Gary West Side ends Lowell Girls season 49-33 in Munster sectional semifinal

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
02-12-2011

LOWELL (33) Carley Austrgen 0-3-3. Sarah Wietrbrock 3-3-9, Katie Bobos 7-1-15, Carissa Thiel 0-0-0, Mackenzie Kruetz 2-0-4, Sarah Wieser 0-2-2, Savannah Summers 0-0-0, Ashley Starcevich 0-0-0. TOTALS: 12 (9-16) 33.

WEST SIDE (49) Antoinette Taylor 2-2-6, Diamond Edwards 3-2-8, Bre Shay Kirklan 2-0-4, Nakia Rogers 1-0-2, Gloria Jeter 5-2-12, Turquosie Patton 0-0-0. Mariah Hopkins 3-0-6, Narshanda Malone 1-0-2, Maxine Joyce 4-0-9, La'Kiza Prophet 0-0-0. TOTALS: 21 (6-12) 49.

FREE THROWS: LOWELL (9-16, 56.2%) Wietbrock 3-6,. Bobos 1-2, Austgen 3-4, Wieser 2-2, Godbolt 0-2.; WEST SIDE (6-12, 50%) Jeter 2-2, Edwards 2-4, Taylor 2-3, Joyce 0-1, Malone 0-2.

3-GOALS: LOWELL (0) WEST SIDE (1) Maxine Joyce.

FOULED OUT: Diamond Edwards (4th Q) 2:02 left.

HIGHLAND (50) Michelle Geisler 3-0-7, Liuz Quinn 3-5-11, Julia Wiesmann 5-6-17, Hannah Letts 3-0-6, Sammy Kerber 1-0-2, Stephanie Sknerski 0-2-2, Britney Henson 1-0-2, Tylissa Fulgham 1-0-2, Abby Bence 0-1-1, Brianna Williams 0-0-0, Niki Goodeve 0-0-0. TOTALS: 17 (14-17) 50.

LOWELL (64) Katie Bobos 8-3-19, Mackenzie Kruetz 8-4-20, Carissa Thiel 3-2-8, Carley Austgen 2-1-7, Sarah Wietbrock 2-0-4, Sarah Edwards 2-0-4, Savanah Summers 1-0-2, Sarah Wieser 0-0-0, Kalyne Giodbolt 0-0-0. TOTALS: 26 (10-22) 64.

FREE THROWS: HIGHLAND (14-17, 82.3%) Quinn 5-6, Wiesmann 6-7, Sknerski 2-2, Bence 1-2; LOWELL (10-22, 45.4%) Bobos 3-6, Kreutz 4-9, Thiel 2-2, Austgen 1-2, Wietbrock 0-1, Giodbolt 0-2.

REBOUNDS: HIGHLAND (23) Sknerski 11, Quinn 4, Henson 3, Geisler 2, Goodeve, Bence, Kerber; LOWELL (36) Kreutz 8, Bobos 7, Austgen 6, Thiel 6, Godbolt 5, Wietbrock 3, Edwards.

ASSISTS: HIGHLAND (7) Sknerski 2, Wiesman 2, Goodeve 2, Fulgham; LOWELL (14) Godbolt 5, Bobos 3, Theil 2, Austgen 2, Summers, Edwards.

STEALS: HIGHLAND (11) Henson 3, Geisler 2, Quinn 2, Sknerski 2, Wiesman, Letts; LOWELL (20) Austgen 3, Bobos 3, Thiel, Wieser.

3-GOALS: HIGHLAND (2) Michelle Geisler, Julia Wiesman; LOWELL (2) Carley Austgen 2.

Class 4A Munster Sectional
LAKE CENTRAL 65, East Chicago 61 (OT)
Gary West Side 62, Morton 31
LOWELL 64, Highland 50
Lake Central 53, Munster 44
Gary West Side 49, LOWELL 33
Lake Central 57, Gary West Side 35 (title)

Class 4A Portage Sectional
Portage 40, LaPorte 32
CROWN POINT 58, Valparaiso 54
Chesterton 61, Michigan City 58
MERRILLVILLE 49, Hobart 48
Portage 55, CROWN POINT 49
Chesterton 62, MERRILLVILLE 61
Chesterton 41, Portage 36 (title)

Class 4A Mishawaka Sectional
(SB) Washington 83, (SB) Clay 35
Mishawaka 75, (SB) Riley 16
Penn 62, (SB) Washington 58
Mishawaka 57, (SB) Adams 22
Penn 45, Mishawaka 29 (title)

Class 4A Goshen Sectional
Northridge 61, Goshen 47
Elkhart Central 41, Concord 33
Warsaw 52, Northridge 41
Elkhart Memorial 63, Elkhart Central 12
Elkhart Memorial 60, Warsaw 43 (title)

CLASS 4A
VALPARAISO Regional
2-19-11 at Valparaiso - 11 a.m.

Penn [20-1] vs. Elkhart Memorial [23-1]
Chesterton [15-8] vs. Lake Central [13-10]

Huntington North Regional
McCutcheon [23-1] vs. (FW) Snider [20-4]
Pendleton Heights [20-4] vs. Homestead [21-2]

DECATUR CENTRAL Regional
Carmel [20-5] vs. Warren Central [18-4]
Center Grove [12-12] vs. Ben Davis [22-0]

BEDFORD NORTH LAWRENCE
Evansville North [18-4] vs. Mooresville [20-3]
Jeffersonville [24-2] vs. Columbus East [15-8]

MUNSTER (02-12-2011) At the Munster Sectional, Lowell lost to Gary West Side by 16 and West Side lost to Lake Central by 22. So Lowell still has quite a ways to go before they can be sectional champions.

But the Devils did take a step forward last week, defeating Highland 64-50 (Lowell's first post-season win in four years), and then not being totally overwhelmed by the more experienced Cougars (18-5).

Lowell just didn't play with much confidence at the offensive end of the floor, something that was not a total shock since the Devils relied on five sophomores, a junior, a freshman and just one senior. West Side had a varsity roster with eight seniors, including 5-foot-10 center Gloria Jeter, who scored 12 and 5-foot-9 forward Maxine Joyce, who had nine points and nine rebounds.

"Lowell is about the most improved team in this area," said long time West Side coach Rod Fisher of the Devils, who had a winning record for the first time in five seasons.

"We wanted to key on No. 12 (Carley Austgen) and No. 32 (Katie Bobos) and make sure they didn't hurt us. '32' is going to be a heckuva player. She split our defense right down the middle a coupe of times in the second half."

But Lowell scored only 19 points in the first three quarters and there's just no way to make that into a victory.

"They just have to have confidence in their skills," said Lowell's first year coach Katie Antcliff, who finished at 13-8. "We had lapses in judgment for two or three seconds and they came back with their transition game," she explained. "That just killed us. They were the better team tonight."

Lowell was only with 10 points early in the third quarter after a basket by Mackenzie Kruetz cut the lead to 24-16.

West Side didn't shoot well from the field and was just 6-of-12 from the foul line. But Lowell had only 12 field goals and Bobos (15 points, seven rebounds) had seven of them.
Lowell plays good enough defense to win most games but West Side didn't have a lot of respect for Lowell's wing shooting. You could see them playing the 'drive' defensively against almost everyone but Austgen.

Lowell didn't get as many steals as they usually do, due to quick all-area guard Antoinette Taylor and without transition points, Lowell didn't get many points at all.

But losing by 16 to Gary West Side is no shame. Lowell lost 50-29 to Munster at the sectional last year. This year they won a game and lost by 14. They've made a little progress.

"They won't hear that now," Antcliff said of her team. "It'll take days if not weeks to comprehend that. I know when I was a player, I didn't want to hear that."

"The strides they've made have been tremendous. We're proud of every single one of them. When you come into a whole new coaching staff and a whole new system, habits are hard to break."

"Its hard for them to comprehend what we're asking them to do. I think it took a couple of months for them to accept what we were saying and accept that, 'Hey, we are going in the right direction." I think they understand that. They may not say it now. But they do."

Lowell only has one senior in 5-foot-10 forward Carissa Thiel and she will be missed, especially on a team which only had two juniors (Savannah Summers and Ashley Starcevich) this season.

"The last one minute and 20 seconds we were trying to get her off the floor so they (the fans) could applaud her," said Antcliff of the three-year varsity veteran. "I'd do anything to get her to be a fifth year senior. It's hard to replace her big body, her mental approach and her leadership. It will be difficult to replace that next year."

DEVIL NOTES: Lowell's Carissa Thiel will attend Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida and study marine biology. Florida Tech is on the east coast of central Florida in Brevard County, near the Atlantic Ocean and they are recruiting Thiel as a volleyball player. Florida Tech was 10-21 last year and they play in the nine-team Division II Sunshine State Conference.

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Revised: March 05, 2011 .