Cold shooting in LAC Tourney drops Lady Red Devils to .500 regular season record; prepare for challenging 4A Sectional match-up with West Side
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Lake Athletic Conference semifinal  (2-7-2003) at Highland

Munster  (41)  Jennifer Hostetter-Wolak 0-2-2, Kaitlin DeCero 1-0-3,  Jackie Yerga 4-3-11, Jill Hanrahan 4-1-9, Lindsay Puterko 2-0-6, Amy Parker 1-3-6, Melissa Obszanski 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 14-9-41.

FTS: 9-16, 56.3 percent (Wolak 2-4, Parker 3-4, DeCero 0-2, Yerga 3-3, Hanrahan 1-3)
FGS: 12-32, 37.5 percent (Yerga 4-6, Hanrahan 4-5)
REBOUNDS: Jackie Yerga -  9
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (4)  Lindsay Puterko 2, Parker 1, DeCero


LOWELL (28)  Kristen Kania 1-0-3,    Lisa Schulfer 4-1-9, ,  McKensey Wietbrock 5-0-11,  Brooke Bell 0-0-0, Natalie Hanas 1-0-3, Wendy Broukal 0-0-0, Mary Taylor 0-0-0, Rachel Thiel 0-0-0, Ashley Cosentino 1-0-2.   TOTALS: 12-1-28

FTS: 1-5, 20 percent   (Wietbrock 0-1, Cosentino 0-1, Schulfer 1-3)
FGS: 12-49, 24.4 percent (Schulfer 4-12, Wietbrock 5-14)
REBOUNDS: Lisa Schulfer - 9
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (3) Wietbrock,  Hanas, Kania. 

Lake Athletic Conference - 3rd place (2-8-2003) at Highland

ANDREAN (52)  Amy Goetz 3-1-7, Katie Gianinni 1-3-5, Kim McCloskey 3-1-7, Krissy Ray 5-2-12, Kelly Swisher 2-3-8, , Brooke Bosak 2-1-5, Suzanne Cunningham 3-0-6, Val Young 1-0-2, Lisa Moody 0-0-0.
TOTALS: 20-11-52

FTS: 11-18, 61.1 percent (Gianinni 3-4, Ray 2-2, Swisher 3-4)
ASSISTS: Amy Goetz- 4
FOULED OUT: Brooke Bosak (4th Q - 6:30 left), Amy Goetz (4th Q - :49 left)
3-POINT GOALS (1)  Kelly Swisher


LOWELL (33)  Kristen Kania 0-2-2,    Lisa Schulfer 8-2-18,  McKensey Wietbrock 0-0-0,  Brooke Bell 1-0-2, Natalie Hanas 0-1-1, Wendy Broukal 1-0-2, Mary Taylor 0-0-0, Rachel Thiel 1-2-4, Ashley Cosentino 1-1-3.
TOTALS: 13-7-33.

FTS: 7-14, 50.0 percent   (Schulfer 2-3, Kania 2-2)
REBOUNDS: Lisa Schulfer - 6
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (0)

LOWELL (2-8-2003) -  Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) rules allow 20 regular season basketball games unless you play in a tournament, and then you can play as many as 22.

After reaching the Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) tournament semifinals last week, Lowell made 12 of 49 shots in a 41-28 loss to Munster and then was in no condition physically or mentally for a 52-33 loss to Andrean the next night in the consolation game.

"It doesn't matter what you do when you shoot 24 percent," said Lowell coach Patti McCormack after the loss to Munster. "We got good looks (at the basket). I know we had a lot more shots (49-33) than they did.  But they gave us every opportunity to win.  We just couldn't do it."

Lowell raced out to a 9-0 lead and appeared to be headed for a championship round game with eventual champion Highland.  But in the final 28 minutes of the game, the Red Devils scored just 19 points against Munster's 1-3-1 and 2-3 zone defenses.  Lowell seemed to get open jump shots on the wings but many missed badly.

"I don't know if we were tired or what," McCormack said. "We did have some defensive breakdowns.  Our safety (the guard required to retreat on defense when a shot goes up) didn't get back on defense and they got some easy layups."

Munster had lost to Lowell 49-44 on Nov. 30 but the Mustangs (5-17) were without senior Jennifer-Hostetter-Wolak in that game.  Lowell's hopes for a winning season took a hit in this game because they didn't figure to beat Andrean in Saturday night's third place game.  Andrean had already defeated Lowell twice this season.

The 59ers (14-8) ran out to an 18-6 lead and Lowell never got closer than six points after that.  Red Devil guard McKensey Wietbrock was obviously hobbled with an ankle injury and Lowell freshman Ashley Cosentino took much of Wietbrock's playing time.

"For us," said McCormack, "we have to find the other guard.  We have to balance the floor offensively.  We put Cosentino in there and she wasn't afraid.  She went to the basket.  She will play a lot more.

The prospect of facing Gary West Side in Friday's East Chicago (4A) Sectional semifinals is an intimidating one.

"They have a lot of people who can hurt you," said McCormack. "They're a lot smarter team this year and they can knock down the outside shot.  You approach it by doing what you do well. And the things you don't do well, you hide them."

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Revised: July 10, 2004 .