This was just like the game the other night," said South Central coach Dan Huzienga, who'd watched his side beat Hanover 66-59 just five nights earlier.  "We led 16-5 in that game and they came back and they kept coming back."

After watching three-time defending champion Boone Grove struggle painfully through a double-overtime 52-49 win over Washington Township, Hanover got left at the gate by SC and guard Courtney Michael who scored 10 first quarter points.

The Lady Cats rallied for a 25-24 half-time lead, but 5-10 junior Olivia Pahl and senior guard Robin Wright led a 12-4 run that ended the third period.  Down 40-33, Hanover mounted an 11-2 surge to take the lead on a three-point play by Shannon Kiraly with 2:58 to go.

But Michael, a 5-foot-5 senior, sank a three-point shot to give SC a 46-44 edge with 2:15 left.  Down the stretch the Lady Cats missed three foul shots and five attempts from the field (by four different players) to let South Central advance to the semifinals to face Boone (11-5).  The final shot was a 10-foot baseline jumper by Lindsay Martinez that hit the back of the rim and bounced away as time ran out.

"We had all the shots we wanted in the fourth quarter," said HC coach Doug Nelson.  "We just couldn't make them."

This was an emotional game.  There were more fans from Cedar Lake in the tiny Morgan gym than there were from South Central.  The Hanover rooters were louder, trying to urge the girls on.  And the team responded.  After they were down 22-10.

Hanover got outstanding performances out of 5-foot-8 senior forwards Shannon Kiraly and Anna Plassman.  Kiraly had a career-best game with 15 points and nine rebounds and Plassman scored nine points with eight rebounds, two steals and two assists in what was probably her top game.

It looked like Hanover was going to win when, on a late fourth quarter possession, Hanover got four offensive rebounds and five shots, the fifth being Kiraly's three-point play with 2:58 left.  But that would be HC's final basket of the game.

Hanover's backcourt including senior Chrissy Homolka and juniors Jordan Kramer, Lindsay Martinez and Danielle Graham, totaled 19 points, none of them in the final quarter.

"Courtney Michael has done a great job for us," said Huzienga.  "She scored 23 the other night and she had 20 tonight.  But the best job we did tonight was holding Jordan to two and she dropped 27 on us four days ago.  I'll give Courtney more credit on the defensive end than on the offensive end tonight."

Kiraly and Plassman split 12 fourth quarter rebounds as HC got shot after shot only to fall short.

"We needed a lot more effort like that," said Nelson.  "If we got anything from the backcourt, we win.  I thought Jordan (Kramer) was too hyped up.  And we just couldn't hit free throws.  You hit free throws, we can set the defense up.  Our post players did well.  We needed more people with that kind of fire."

Nelson wanted to use the PCC tournament as a springboard to post-season glory next month, but now HC gets an unwanted vacation.  They restart the season on Jan. 24 against Boone Grove.  This is just Nelson's second season, but he knows that Hanover has been a .500 team throughout this decade.

"There's a reason why Hanover hasn't had more champions than they've had," said a very disappointed Nelson.  "I know when Chris York (the HC varsity coach before Nelson) was here, he worked hard and they were .500.  And now, we're .500.  I don't know if they think they can't do better or if they don't want to pay the price to do better.  We've got to break this feeling that its okay its to be .500.  There is that mentality here.  We can win our sectional.  But they (the players) have to think that.  It can't just be us talking about it.  We've got to make a decision that we're going to do this."

PCC NOTES:  In the first quarterfinal game of the PCC tourney Monday night, three-time defending champion Boone Grove built a 34-26 lead and then went into a deep shooting sleep, going scoreless for 3-1/2 minutes in the third period and again for the first 5:20 of the final quarter.

A basket by 6-foot-2 Washington junior Lindsey Whitcomb sent the game to overtime tied 40-40.  In the first overtime, sophomore Abby Walters sank a 25-foot three-point basket at the buzzer to tie the game 47-47.  Finally, a three-point play by freshman Brittany Dewell gave the Wolves (11-5) a 50-49 lead with 17 seconds to play. Sophomore Kelly Dobson's two foul shots finally iced the two-hour game with two seconds to play.  Boone has now won 10 consecutive PCC tournament games.

"I can't believe the shots we missed," said an animated Boone coach Candy Wilson after the narrow escape.  "We come in here with such a target on our backs.  But I don't know if we took them seriously.  When we played them before, we won easily."

SC coach Dan Huzienga doesn't like to play on Monday night, but he might get used to it.

"We're 2-5 (since they joined the PCC five years ago) and both wins came on Monday night," he said.  "We've never played in the championship game."

Olivia Pahl grabbed 16 rebounds in SC's 66-59 win over Hanover on Jan. 10.  Monday night, she fouled out with 1:13 to play with eight points and seven rebounds.