H.S. Girls Basketball: Hanover Central 57, Covenant Christian 37

Abby Schweitzer (23) guarding Covenant Christian's Angela Schurman (24). (All Photos by Mark Smith)

Hanover's Becky Fortner (20) blocking the shooting chances of CC's Amy Hamnstra (12)

Hanover's Kayla Garthus waits at the scorer's table to get into the game.

HC's Samantha Huffnagle (22) gets past CC's Megan Lins (11) for a layup in the 3rd place game of the Hanover "Winter Classic'.

HC's Blayr Poston (11) tries to stay in front of CC's Angela Schurman (24) in the first ever meeting of Hanover Central and Covenant Christian.

HC coach Doug Nelson watches senior Courtney Pattison (21) dribble across the top of the circle in HC's 57-37 victory. (All Photos by Mark Smith)

COVENANT CHRISTIAN (37) Megan Lins 3-0-6, Any Hamstra 4-0-8, Angela Schurman 5-3-13, Danielle Zuidema 3-0-6, Alyssa VanDer Wal 2-0-4, Jill Terpstra 0-0-0, Katy Long 0-0-0, Marissa Veld 0-0-0.
TOTALS: 17 (3-11) 37.

HANOVER CENTRAL (57) Kayla Higginbotham 2-0-6, Sammy Huffnagle 4-0-8, Abby Schweitzer 6-1-14, Becky Fortner 1-1-3, Kim McKeague 2-1-5, Kayla Garthus 1-0-2, Blayr Poston 8-1-19, Emily Blue 0-0-0, Tiffany Ward 0-0-0. TOTALS: 24 (4-11) 57.

FREE THROWS: COVENANT (3-11, 27.2%) Schurman 3-7, Veld 0-2, Van Der Wal 0-2; HANOVER (4-11, 36.3%) Fortner 1-2, Schweitzer 1-2, McKeague 1-2, Poston 1-5.

REBOUNDS: COVENANT (25) Hamstra 9, Schurman 5, Lins 4, Van Der Wal 4, Zuidema 3; HANOVER (22) Schweitzer 5, Garthus 5, McKeague 4, Huffnagle 3, Fortner 2, Higginbotham 2, Poston.

ASSISTS: COVENANT (7) Schurman 3, Hamstra 2, Van Der Wal 2; HANOVER (10) Schweitzer 3, Higginbotham 2, Huffnagle 2, Fortner 2, Poston.

STEALS: COVENANT (8) Lins 3, Schurman 2, Hamstra 2, Van Der Wal; HANOVER (11) Poston 3, Schweitzer 2, Fortner 2, Huffnagle 2, Higginbotham, Garthus.

TURNOVERS: COVENANT (5-12-5-6) 28; HANOVER (5-4-0-5) 14

3-GOALS: COVENANT (0); HANOVER (5) Blayr Poston 2, Kayla Higginbotham 2, Abby Schweitzer.

CEDAR LAKE, IN (12-30-2009) Years ago, when Indiana University had the 'Indiana Classic', Hosier fans described a classic as IU and three teams they can beat. Hanover Central will never be accused of that. For the third consecutive season, Hanover lost the Hanover "Winter Classic'. This time, they fell 38-37 to Beecher, Illinois before taking DeMotte's Covenant Christian 57-37 last week.

It's honorable to be a good host, but this is going too far and coach Doug Nelson wasn't that happy even after a 20-point win over CC (4-7) in the third place game.

"I don't know when we're really going to start playing hard," said Nelson, who was disappointed to have his team lose its own holiday tournament for the third year in a row.

"This is not where I wanted to be at this time. I did not think our team could lose that way. I thought we had more heart than that."

"Before the game tonight I put a list of things on the board that we needed to do. Not just us but things that good teams need to do. Fundamentals. Blocking out. Ball faking when you're passing over a zone. Things like that. It's not rocket science. We have people who can put the ball in the basket and we have people that can handle the ball. But tonight, Covenant Christian got a lot of hustle points. Offensive rebounds and put backs. We have to get rid of that."

Nelson didn't start freshman guard and second leading scorer Blayr Poston because she'd had a very difficult (8 turnovers) game against Beecher. Senior forward Abby Schweitzer scored seven in the first quarter and Poston added eight second quarter points as HC slowly pulled away. With the help of a full court press, the Lady Cats forced 17 first half turnovers by CC, which is in its second season of IHSAA competition.

Hanover hit five three-point baskets, including two by Kayla Higginbotham, who went on to compete in the Region Rumble three-point shooting contest on New Years Day at Valparaiso University.

HC still does not play, rebound and battle for loose balls with the kind of anger that's going to be needed to beat some of the winning teams they'll see (Kouts, Boone Grove, Kankakee Valley) in the final month of the season.

"We're undefeated in the conference," said Nelson. "I know we haven't played the top dogs yet. We've got to get back into the rhythm of school and practice. We try to give them some days off and it came back to bite us (vs. Beecher) yesterday."

CAT NOTES: Hanover Central's Dec. 23rd game with Andrean has not yet been rescheduled as of yet.

"Their schedule is pretty full," said HC coach Doug Nelson. "We'll find a date. They are playing as well as anybody around here right now. We should have played them in November."

Bishop Noll defeated Beecher 37-33 in the HC Classic championship game. In the three years of the tournament, three different teams (Beecher, Griffith and Bishop Noll) have won. Noll (3-9), which broke a nine game losing streak with two wins in Cedar Lake, will return to Hanover for the Class 2A Sectional 33 sectional playoffs in February.

River Forest, which upset Hanover to start the season, had an 8-3 record on New Year's Day, their best record in at least 15 years.

2010 HANOVER CENTRAL (7-4)
Coach: Doug Nelson, 39-37 (4th season) 12-10 (2009), 12-11 (2008) 8-12 (2007)

Nov. 10 (L) 39-51 at River Forest (8-3)
Nov. 20 (W) 38-37 at Wheeler (1-3)
Nov. 21 (W) 59-27 LaCrosse (0-11)
Nov. 25 (W) 50-45 Lowell (3-7)
Nov. 28 (L) 65-74 at Crown Point (7-6)
Dec. 2 (L) 43-66 Calumet (8-3)
Dec. 4 (W) 59-50 (OT) at Hebron (4-9)
Dec. 11 (W) 71-39 Washington Twp. (3-10)
Dec. 15 (W) 56-46 at North Newton (6-5)
Dec. 23 - Andrean (8-5) - postponed

Hanover Central Tournament
Dec. 29 (L) 37-38 Beecher, Ill, (5-4)
Dec. 30 (W) 57-37 Covenant Christian (4-7) 3rd place

Jan. 6 (W) at Gavit (11-0)
Jan. 14 (Th) at South Central (4-6)

Porter County Conference Tournament
(at Morgan Township)
Jan. 18 (M) quarterfinals - 5:30 p.m.
Jan. 19 (Tu) quarterfinals - 5:30 p.m.
Jan. 22 (F) semifinals - 6 p.m.
Jan. 23 (Sat) PCC Championship - 6 p.m.

Jan. 28 (Th) Boone Grove (11-1)
Jan. 30 (Sat) at Kouts (9-2) afternoon -1 p.m. (JV)
Feb. 2 (Tues) at Kankakee Valley
Feb. 6 (Sat.) Morgan Twp. - afternoon - 1 p.m. (JV)

HANOVER CENTRAL (2A) Sectional
with River Forest, Lake Station, Bishop Noll and Wheeler
2-12 (Fri) HC sectional semifinals
2-13 (Sat.) HC Sectional finals

Culver (2A) Regional
2-20 (Sat) Culver sectional semifinals

Team /Record	1	2	3	4	Final
COVENANT CHRISTIAN (4-7)	12	11	8	6	37
HANOVER CENTRAL (7-4)	18	15	12	12	57

Lady Cats defeat Covenant Christian 57-37 to take 3rd place game in HC Winter Classic