Lowell Girls beat Griffith 46-27 to capture 1st NCC title in Girls Basketball

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
01-23-2012

Griffith's Sammi Adams (24) is surrounded by Savannah Summers (25), Sarah Wieser (20) and Mackenzie Kreutz (30) in Saturday night's game in Griffith. Griffith scored just 27 points. (All photos by Mark Smith)

Griffith's Alyssa Gebo (22) looks to pass over Lowell's Sarah Wieser (20). Gebo missed three weeks after an ankle injury suffered at the Hanover Central holiday tournament.

Lowell coach Katie Antcliff and junior guard Sarah Wietbrock (11) talk strategy in Saturday night Northwest Crossroads Conference game.

Lowell's Mackenzie Kreutz (30) and Nicole Sharkey (22) surround Griffith's Sammi Adams (24) in rebound position Saturday night. The Devils out-rebounded Griffith 37-17 and won 46-27.

Lowell's Katie Bobs likes the way things are going Saturday night at Griffith and she should. Bobos scored 16 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked seven shots.

Lowell's team smiles for the cameras after sweeping the Northwest Crossroads Conference season with a 46-27 win at Griffith. This is believed to be the first girls basketball conference championship in Lowell school history.

LOWELL (46) Kalyne Godbolt 1-0-3, Sarah Wietbrock 2-3-7, Sarah Wieser 1-0-3, Katie Bobos 8-0-16, Mackenzie Kreutz 7-2-16, Savannah Summers 0-0-0, Nicole Sharkey 0-0-0, Sydney Barta 0-0-0, Marie Ingebretsen 0-0-0, Hunter Jusevitch 0-0-0, Amy Fraikin 0-0-0. TOTALS: 19 (6-13) 46.

GRIFFITH (27) Taylor Austin 1-1-3, Emma Blackford 3-0-7, Brooke Brinkley 3-2-10, Sammi Adams 1-3-5, Courtney Bell 1-0--2, Alyssa Gebo 0-0-0, Amy Bubala 0-0-0. TOTALS: 9 (6-13) 27

FREE THROWS: LOWELL (6-13, 46.1%) Kreutz 2-5, Wietbrock 3-4, Barta 1-3, Bobos 0-1; GRIFFITH (6-13, 46.1%) Austin 1-3, Blackford 0-3, Brinkley 2-2, Adams 3-5.

REBOUNDS: LOWELL (37) Bobos 16, Kreutz 9, Wietbrock 4, Godbolt 4, Wieser 2, Barta, Sharkey; GRIFFITH (17) Austin 5, Adams 4, Brinkley 2, Blackford 3, Bell 3.

ASSISTS: LOWELL (10) Godbolt 7, Summers, Kreutz, Wieser; GRIFFITH (4) Blackford 2, Gebo 2.

STEALS: LOWELL (6) Kreutz 3. Bobos 2, Wieser; GRIFFITH (8) Austin 3, Brinkley 2, Blackford, Adams, Gebo.

FOULED OUT: GRIFFITH (1) Sammi Adams (4th Q) 0:43 left.

3-GOALS: LOWELL (2) Kalyne Godbolt, Sarah Wieser; GRIFFITH (3) Brooke Brinkley 2, Emma Blackford.

BLOCKED SHOTS: LOWELL (8) Bobos 7, Wietbrock; GRIFFITH (3) Brinkley, Gebo, Adams.

With junior forwards Mackenzie Kreutz and Katie Bobos splitting 32 points and the Red Devil defense preventing lay ups and second shots, Lowell completed a six-game sweep of the Northwest Crossroads Conference (NCC) race with a 46-27 win at Griffith.

The Devils unofficially out-rebounded Griffith 37-17 and never trailed after an 8-0 run put Lowell ahead 16-9 early in the second quarter.

Bobos, Lowell's 5-foot-10 leading scorer, was very active in all phases of the game with 16 rebounds and seven blocked shots to go with 16 points. The Lowell guards were patient and rejected three-point shooting chances, concentrating on getting the ball inside to Bobos and Kreutz, another 5-foot-10 back to the basket player.

"Once Griffith made a run (an early 9-0 run erasing Lowell's initial 8-0 lead) we called a time out," said Lowell coach Katie Antcliff. "And we told them that the only way we were going to beat Griffith was on the inside. That's all we preached. Get the ball inside to Katie and 'Kenzie'.

"I told her (Bobos) that if you want the ball down there, don't put it on the floor. 'If you put the ball on the floor, you'll have three (Griffith) girls knocking it away from you.' She made hard turns and she went to the basket. She did a very good job."

It wasn't Lowell's best game, but it may have been their smartest. The Devils realized that three-point shots weren't the way to go (even after hitting two 3-point baskets in the first two minutes) and they realized that Griffith had no inside scoring. Defensively, the Devils had to cut off the drives and encourage long range shooting from the home team.

"From the 'day one' last year we've been preaching defense and I think, I hope that all the kids are buying in," said Antcliff, who played on Lowell's last sectional champ in 2000.

"Our kids were so offense-minded. Now they realize that defense leads to points. We told them at the half that Griffith is looking for the drive and the kick out. That's how they play. So cut them off and make sure the help side is a little higher. Because they want to kick out. And on Griffith side, they went completely cold."

That's not an overstatement. Griffith led 9-8 with 2:35 left in the first quarter and they made just six field goals and 18 points the rest of the game. The Panthers scored just one basket (Sammi Adams with 1:28 left in the game) in the entire second half. Some of it was Lowell defense but some of it wasn't.

Lowell's basic flaw is the size of Red Devil guards 5-foot-4 Sarah Wietbrock, 5-foot-3 Kalyne Godbolt and 5-foot Sarah Wieser. Defensively, you must keep the ball away from Kreutz and Bobos inside so you play tight on the small guards to prevent them from getting good passes off. But Godbolt had seven assists, most of them to Kreutz and Bobos.

"Kalyne came up to me at halftime," Antcliff said. "She said I want to be on the wing. I can get the ball in. She has a really good 'step-around' to get the ball into the post."

Griffith got back the services of 5-foot-7 lead guard Alyssa Gebo who suffered what looked like a season ending injury on Dec. 29 at the Hanover Central holiday tournament. Gebo returned to action, playing in short spurts and she looked healthy enough so the night was not a total loss for the Panthers (13-4), who are three weeks away from the Class 3A state tournament.

"That was her first game back," said Griffith coach Tom Golumbeck, whose team finishes second in league play (Hobart won last season) for the second year in a row. "She's not quite 100%, but she was OK. I thought our girls did a great job of competing, but they just didn't knock down shots. "We were trying to take their inside game away and we didn't do a very good job of it. Yes we were hoping they'd throw up a few more outside shots. They got it inside a lot and scored. A lot of rebounds and a lot of put backs. We were afraid of that coming in."

Don't feel too sorry for Griffith. In Class 3A Sectional 17, the only winning teams are the Panthers, Gavit (9-8), a team Griffith has already defeated by 23 points and Gary Roosevelt (10-4), a skilled but undisciplined team that will have trouble with Griffith's slow pace. The Panthers have won three sectional titles in a row.

"This was good experience for us," said Golumbeck. "It was a sectional atmosphere. We'll just try to get better. They were the better team tonight."

Lowell is going through the toughest part of the Red Devil schedule and they're doing it without starter Carley Austgen. They lost to Merrillville (17-0), came back to win at Hobart (10-9), lost to Lake Central (8-9) and bounced back to win at Griffith (13-4). Where are they headed?

"You learn from every loss," said Antcliff. "Lake Central (a 55-53 loss after leading by 14) hurt them and it should have. Tonight we just went about or business. Bottom line on Lake Central. They pressed us and we got tired. That just killed us."

DEVIL NOTES: Lowell's victory gave them a 6-0 record and the school's first Northwest Crossroads Conference basketball championship. Lowell never won the Lake Athletic Conference, which is the predecessor of the NCC. The question is: Has Lowell EVER won a league championship in girls basketball at all.

You won't be surprised to learn there is no one all-inclusive clearing house of records on Northwest Indiana girls basketball. The questions concern Lowell's brief stay in the Northwest Hoosier Conference with North Judson and the Devils' 20-year run in the old Lake Suburban Conference, going back to 1971. There is a chance that the title Lowell won last Saturday was the Devils' first girls basketball league title in history.

Senior Sarah Fraikin and junior Carley Austgen, both suspended for five games after a 'team rules violation' over the holidays, have one more game to sit, the match with Porter County Conference (PCC) champion Boone Grove (16-1) Tuesday night. The duo will return Friday, Jan. 27 at Calumet.

The Jan. 31 Tuesday night game with Greater South Shore Conference (GSSC) champion Wheeler (13-6) is Lowell's annual 'Senior night'. Fraikin and Savannah Summers are the Devils' two seniors.