H.S. Girls Basketball: Hanover Central 48, Morgan Twp. 38

Team	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr	Final
Morgan Township (5-14)	6	13	7	12	38
HANOVER CENTRAL (11-10)	16	11	12	9	48

Porter County Conference - Saturday, 2-7-2004 at Cedar Lake

MORGAN TOWNSHIP (38) Cari Spaulding 3-1-7, Erin Parks 1-0-2, Nikki O'Connor 1-0-3, Alyssa Sheets 1-1-4, Angie Bush 5-9-22, Brooke Cygan 0-0-0, Julie Wittmer 0-0-0, Nicole Jessen 0-0-0, Jessica Aderhold 0-0-0. TOTALS: 11-11-38

FTS: 11-19, 57.8 percent - Spaulding 1-2, Cygan 0-1, Bush 9-12, Jessen 0-2, Sheets 1-2
REBOUNDS - Nikki O'Connor -3
STEALS: Angie Bush - 3
ASSISTS: Spaulding, O'Connor, Bush -2
FOULED OUT: none
TURNOVERS: 15
3-POINT GOALS (5) Bush 3, O'Connor, Sheets.

HANOVER CENTRAL (48) Krysta Rickey 2-4-8, Christie Wick 1-1-3, Bess Copak 2-1-5, Karrah Adam 2-0-4, Randyl Rohm 2-0-4, Alisha Staley 0-1-1, Jill McElmurry 10-0-23, Katie Westerfhoff 0-0-0, Andrea Trock 0-0-0, Kristy Ostrowski 0-0-0, Haether Rebeneck 0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-7-48

FTS: 7-10, 70.0% - Rickey 4-4, Copak 1-2, Staley 1-2, Wick 1-2
REBOUNDS: Jill McElmurry - 5
STEALS: Bess Copak - 2
ASSISTS: Karrah Adam - 4
BLOCKED SHOTS: Jill McElmurry - 3
TURNOVERS: 13
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (3) Jill McElmurry - 3

Team	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr	Final
HANOVER CENTRAL (10-10)	13	10	12	14	49
Kankakee Valley (5-14)	10	15	12	11	48

KANKAKEE VALLEY (48) Taryn Porter 6-3-15, Megan Passaloukos 3-0-6, Emma Cunningham 4-1-9, Becky Goetz 0-2-2, Jen Allen 3-5-11, Cassie Cofer 1-0-3, Kristen Fifield 1-0-3. TOTALS: 18-11-48.

FTS: 11-15, 73.3 percent - Porter 3-5, Cunningham 1-2, Allen 5-6, Goetz 2-2
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (2) Cassie Cofer, Kristen Fifield

HANOVER CENTRAL (49) Krysta Rickey 5-1-11, Karrah Adam 0-3-3, Jill McElmurry 6-4-17, Katie Burke 1-0-2, Bess Copak 1-3-5, Randyl Rohm 1-0-2, Christie Wick 3-2-9, Alisha Staley 0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-13-49

FTS: 13-19, 68.4 percent - Wick 2-2, McElmurry 4-4, Rickey 1-3, Adam 3-4, Burke 0-2, Copak 3-4.
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (2) Jill McElmurry, Christie Wick.

CEDAR LAKE (2-7-2004) - When Hanover Central girls basketball was 0-3 and later, when the Lady Cats were 6-9 just six weeks ago, last Saturday seemed a long way off.

"An 11-10 looked awful good when we were 7-13 last year, too," said Hanover coach Chris York.

Cliche phrases like 'turned the corner' and 'fork in the road' probably should wait until next week's Hanover Central 2A Sectional semifinal or until the Cats return next year without six soon-to-graduate seniors. But Hanover's 48-38 victory over Morgan Township, a triumph that gave them a winning Porter County Conference (PCC) season and a winning regular season stands alone as a numerical success after two years of failure.

The outcome of the game, played in front of a Saturday afternoon crowd of about 200, seemed headed for a foregone conclusion early as senior Jill McElmurry scored 14 Hanover points in a row as the home team ran out to a 14-2 lead. Morgan's 5-10 scoring leader Angie Bush hit two three point baskets to help cut the lead to 18-16 with 2:40 left in the first half. HC coach Chris York called a time out and the Lady Cats started a 9-3 run to half-time.

After the game, York seemed more concerned with having the 'final home game' for the six Hanover seniors go well, pulling each player out of the game in the final moments in a ceremonial fashion. "It didn't go exactly the way I wanted it to," he said. "We eventually got them all out. We got to start five seniors. We did very well but we got a little tired and maybe that was how I substituted."

In the second half, Krysta Rickey scored all eight of her points and Hanover shot well from the foul line. McElmurry and HC's second-leading scorer Christie Wick both went scoreless in the fourth quarter. But senior Randyl Rohm scored two baskets to keep Morgan, a team with no seniors and only one junior (Nikki O'Connor) from creeping too close to the lead.

After the game, the HC seniors posed for pictures and gathered up flowers, candy and presents that were presented to them in honor of their years of service. There was little sentiment and the girls left quickly into the snowy February afternoon. Largely because, with the sectional game coming next Friday (Feb. 13), this truly wasn't their last home game. York is becoming more optimistic that the Feb. 13 sectional semifinal won't be the Lady Cats' last home game either.

"Regardless of who we play," I think we won't go in feeling we have no chance. Boone is very familiar to us and we played in the Bishop Noll summer league. They're a physical strong team. Against Boone last week, I don't think we had the intensity we have had. We got good shots, we just didn't make them."

"We didn't give them our best shot and, if we get to the title game, I don't think we've given Wheeler our best shot. Three weeks ago, we might have had their attitude of, "Oh man, which team here can we beat?' But now, I think we feel we can play with anybody here."

Hanover doesn't have a freshman team so the varsity's 11-10 mark, coupled with the 16-3 mark (losses to Lowell, Munster and Crown Point) for coach Tammi Boersma's junior varsity, made the season a numerical success for the Cedar Lake school.

"Our eighth graders are 3-1 so far and our seventh graders are 4-0. We're in pretty good shape. We've got some nice kids coming in next year and we'll still have Christie (Wick), Krysta (Rickey and Alisha (Staley), who played a lot this year. We're going to go from being a quick team to being a strong team. I really like the kids we have coming. Our seventh grade team is very good But I'm much more optimistic about next year than I was earlier. We've got some nice players on the JV."

PCC NOTES: Hanover Central is getting ready for the Hanover Central Sectional next week. The Hanover gym, which seats just 1,500, will be filled to capacity Friday night when four teams converge on Cedar Lake for the biggest (in number of teams playing) single night of the state tournament.

"Wheeler is going to bring a big crowd," athletic director Dave Seils said. "We'll bring a big crowd and, if it's Boone Grove, they'll bring a big crowd. I've already asked that we clear the grass (to the southwest of the school) for more cars. But I'm more worried about inside the gym. We may have more people than we have room for. I just hope everybody is patient."

Boone Grove's team showed up in Cedar Lake to practice after Saturday's Morgan-Hanover game. Hanover is the sectional site and every team is allowed one practice session on the sectional floor. With Boone playing a quarterfinal game against Bishop Noll (10-10) Tuesday night, it was either Saturday or Monday.

"We had good luck here last week," said Boone coach Candy Wilson about the Wolves' history on Hanover's floor. "I wish we had played Noll during the season. We're going to try to take care of that next year."

Boone Grove almost had a major loss after Boone's leading scorer Karissa Walter (15.4 ppg.) struck her head on the floor after a fall in Boone's loss to North Judson last Thursday night. Walter was taken to the hospital but has been released and cleared to play.

"I wish we didn't need her Tuesday night because I'd sit her out," said Wilson. "It's just not worth it to send her out there if there's some question. She doesn't remember much about what happened and she's having some headaches. But I can't ask her what she wants to do. She'll lie and say she's fine. I would have done that when I played. I'm going to leave it up to her parents. She has been cleared by her doctors."

Boone didn't lose to North Judson because of Walter's injury, which didn't occur until the final minute of the game. "We just shot terribly," said Wilson, whose team was 14 of 28 from the foul line. "We were 0-for-11 from three-point range. We did pretty well defensively. We just couldn't score."

Hanover won the first Hanover Central 2A Sectional four years ago, beating Hebron, then a 2A school, in the final game.

Hanover Central is on the ground floor of a renovation that will change its entire face athletically. Plans for a new gymnasium, new baseball and softball fields, a swimming pool and a fieldhouse have been completed and await final approval. The Cedar Lake high school is expected to see a distinct upturn in enrollment over the next decade and virtually no major improvements have been made in the school building since it was constructed in the late 60s.

The present gymnasium will remain and will be used as an auxiliary and junior high gym. Presently, Hanover's junior high teams play in the varsity high school gym and teams practice far into the evening. Hanover was originally constructed without a swimming pool or a softball field. There was no girls softball in the late 60s.

What is now Hanover Central's 'football field', (the varsity team was discontinued in 1973) will be used for soccer when HC begins varsity play next fall. The track that runs around that field will be expanded to eight lanes.

"We were going to have an eight-lane fieldhouse," said AD Dave Seils, "but we thought that, with eight lanes outside, we could hold major track meets here."

The fieldhouse will have four lanes. Every lane on an indoor track expands the square feet of the building as a whole and increases costs significantly. Seils even has hope for the old 'football field' light poles, if not the lights out behind the Hanover building which haven't been used in three decades.

"People were saying take them down," the first-year AD said, "and when I got here and looked at them, I thought they were pretty much shot. But those poles have been standing for years and a lot of schools have lights poles that look like that. Maybe there's a way we can still use the poles for new lights."

Nov. 18: L, 35-45 Gavit (7-13)
Nov. 21: L, 39-58 at Wheeler (17-3)
Nov. 26: L, 49-55 Lowell (14-8)
Dec. 5: W, 73-49 at Hebron (8-11)
Dec. 6: L, 55-57 at Kouts (12-8)
Dec. 13: W, 76-28 LaCrosse (4-16)
Dec. 16: L, 42-56 at North Newton (9-11)
Dec. 18: W, 58-25 at River Forest (4-16)

Momence (Ill.) Tournament
Dec. 26: L, 45-62 Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (14-1)
Dec. 27: W, 68-38 Peotone
Dec. 27: W, 62-45 Paxton-Buckley-Loda
Jan. 3: L, 53-84 at Crown Point (13-7)
Jan. 8: L, 46-54 (OT) Calumet (11-6)

Jan. 10: W, 41-25 at Washington Township (10-10)
Jan. 15: L, 55-62 at South Central (12-8)

Porter County Conference Tournament
Jan. 20: W, 42-40 Boone Grove (15-4) PCC quarterfinals
Jan. 23: W, 46-35 Morgan Township (5-14) PCC semifinals
Jan. 24: W, 53-52 (OT) Kouts (13-8) PCC championship

Hanover Central girls finish season over .500 in PCC and season with wins over Morgan Twp, Kankakee Valley

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Porter County Conference - Saturday, 2-7-2004 at Cedar Lake