A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith
1-1-2005

Thursday, 12-30-2004 - 3rd Place Game at Momence Holiday Tournament

HANOVER CENTRAL (75) Krysta Rickey 4-2-11, Alisha Staley 2-4-8, Andria Trock 1-1-3, Kristy Ostrowski 8-2-19, Heather Rebeneck 9-1-19, Christy Bader 1-3-5, Samantha Plant 1-2-4, Chrissy Holmoka 2-0-4, Jenny Savickas 1-0-2. TOTALS: 29-15-75.

SOUTH NEWTON (55) Candace Hivley 2-0-4, Sara Hivley 3-7-14, Susan Schroeder 3-0-7, Lana Brown 1-0-2, Jamie Schulttenhofer 6-0-14, Cassie Zeider 2-3-7, Brittany Dueman 2-3-7. TOTALS: 19-13-55.

FREE THROWS: HANOVER (15-22, 68.1%) Rickey 2-3, Staley 4-5, Trock 1-3, Ostrowski 2-2, Rebeneck 1-3, Bader 3-4, Plant 2-2.

SOUTH NEWTON (13-15, 86.6%) Sara Hivley 7-8, Zeider 3-3, Diedman 3-4.

THREE POINT GOALS: HANOVER (2) Rickey, Ostrowski; SOUTH NEWTON (4) Schluttenhofer 2, Schroeder, Sara Hivley.

Momence Holiday Tournament semifinal (12-30-4) in Momence, Ill.

TRI-POINT (43) Kara Krause 3-4-10, Jenna Hills 1-1-3, Kristin Opperman 1-3-5, Heidi Redinus 3-0-6, Candace Miller 2-0-4, Amy Weber 1-0-2, Becky Allen 1-0-2, Tera Moritz 5-1-11. TOTALS: 17-9-43.

HANOVER (36) Alisha Staley 3-4-10, Heather Rebeneck 4-3-11, Kristy Ostrowski 3-1-7, Andria Trock 1-5-7, Christy Bader 0-1-1, Krysta Rickey 0-0-0, Samantha Plant 0-0-0. TOTALS: 11-14-36.

FREE THROWS: TRI-POINT (9-15, 60%) Krause 4-4, Hills 1-2, Opperman 3-7, Moritz 1-2.

HANOVER (14-26, 53.8%) Staley 4-5, Rebeneck 3-9, Ostrowski 1-3, Bader 1-2, Trock 5-6.

REBOUNDS: TRI-POINT (33) Krause 7, Opperman 7, Redenius 4, Miller 4, Moritz 4, Hills 3, Weber 3, Allen. HANOVER (26) Staley 9, Rebeneck 4, Bader 5, Ostrowski 3, Savickas 2, Trock 2, Rickey.

STEALS: TRI-POINT (9) Hills 3, Krause 2, Weber 2, Opperman, Moritz. HANOVER (9) Staley 4, Rebeneck 3, Rickey, Plant.

ASSISTS: TRI-POINT (13) Hills 5, Moritz 3, Krause 2, Weber 2, Allen. HANOVER (7) Rickey 3, Staley 2, Rebeneck 2.

TURNOVERS: TRI-POINT 18, HANOVER 15.

THREE-POINT SHOTS: None.

FOULED OUT: Redenius (TP) 5:26 left - 4^th Qtr.

Momence Holiday Tournament quarterfinal - 12-29-4

PEOTONE (31) Jenny Bisping 2-5-9, Jesica Grupa 0-4-4, Laura Sadecki 2-0-4, Kasey Morrison 2-3-7, Amanda Priebe 2-1-5, Mary Murdie 1-0-2, Amy Younker 0-0-0, Hannah Barnes 0-0-0, Trisha Rehfeldt 0-0-0. TOTALS: 9-13-31.

HANOVER (59) Rickey 4-1-10, Christie Wick 4-1-10, Alsiha Staley 4-0-8, Kristy Ostrowski 2-0-5, Andria Trock 2-0-4, Samantha Plant 1-4-6, Christy Bader 0-0-0, Jenny Savickas 1-0-2. TOTALS: 23-10-59

FREE THROWS: PEOTONE (13-18, 72.2%) Gruca 4-4, Bisping 5-6, Morrison 3-5, Priebe 1-2, Murdie 0-1.

HANOVER (10-20, 50.0%) Rickey 1-2, Wick 1-2, Rebeneck 4-9, Bader 0-2, Plant 4-5.

THREE-POINT GOALS: PEOTONE (0). HANOVER (3) Wick, Rickey, Ostrowski.

MOMENCE, IL (12-30-2004) - When you come home from vacation and somebody asks you how was your trip, it was usually either a positive time or a negative experience.

When Hanover Central got back from the final day of the Momence Holiday Tournament late Thursday, they didn't know how the trip went.

“We're 8-4,” said fourth year coach Chris York. “That's pretty good. That's real good. We had a real good day.”

No argument there. It's just that the day before had sprinkled a little rain on the entire parade.

With 12 seconds left in the third quarter of Hanover's 59-31 quarterfinal romp over Peotone on Wednesday, four-year varsity player Christie Wick went up to block a shot and came down tumbling. After being helped off the court, Wick, a 5-8 senior who leads the Lady Cats in scoring, was on crutches for Hanover's 43-36 semifinal loss to Tri-Point (7-7) and a 75-55 third place game rout of South Newton (7-4) Thursday.

“I felt something pop,” said Wick, who is a starting forward and backup point guard. “I'm going to see my doctor Wednesday. I hope it's just a sprain.”

If Christie's knee is just sprained, then Hanover had a very good trip to Momence because juniors Kristy Ostrowski and Heather Rebeneck both posted a career-high 19 points in the Wick-less win over South Newton. The short-handed team posted a quality win over a winning opponent.

If Wick has a season-ending ACL injury (as was feared), then, well... let's not go into that.

“She's being positive,” said York. “That's the way she should be.”

Hanover Central had hoped to take the Momence title but when Wick, one of just two Class-of-2005 basketball playing senior girls, was hurt, they'd gladly have taken a split of the two games on the final day.

HC looked mediocre offensively in the loss to a taller Tri-Point team but the Cedar Lake girls then posted a season-high 75 points.

“Heather's been in double figures all year,” said York of the HC leading scorers against North Newton. “But 'O' (Ostrowski) was the best she's been all year.”

Ostrowski was the leading junior varsity scorer last season and appears to have offensive ability most girls don't have. But this was the first time she's displayed that.

“She's only been in double figures once all season,” said York. “She kept getting the ball inside and putting them in.”

The loss to Tri-Point , a tiny four-town school in rural Livingston County, 40 miles south of Kankakee, would be understandable if you saw the Tri-Point roster. The Chargers had four girls 5-10 or taller and a couple of 200-pound girls. Tri-Point got some key layups in a 12-2 third quarter run and a 9-1 fourth quarter stretch that rallied TP from a 22-18 halftime deficit.

“They are a very good team.” said TP coach Jen Klusman. “Better than what we're used to playing. We're a post offense team and they took that away in the first half. We had a little more patience in the second half and we got the ball inside.”

Hanover was not only lacking Wick, they also were without 5-8 sophomore Anna Turturillo, who contracted mononucleosis and won't play until late January.

Without Wick and Turturillo, HC has only three players (Christy Bader, Jenny Savickas and Rebeneck) who stand taller than 5-7. With that said, they had enough field goal and free throw attempts to win and simply couldn't put the ball in the basket.

“We were completely inadequate offensively in the second half,” admitted York, “but we were still in the game. We were down four with a minute left.”

Hanover failed to score on four consecutive possessions in the final 2:07 against Tri-Point and made 10 of their 15 turnovers in the second half.

In the quarterfinals, the Lady Cats outscored Peotone in every quarter. Rebeneck, just a JV player last year, scored 14 with Wick adding 10 in three quarters of play and Rickey, the 5-3 point guard, also scoring 10.

MOMENCE NOTES:  After Wick was injured, HC coach Chris York tried to influence his players away from doing things they cannot do.

“If you try to take things all on yourself, “York reported his pre-game instructions. “If you try going one-on-one, that's not our game. If you all step it up, when Christie gets back, we'll be that much better.”

Junior center Heather Rebeneck went scoreless in the second game of the season, a 58-54 loss to Wheeler. Since then the three-sport girl (volleyball and softball) has averaged 11.3 points per game, largely on quick drives to the baskets and free throws.

In the first 12 games, Hanover had 27 three-points baskets and Christie Wick had 14 of them. Krysta Rickey had eight.

Three-point shots don't necessarily equate outside shooting, but clearly, someone else is going to have to take and make open jump shots if Wick is sidelined for any length of time.

After 12 games, Hanover had made 124 of 200 (62.0%) from the foul line, a total of just 16 attempts a game. That's a low number for a team that does not have a lot of outside shooting.

Hanover has three games before the PCC tournament starting with an away game at Calumet on Jan. 6.

The Lady Cats will host Washington Township on Jan.8 and South Central on the afternoon of Saturday, Jan. 15.

“Hopefully, we can beat Calumet,” said York, “and then Washington and South Central will be good tests for us before the tournament. The PCC tournament draw comes out on Jan. 8 and Hanover will play a yet-to-be-announced quarterfinal game on either Jan. 17 or 18 at Morgan Township.

Hanover plays undefeated Boone Grove (13-0) at Boone the night of Thursday, Jan. 27. The Lady Cats still have three potential meetings with Boone, a team they met three times last season. Not counting the PCC tournament, 10 of the 18 teams Hanover has on the schedule have records of .500 or better.

Hanover won two out of three at Momence last year, swept three PCC tournament games but lost to Boone in the sectional semifinals and finished 11-11.

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Revised: January 01, 2005 .