Lady Red Devils open season with 46-38 win over Hammond Morton

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith
11-18-2005

11-17-2005  Season opener at Lowell, IN

MORTON (38)  Carly Holmes 6-0-16, Shamika Crowder 2-3-7, China Jones 1-0-2, Kelas McClain 1-0-2, Erica Baron 1-1-3, Lindsay McGing 4-0-8, Kymberli Daniels 0-0-0, Melissa Lawrence 0-0-0, Crystal Torres 0-0-0.
TOTALS 15 (4-9) 38.

LOWELL (46) Kara Lamb 2-2-6, Julie Swisher 4-4-14, KIm Bell 3-2-8, Rachel Thiel 3-1-7, Ashley Cosentino 4-3-11, Katie Haberlin 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  15 (12-14) 46.

FREE THROWS: MORTON  (4-9, 44.4%): Baron 1-2, Crowder 4-6, Holmes 0-1;  LOWELL (12-14, 85.7%) Lamb 2-2, Swisher 4-4, Bell 2-2, Theil 1-2, Cosentino 3-4.

REBOUNDS: MORTON (40) McGing 11, Crowder 10, Dillman 5, Daniels 5, Jones 4, McClain 3,  Holmes 2.
LOWELL (29) Swisher 9, Bell 7, Thiel 4, Lamb 4, Cosentino 4, Hamberlin.

ASSISTS:  MORTON  (6) McGing 2, Holmes 2, Torres 2;  LOWELL (7) Cosentino 5, Lamb, Bell.

TURNOVERS:   MORTON - 24,  LOWELL -17.

3-PT. GOALS:  MORTON (4) Carly Holmes 4, LOWELL (4) Julie Swisher 2.

 

Kim Bell #30, Rachel Thiel #32 and Ashley Cosentino #15 playing a zone defense in their 46-38 win over Hammond Morton, 11-17-2005.

LOWELL (11-17-2005)  The new-look Lowell Red Devils look a lot like the old-look Devils. The team that went 13-8 last year amazingly used just six players exclusively.  It seemed impossible they could compete the way they did with what little they had.  Well, here they come again.  Playing only six players total and the starting five largely, Lowell stopped Morton 46-38 in Thursday night's home opener.

It wasn't done with style and brilliance, but it was done basically with five players, something that may continue through at least the first half of the season.  

"But it does drop off some after that, noted Lowell coach Patti McCormack.  "This team is supposed to be a really balanced team with no standouts.  And that's what we were. We had a little discussion at halftime about rebounding and marking the players that were hurting us and we did a much better job in the second half."

It wasn't a dominating victory, but the reality is, until they can expand on their small group of regulars, Lowell isn't going to beat anyone by 30 points.  Wins like this one are going to be the norm.  Although the Devils appear to be a tad quicker and more skilled with the ball handling than they were last season.

"We're getting out of the blocks pretty good," said McCormack. "Eventually when we fine tune things, we'll be all right.  We've got a long way to go and a long time to get there."

Lowell scored eight points in a row early for a 10-4 lead, but a turnover-filled second quarter led to a 24-19 Devil halftime lead in front of a small crowd on a very cold November night.  The game remained close because Morton out-rebounded the Devils 20-13 in the first half.
Lowell leads reached 29-19 and 38-28, but both teams seemed to tire mentally, if not physically in the fourth quarter when nobody could put two field goals together.

"I was afraid we were going to keep jacking it up there and lose the ball game," said McCormack of the final period.  "So I had us slow it down some. The first night out, you just try to get the jitters out."

Morton (1-3) is better than their record.  Bob Maicher, who coached Merrillville to the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) title in 2004 but was let go by the school last spring, has a well-organized group of players. However, right now, they have an awful time shooting the ball. Morton was an unofficial 15 of 50 from the floor and 4-of-9 from the line.

"We're working hard," said new Morton coach Bob Maicher.  "It'll just be a matter of time before they get used to a new coach and a new system. Trailing by just 7-to-9 points throughout the fourth quarter, the shooting was why the visitors lost.  "I'm hoping to keep them positive and play decent until the Christmas break when we've got two weeks (and no games) to work with them.  We play nine of our first 10 games on the road.  But I think we've got a good system in place. The JV is 3-1 and our freshman are 2-1 so it's just a matter of sticking with it."

That may not be so tough for Morton when they get into league play against some of the smaller LAC squads.  Lowell, while shorthanded, it tall up front with good shooters.  Morton senior guard Carly Holmes sank four three-point baskets in the second half as Lowell lost track of where she was.  The Governors' defense had the same problem with Lowell's Julie Swisher, but the 5-5 senior Devil guard hit only 2-of-8 from three-point range.

"Everybody's going to shift on Julie," said McCormack, of shooting guard Swisher who had 38 three-point baskets last year. "And she's really worked hard of her driving moves. She'll hit those."

"When Kim gets more adept at cutting against the grain, she's going to get a lot of good opportunities.  Kim and Kara (Lamb) are afraid to be bold.  Right now they're saying, 'Let's just do what everybody else (the Lowell seniors) do." 

The story is going to have to be what senior Rachel Theil, Julie Swisher and Ashley Cosentino do.

"I was impressed with the little left-handed girl (Cosentino)," said Maicher.  "She went through us last year when I was at Merrillville.  We kept reaching and not stepping in front of her to take the charge.  She went through our press."

Lowell started the three seniors plus 5-10 Kim Bell and 5-7 junior Kara Lamb, who will have to play a major role.

"I thought Kara Lamb did a very good job tonight," said McCormack.  "She works hard. She's one of those kids who we're going to ask to chip in 8-10 points.  That's pretty much what we ask of all our kids.  But usually we throw in the great defense clause in there and that wasn't always in evidence tonight."

The first game had no great meaning except that it was the first game.

"We wanted to win the first game in our new gym," said McCormack. "It was ugly, but we'll take it."

DEVIL NOTES:  Lowell coach Patti McCormack says that even though she did not play in the opener, freshman guard Mallory Pratt will be a significant part of the 2006 team. 

"She just needs to get her game up to the speed of varsity play," explained McCormack. "She was a little bit tentative.  She really has skills but she does not have the game speed yet."

Junior guard Kelly Johnson, who had knee surgery after the volleyball season, says that walking around on crutches is pretty boring and her recovery time is 6-12 weeks.  

"It won't be 12," she said Thursday. "I hope it will be more like six."  Johnson, who is an all-state softball player with a Division I future, is not definite on whether she would try to play basketball this season. 

"I don't want to come back too soon and re-injure myself for softball," she said. "I'm just going to have to see how I feel."  Johnson averaged 11.4 points per game last season and led the Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) in steals and foul shooting.  Lowell does not play LAC contenders Hammond, Highland and Munster until the last two weeks of the season.

Bob Maicher got to Morton quickly after being fired at Merrillville.

"I had to have a job," he said. "My thing was in the paper the day they lost their coach. Roy (Morton AD Roy Richards) called me and it was one of those fortunate things."