Lady Wildcats fall short at PCC Tourney Quarterfinals, lose 59-56 to Boone Grove

HEBRON (1-19-2009) Boone Grove and Hanover Central demonstrated Monday night why the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) should allow basketball teams to play more tournaments.  A Monday night match up that otherwise might have been poorly played and attended, the most evenly matched Porter County Conference (PCC) quarterfinal game on paper proved to be one of the most entertaining games of the year, with Boone eliminating the Lady Cats 59-56.

Boone (11-4) will take on host Hebron (8-6), a 39-36 winner over South Central in Monday night's first game, in the 6:00 p.m. Friday semifinal of the 37th PCC Girls basketball championship at Hebron high school.

The Boone - Hanover game was played in front of a small (maybe 300 fans), but very enthusiastic crowd as both teams had a great night shooting the ball.  Boone's tall juniors, 6-foot-1 Emily Strilich and 5-foot-10 Kelly Dobson, combined for 39 points against the smaller Hanover girls.  But HC, playing without 5-foot-9 forward Abby Schweitzer (11.2 ppg.), who was ill, got eight or more points from five different players and rallied repeatedly in the final period.

The Wolves played combination box-and-one defense against HC senior guard Jordan Kramer (16 ppg.) and then built leads of 18-9, 27-19 and 51-40 with 4:51 to play.  But the Lady Cats rallied repeatedly even though Kramer finished her scoring with only nine points.

"We wanted to take her out of the game," said Boone's 10th year coach Candy Wilson.  "But they shot great.  We were going to make those other people beat us and they almost did."

"Their size hurt us," said Hanover coach Doug Nelson.  "They got a lot of offensive rebounds.  It's tough for us when they have the size they do.  And they shot well.  The girl they brought in off the bench (freshman Brittany Shaffer) hit some big shots."

This was as good an offensive game as you're going to see from small PCC schools.  Boone got 15 points from Dobson and 10 more from Strilich in the first half and it looked like they might pull away.  But Boone's combo defense left 5-foot-9 forward Courtney Pattison open and the 5-foot-9 juniors hit three jump shots to keep HC within 31-24 at the half.

In the third quarter, Kramer had three assists and 5-foot-8 junior Samantha Huffnagle came off the HC bench to score five points as HC stayed close until a 7-0 rally cut the lead to 42-40 with 7:10 left in the game.

Boone then turned to Shaffer, who sank 11 second half points including three three-point goals, the last of which climaxed a 9-0 run to make the Wolves' lead 51-40 with 4:51 left.

"She was able to turn her mental attitude around from the first half (when she was scoreless)," added Wilson.  "She's a competitor and she's so tough on herself.  I tell her to just play defense and everything else will come."

Hanover made just nine turnovers and scored 56 points (their average is 56) even without Schweitzer, the team's third leading scorer.  HC might have won if Graham could have played more.  The HC senior guard drew her fourth foul with 1:57 left in the third quarter and sat out the next five minutes.

But senior Lindsay Martinez hit two jump shots in a 7-0 Hanover run that cut the margin to 51-47 with 3:03 left.  When Kramer found an open shot in the left corner, the lead was down to 53-50 with 1:56 left.  Martinez stole the ball, but the Lady Cats fumbled the ball and Jordan Chester grabbed the steal for Boone.

Kelly Dobson's offensive rebound made it 55-50 and Strilich blocked a driving shot by Kramer to get the ball back for the Wolves.  But Kramer again found an open shot on the left wing and her second three-point goal cut the lead to 55-53 with 22 seconds left in the game.

Boone's Dobson got fouled and she missed her second free throw.  But Strilich grabbed the rebound and scored to make it 58-53.  Kayla Higginbotham sank Hanover's sixth three-pointer to cut the lead to 58-56.  Strilich split two foul shots with one second to play and Martinez' half court three-pointer fell short to end a high-caliber contest.

"The dark-haired girl (Pattison) hit some shots we didn't expect her to hit," said Boone's Brittany DeWell.  "I look up at the clock and we're up 13 and then a couple of minutes later, we're up three."

"Our kids didn't quit," said Nelson. "We had balanced scoring. Dani (Danielle Graham) had eight, Jo (Jordan Kramer) had nine. Courtney (Pattison) had eight. They really recognized where the open player was."

"They shot well, didn't they?  We were trying to go with a four out and one in (offense).  But we couldn't get offensive rebounds.  We tried to block out, but they were able to reach over us sometimes."

Hanover has lost three games by three points this year and its getting harder to accept well-played losses.

"We had our chances there at the end," Nelson said.  "It just emphasizes how important every block out is.  Every rebound."

Especially when it's tournament time.
  
PCC NOTES:  Morgan Township athletic secretary Cheri Birky was in the stands watching for the first time in years as the Porter County Conference (PCC) girls tournament moved from Morgan to Hebron this year.

"We've got a lot of new facilities in the conference," she said, while admitting she missed preparing for the tourney.  "Its going to move around.  Next year, Hebron will host the boys tournament and the girls will move to Boone."

Copyright © 2009 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: January 24, 2009 .