H.S. Girls Basketball: EC Central 43, Lowell 32

Team	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr	Final
4A No.4 East Chicago (20-3)	10	14	11	8	43
LOWELL (13-8)	10	6	8	8	32

EAST CHICAGO (43) Kandi Rogers 1-1-3, Kelly Watts 4-3-11, Dee Dee Jernigan 4-0-8, Lisa Upshaw 2-0-4, Shareya Patrick 6-4-17, Valencia Cottom 0-0-0, Jeffra Harris 0-0-0, Taaja'e McKinley 0-0-0. TOTALS: 17-8-43

LOWELL (32) Bailey Wagner 1-2-4, Rachel Thiel 5-0-10, Kelly Johnson 2-8-12, Ashley Cosentino 1-4-6, Kelly Swisher 0-0-0, Michelle Johnson 0-0-0, Kara Lamb 0-0-0. TOTALS: 9-14-32.

FREE THROWS - East Chicago (8-17, 47.0%) Rogers 1-2, Watts 3-7, Jernigan 0-5, Patrick 4-4.

REBOUNDS – East Chicago (19) Watts 5, Cottom 2, Jernigan 9,. Upshaw, Harris, McKinley. LOWELL (25) Thiel 7, Cosentino 5, Kelly Johnson 5, Wagner 3, Swisher 4, Michelle Johnson.

TURNOVERS (by quarter) East Chicago – 5-4-4-2 (15); LOWELL – 9-6-6-3 (24)

FOULED OUT - East Chicago (1) Kandi Rogers -4^th Q – 2:36 left; LOWELL (1) Ashley Cosentino - 4^th Q – 3:08 left.

For Lowell to beat East Chicago, they had to get shots, make shots and get to the foul line. Very little of that occurred as the Cardinals made the 30-mile trip on a school night and got the desired outcome, a 43-32 victory for Class 4A No. 4 East Chicago over Lowell in the quarterfinal round of the state tournament.

The Cardinals took the lead with a 14-2 run at the start of the second quarter and they coasted home after that, not playing anywhere near peak efficiency in an odd Tuesday night road playoff game.

“We just play 'D',” said East Chicago coach Ron Edmonds. “That's the worst game I've ever seen (of) Dee Dee Jernigan. (Shareya) Patrick was tough. She's as quick as a cat. We told her to get all over '15' (Ashley Cosentino). But, offensively, I don't know where we were. I'm glad to be (going) home.”

The speed of East Chicago simply prohibited Lowell from running their offense. The game was never a blowout but the Devils scored just nine field goals and top distance shooter Julie Swisher (34 3-point baskets) went scoreless from the field.

“That was Dee Dee,” said Edmonds. “We knew that she (Swisher) was the shooter and that 15 was their point guard. We thought that if we could get all over them, we'd be all right.”

Lowell sat in a 2-3 zone for most of the game and EC, which sank just 17 of 50 shots (34%) was unable to break it. The Cardinals won the game with 15 steals and transition layups, creating a total of 24 Lowell turnovers.

“It's very hard to simulate their speed,” said coach Patti McCormack. “We got some of the fastest boys in the school. But we just couldn't get any outside hits. We screened soft tonight. We worked very hard on defense and I think the place that we rested was setting screens.”

“I'll tell you what we're lacking, truthfully, is 'big speed'. We can simulate the speed of their guards and we're not slow. But we cannot simulate the speed of their big people (5-10 wing players Jernigan and Kelly Watts). We're just slower than they are up front.”

Lowell stayed close for a quarter but none in the crowd of about 700 thought the Devils were winning. EC forced nine first quarter turnovers with a full court press led by speedy 5-6 guard Shareya Patrick.

With the score tied 10-10, Patrick sank a 12-footer and added a free throw. After two foul shots by Cosentino, Jernigan, the high-jumping EC leading scorer, soared high to grab an offensive rebound and the Cardinals were off on their only spurt of the game.

Patrick stole the ball and scored on a breakaway layup to make it 17-12. The Cardinals' 6-foot center Valencia Cottom blocked a shot and Jernigan (18 ppg.), who has extremely quick hands, whipped the ball towards the other end of the floor where Patrick ran it down for the 19-12 layup.

Another wild Lowell shot under pressure led to another Jernigan outlet to Patrick for a layup and a Kelly Watts three-point play made it 24-12 with 2:14 left in the first half.

“We knew we were gong to have to play on sheer guts,” said coach Patti McCormack. “They are more athletic. Actually, Kelly (Johnson) and Ashley (Cosentino) have very quick first steps. But they 'over-drove'. They got in too deep and had no play.”

The second half was an offensive struggle for both sides on the artificial floor (Lowell is under renovation) in the Red Devils' basement gym. Kelly Johnson's layup made it 26-20 with 6:11 left in the third quarter but the Cardinals scored seven points in a row over 5 ½ minutes while the Devils could not put the ball in the basket.

The lead never got larger than 40-26 but Lowell never got close enough again to give the home fans any reason to believe an upset was at hand.

This was a very physical game and relatively few fouls (only 30 combined on both teams) were called. McCormack picked up a technical foul with 4:19 left in the third period when one of her players was knocked down on a drive and play continued.

The Red Devils sank 14 of 17 from the foul line, but they had averaged 25 foul shots per game over the 20-game regular season. They needed 25-30 free throw attempts because that was one area where they were superior to EC (8 of 17).

I thought there were some fouls that were not called,” said McCormack. “But we did not hit an outside shot tonight. If you get two steps on East Chicago, they're going to catch up with you.

“We played two tough teams in Highland and Munster and then we wanted to play the fastest teams we could find and we did in Merrillville and Hammond. They're quick. But it's hard to simulate.”

Lowell did find some offense in the second half as 5-10 center Rachel Thiel scored five baskets. The Devils could not screen and move the ball around the perimeter well enough to score consistently but anyone scouting EC had to notice that when the ball went to the post, the Cardinals were average defensively. It was hard to imagine EC defending a team like Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) champion Valparaiso in a half court set. But Lowell had some backcourt quickness. It would be near impossible for anyone without two good, quick guards break EC's press consistently.

“If they can find somebody who can knock down the outside shot consistently, they'll be fine,” she said. “Because everybody's going to pack it in and not let them drive to the basket.”

“But that's a tough sectional. If they can't find that outside shot, they're going to have problems.”

TOURNEY NOTES: East Chicago reached the 20-win plateau for the second time in three seasons. The Cardinals, who may be the state's top-ranked team in the pre-season next fall, were 21-1 in 2003 and 17-5 last year.

Top-ranked Hamilton Southeastern (20-2), which defeated East Chicago to win the Hall-of-Fame tournament, was eliminated on their home floor in the sectional quarterfinals by North Central 62-52.

In the biggest opening night game, No. 9 Columbus East beat No. 7 Bloomington North (19-4) 52-49 in the Columbus East Sectional quarterfinals.

The crowd at Lowell Tuesday night was a little disappointing, but only from a Lowell standpoint. There were 400-500 people from East Chicago but Lowell fans did not match that number.

McCormack convinced her players that they could play the entire game and not get tired. It would be hard to say that Lowell lost any one particular game because of fatigue. Again Lowell, 5-9 junior Jen Sharkey was unavailable and the Devils used Rachel Thiel, Bailey Wagner, Ashley Cosentino, Kelly Johnson and Kelly Swisher almost exclusively until the final moments. Only Kelly's twin sister Michelle Johnson was used as substitute in the first three periods.

“I don't think its all in your mind,” said McCormick. “You didn't see it tonight, but our girls are like a pack of wolves. They're hungry. We've never had to take them apart because of effort.”

“We lose Bailey and that's tough because she was a big part of us. But everybody else is back. Whitney (junior guard Whitney Manley) had her back surgery and she'll be back. She's really quick. If we can add a couple of players, we'll be tough. I'm really proud of this team.”

You hear different stories but the reason the quarterfinal games in the East Chicago Sectional are played on 'home sites', is because that option was offered teams in wide ranging sectionals.

The six teams in the EC Sectional voted on the option and the vote was 4-2. East Chicago and Gary West Side, who alternate as hosts of sectional one, quite understandably, voted 'no'. The other four schools (Highland, Lake Central, Munster and Lowell), who all would have to drive north three times if they reached the finals, voted for 'home sites'.

The idea is that, instead of three or four teams traveling on a school night, only two will travel. It's almost 30 miles from East Chicago to Lowell. The other idea is that attendance will be better if more than one team is at home. One drawback is that fans, players and coaches cannot see both quarterfinal games. Another is that the host school may have to play on the road, which defeats the purpose of hosting the sectional in your nice, large (EC's gym, the largest in NW Indiana, seats 8,000) home gym.

The concept apparently will be reviewed. In the other home site sectional quarterfinal, Highland won at Lake Central 55-43.