H.S. Girls Basketball: Lowell 53, Munster 39

Team	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr	Final
Munster (6-15)	5	7	8	19	39
LOWELL (15-8)	12	10	12	19	53

2-10-4 Gary (4A) Sectional quarterfinal (played at Lowell)

MUNSTER (39) Kate Hamilton 1-2-4, Jackie Yerga 2-3-7, Kate Varnum 3-3-9, Nicole Enright 1-0-2, Stephanie Hoffman 2-0-6, Hallie Gibbs 0-2-2, Lauren Meneghetti 1-0-2, Ali Nykiel 3-0-6, Libbie Thompson 0-1-1, Stephanie Anjelich 0-0-0, Megan Remac 0-0-0, Danielle Blair 0-0-0. TOTALS: 13-11-39.

FREE THROWS: 11-19, 57.8% (Varnum 3-4, Yerga 3-5, Hamilton 2-5, Gibbs 2-3, Thompson 1-2.
REBOUNDS: Jackie Yerga - 8
STEALS: Ali Nykiel - 3
TURNOVERS: 20
FOULED OUT: Jackie Yerga - 2:46 left (4th Q)
3-POINT GOALS (2) Ali Nykiel 2.

LOWELL (53) Natalie Hanas 0-9-9, McKensey Wietbrock 1-4-6, Mary Erpelding 2-0-4, Lisa Schulfer 5-0-10, Brooke Bell 1-1-3, Ashley Cosentino 1-3-5, Rachel Theil 4-6-14, Whitney Magley 0-2-2, Megan Bachinski 0-0-0, Bailey Wagner 0-0-0. TOTALS: 14-25-53.

FREE THROWS: 25-38, 65.7% - Hanas 9-14, Magley 2-2, Wietbrock 4-5, Schulfer 0-1, Bell 1-2, Cosentino 3-5, Thiel 6-8.
REBOUNDS: Rachel Thiel - 12, Lisa Schulfer - 8
ASSISTS: Natalie Hanas - 4
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (0) none

     GARY WEST SIDE (4A) SECTIONAL

2-10-2004:   LOWELL 53, Munster 39
2-10-2004:   East Chicago 34, Highland 27

Semifinals
2-13-2004 (F) LOWELL (15-7) vs. East Chicago (16-4)
2-13-2004 (F) Gary West Side (19-2) vs. LAKE CENTRAL (12-8)

Championship
2-14-2004 (S)     at Gary West Side (7:30 p.m.)

LOWELL (2-10-2004) - There won't be a lot of people who claim they saw it. There won't be a lot of people who want to. But Lowell's second home playoff game ever was also a victory. The experimental 'home site' home basketball quarterfinals were good to Lowell, which recorded a 53-39 win over Munster in the first round of the 29th Indiana State basketball tournament.

"We like playing at home," said Lowell coach Patti McCormack. "We'll take a home playoff game anytime we can get one. I wish they'd switch the LAC (tournament) here. But we'll settle for a regional."

The Devils (15-7) also will settle for a neutral site semifinal game Friday night (2-13-2004) against powerful East Chicago (16-4), a 36-27 winner at Highland Tuesday in another home site quarterfinal.

Munster, a team without a senior on the roster, had a terrible time shooting the basketball, making just 13 of 48 shots (27.0%) from the field, with six of those field goals coming in the fourth quarter. Lowell never trailed and, although Munster kept trying and cut the lead to 36-30 with 4:10 left in the fourth period, there was never a time when you thought that the Mustangs (5-16) could win.

Lowell, which won their only other home playoff game in history over state-ranked Gary West Side in a 2000 Class 4A Regional, got 16 points and 12 rebounds from 5-9 sophomore Rachel Thiel and a 10-point, eight rebound night from 5-10 senior Lisa Schulfer.

"Munster never quit," said McCormack. "They played hard. I knew they would. I thought we played well defensively but on offense, we started passing up open shots again. I don't know why we do that and we can't do it against East Chicago."

"Obviously, I don't think anyone in the building will think we can win but we're going to go in there and give it our best shot. That's the position we want to be in. We've got absolutely nothing to lose. The pressure is all on them."

Lowell maintained the lead in the second half with free throws as Munster used 10 players, pressed all night and was called for 27 personal fouls. The Devils made 15 of 23 foul shots in a very lengthy final quarter in front of about 200 fans.

"Coach told us that we had to defend our home court," said senior Natalie Hanas, who was 9-of-14 from the line. "The only other time we had a home game here, we won the regional. Coach always tells me she wants the ball in my hands... that I need to lead the team and she wants me on the floor at the end. She has confidence in me to handle the ball and hit my foul shots."

Obviously, Lowell is faced with the monumental prospect of trying to beat East Chicago (16-4) and then probably Gary West Side (19-2), two of the state's top-25 big school teams, on successive nights.

The number one target is Dee Dee Jernigan, a 5-10 guard who is a high Division I college prospect. Jernigan scored eight points, grabbed eight rebounds and passed out six assists as EC beat a slowdown strategy and eliminated Highland. McCormack agreed that one strategy would be to double team Jernigan (16 ppg.), defend close to the basket and let other EC players shoot from outside.

"We cant get down to a team like that," she said. "If we fall behind early it will be very tough to come back. We just need to stay in the game and play our game."

"If I'm confident, I try to blow by the girl but I'm not really that quick. If the girl is faster than me, I just try to take my time, protect the ball and play our game."

"We can't go over the top (throw the ball against defensive pressure) against EC because they're bigger than us and can jump better than us.

If Lowell is to beat East Chicago, the front court of Schulfer, Theil and Brooke Bell will have to rebound and draw fouls. Theil will be a key player against an East Chicago team that is more fast than strong and has no player taller than 5-11 Jernita Moore.

"Rachel is our varsity rookie," Hanas said, "We kid her that she can't jump and she can't hold onto the ball. But when she does, she can do a lot of things. She takes up a lot of space. She's a good rebounder. She has a lot of potential."

"She's very strong and she has a great head fake. Last week, she faked two players and went right by them. She's already a very good player."

McCormack appreciated that Lowell has just come off seeing an EC-like team in Duneland Athletic Conference champion Merrillville, but she thought that the resulting 54-17 defeat didn't speak well for the Lowell-EC matchup.

"We cant play like that," she laughed. "We were just intimidated against them. We really don't see many teams like East Chicago during the season. We don't see them at all. But they may not take us too seriously. Stranger things have happened."

DEVIL NOTES: Athletic director Don Bales was disappointed in the small playoff crowd, but he didn't frown on the concept of home site quarterfinals in the geographically wide-ranging East Chicago-Gary sectional. "I liked the atmosphere," he said. "The band helped a lot. I thought the people who were here were into it. We're going to have to sit down and discuss it to see if we (the six teams in sectional one) want to do it that way again."

In past years, Indiana state tournament rules did not allow schools to bring their band. The stated reason was that the bands took up seats that could be sold, cutting down revenue.

"That rule has been changed," said Bales. "We told everybody that we were going to have the band tonight. They are a big part of the game."

Rachel Thiel's brother Garrett is Lowell's LAC wrestling champion at 215 pounds. Garrett Thiel needs two wins Saturday at the Merrillville Wrestling Semistate to qualify for the 2004 wrestling state finals. His match record this season is 30-5.

Lowell (15-7)
COACH: PATTI MCCORMACK - OFF. 41.8, DEF. 39.6

Nov. 13 (W) 61-44 North Newton
Nov. 21 (W) 43-22 Morton
Nov. 26 (W) 55-49 at Hanover Central
Nov. 29 (W) 47-37 at Andrean
Dec. 2 (L) 29-50 Crown Point
Dec. 5 (W) 52-45 Hobart

Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) Tournament
Dec. 9 (W) 43-41 Hammond
Dec. 11 (W) 47-33 Griffith (13-8)
Dec. 13 (L) 29-49 at Highland (17-6) semifinals
Dec. 13 (L) 48-37 Calumet (14-8) - 3rd place

Carroll County Classic - Flora, Ind.
Dec. 20 (W) 40-29 Rossville
Dec. 20 (W) 41-26 at Carroll - championship

Gary West Side (4A) Sectional
Feb. 10 (W) 53-39 Munster quarterfinals
Feb. 13 East Chicago (16-4) semifinals

Lady Red Devils advance to Sectional Semifinals with 53-39 win over Munster

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

2-10-4 Gary (4A) Sectional quarterfinal (played at Lowell)