Lowell hands Lady Bulldogs 1st loss of season, 75-62 in Girls Basketball

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
11-30-2011

CROWN POINT (62) Courtney Kvachkoff 4-2-10, Abby Kvachkoff 7-0-21, Kendall Brown 5-0-14, Michaela Prough 2-0-4, Alexis Joseph 3-0-6, Beth Ingram 1-2-4, Taylor Equihua 0-1-1, Morgan Frame 0-0-0. TOTALS: 23 (5-13) 62.

LOWELL (75) Sarah Wietbrock 5-8-18, Carley Austgen 3-2-10, Katie Bobos 11-2-24, Mackenzie Kreutz 2-8-12, Kalyne Godbolt 1-7-10, Sarah Wieser 0-0-0, Savannah Summers 0-0-0. TOTALS: 22 (27-46, 58.7%) 75.

FREE THROWS: CROWN POINT (5-13, 38.4%) Courtney Kvachkoff 2-5, Joseph 0-2, Equihua 1-2, Ingram 2-4; LOWELL (27-46, 58.7%) Wietbrock 8-14, Austgen 2-4, Bobos 2-8, Kreutz 8-12, Godbolt 7-8.

REBOUNDS: CROWN POINT (34) Joseph 11, Prough 7, Courtney Kvachkoff 6, Equihua 4, Frame 2, Abby Kvachkoff 2, Ingram 2; LOWELL (38) Bobos 11, Wietbrock 10, Kreutz 8, Godbolt 3, Wieser 3, Austgen 2, Summers.

ASSISTS: CROWN POINT (15) Brown 7, Courtney Kvachkoff 3, Abby Kvachkoff 3, Joseph 2; LOWELL (13) Godbolt 7, Wietbrock 2, Austgen 2, Bobos, Wieser.

STEALS: CROWN POINT (7) Courtney Kvachkoff 5, Taylor Equihua 2; LOWELL (9) Godbolt 3, Wietbrock 2, Kreutz 2, Austgen, Bobos.

FOULED OUT: Michaela Prough (CP) 4th Q - 4:24 left.

3-GOALS: CROWN POINT (11) Abby Kvachkoff 7, Kendall Brown 4; LOWELL (4) Carley Austgen 3, Kalyne Godbolt.

The Bulldogs ended up with 11 of 27 from three-point range and Lowell ran them down 75-62 in a very interesting strategy match.

"We knew eventually they would go cold," said Lowell coach Katie Antcliff. "Now the question is, 'Would they get hot again?' Every game we (the coaches) give them something to work on and tonight we concentrated on closing out on rebounds.

"But, good grief. Now I know how they (CP) average 70 points a game."

CP hit six 3-pointers in the first quarter and 11 of 27 for the game, but Lowell had all five starters score in double figures and they gained control in the middle of the game. The Lady Bulldogs (4-1), lacking depth at the guard position, fell victim to Lowell's quartet of small, quick guards in a match up of teams that have both started quickly this season.

Lowell's best player was 5-foot-4 junior guard Sarah Wietbrock, who scored 18 points and, despite her tiny stature, grabbed 10 rebounds away from the taller Bulldogs.

"She's been quiet for us the first couple of games," said Lowell coach Katie Antcliff. "I don't know if she'd quite figured her role. She came out tonight and she was all over the floor. Defensively, that's exactly what we want her to do."

CP, which was coming off a 72-46 win at Chesterton four days earlier, scored 22 points in the first quarter, but only eight in the second period. Conventional logic says that if you can get a hot-shooting team to run up and down the floor, they won't be such hot shots.

"That's exactly what we told them," said Antcliff. "If you run them, they will get tired. The key for this team is that they get hot. We knew they were getting tired. We need to keep running them. I'm so impressed with what we did."

Crown Point ended the game shooting 23 of 68 from the field and just 12 of 38 in the second half. Lowell made a move that seemed odd on the face of it. They switched into a 2-3 zone defense when CP hit the six three-point first period baskets. In theory, you don't zone an outside shooting team. But it worked.

"Crown Point started off with nine straight points, 11 straight points, explained Antcliff. "They couldn't miss. So we made the adjustment. We had Wietbrock (in the middle of the zone) step out and we had Katie and Kenzie (forwards Bobos and Mackenzie Kreutz) flare out."

"I was really sorry to see that," joked CP coach Anne Equihua. "That changed things for us. We tried to explain to our kids. I know they lost to Hanover, but you better be ready to play coming in here. Lowell is a tough team."

"Katie Bobos is one of the best players in the state. Offensive rebounds, defense rebounds. Moves to the basket. Their team was very good. I give them all kinds of credit."

Equihua thought her team was impatient on offense probably because they hit all those early shots. It could have been why top scorer Courtney Kvachkoff (17 ppg.) scored only two first half points.

"A lot of Courtney's offense is off the dribble," said coach Equihua. "The reason she couldn't attack the basket was that we kept coming down and trying to do it with one pass. It was not our night. We were not the smartest as far as our offense was. Our success early is what killed us at the end."

CP's 6-foot forwards Alexis Joseph and Michaela Prough were shackled with fouls and Lowell double teams. Prough fouled out with 4:24 left and Joseph had four fouls with 5:47 to go in the third quarter. Sophomore Abby Kvachkoff was 7-of-10 from three-point range, but she had none in the second and third quarters. Lowell led 60-48 with 4:51 left before a late rally pulled Crown Point within 69-61 in the final minute.

"She was trying to stay within our offense, said coach Equihua of Kvachkoff's low shot total in relation to her success. "But our team has to understand. Get it to the hot hand."

The Devils were a step quicker much of the night even though they had played on the road in East Chicago, winning 61-49 three days earlier. The truth may be that Lowell is simply a step quicker than CP because Lowell has a lot of guards and CP has a lot of players who truly are forwards.

Lowell's 5-foot-10 Katie Bobos scored eight of her game-high 24 points in the second quarter and Antcliff suggested she plays better when Lowell is pushing the ball quickly up the floor.

"When you slow things down for her, that's when she starts thinking out there and that's not good," said Antcliff. "She needs to run and play without having to think about it".

This was a second significant win in row for Lowell, but it was an ominous loss for Crown Point.

Third guard Beth Ingram came off the CP bench to score four points and play a little defense in the second half but the Lady Bulldogs need another guard. Other than Ingram and starters Kendall Brown and Courtney Kvachkoff, CP is all forwards and centers. Kvachkoff played all 32 minutes against Lowell and Brown played 30:18. Against Chesterton, Brown played all 32 minutes and Kvachkoff played 31:12.

Crown Point would appear to have serious problems against guard-dominated powerhouses Michigan City and Merrillville because it's hard for them to use all three guards at the same time.

"At the end, we needed to put (in) our quickest defenders and that's why we put Beth in," coach Equihua said. "But offensively, we need the shooters. The most impressive thing for us tonight was that we didn't back down and we never gave up. Even at the end I thought we were going to catch up."

DEVIL/DOG NOTES: CP, which has lost junior guards Haley Bordui and Sarah Rivich for the season, committed 18 turnovers and scored just 12 2-point baskets despite three starters 6-foot or taller. Lowell, which won despite making only 27 of 44 from the foul line, topped CP for the first time since 2006.

Lowell has defeated East Chicago (4-1) and Crown Point (4-1) in consecutive games, handing both their first loss. CP plays for the first time ever at Carmel (3-3) Saturday afternoon.

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Revised: December 01, 2011 .