Class 4A IHSAA State Championship Girls Basketball Preview: No. 5 MERRILLVILLE (25-1) vs. No. 1 (Indianapolis) Ben Davis (27-0) A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith (02-17-2010)

4A State Championship Game
No. 5 MERRILLVILLE (25-1) vs.
No. 1 (Indianapolis) Ben Davis (27-0)
7:45 p.m. (CDT) at the Allen County Coliseum - Fort Wayne, Indiana
Comcast Cable Ch. 114, WJOB (1230) AM, WWCA (1270) AM

FORT WAYNE, IN: You will hear a lot of cliches this week about how anybody can beat anybody in high school basketball.  But before you hear yourself say them, let's be sure we understand who this "anybody" is.

Floyd Central was 25-1 this season and those 25 wins were a school record and they had four senior starters.  Ben Davis led them 41-11 at halftime and won 65-28.  Ben Davis, the giant 4,380-kid school on the west side of Indianapolis, was 30-0 and voted the national girls high school basketball champion last season.  They have now won 57 games in a row and no one has come within 10 points of them in 27 games.  Ben Davis is 10-0 against teams ranked in the Top-25 state wide.  Merrillville has only faced one team (Elkhart Memorial) out of the top 25 and they won that game by one point.

Not only are the Giants rated 23 points better than Merrillville on the Sagarin Computer rankings, Ben Davis is rated 15 points better than ANYONE ELSE IN THE STATE.

That's what Merrillville is up against this week.  What can they do?

They can come out of character.  The Pirates normally want to push the ball up the floor and use the athleticism of all-area stars Bryonna Davis (who just committed to Michigan State this week) and Raveen Murray, their sophomore point guard.  That won't work this week.  The Pirates turn the ball over too often.  Merrillville cannot simply lineup and play Ben Davis.  There are too many individual overmatches.  Ben Davis plays a very tight man-to-man defense and they are a fundamentally sound squad.  Just seven turnovers in last week's win over Floyd Central.

Junior guard Bria Goss (16.0 ppg.) hit the game winning shot in the state title game against Skyler Diggins and South Bend Washington last year.  Senior guard Dorothy "Dee Dee" Williams averages 4.1 assists per game and the 6-foot guard will play for Purdue.  Power forward Demitria Nunley Lash, a 5-foot-9 defender, is signed to play at IUPUI in Indianapolis.  Senior three-point shooter Jordan Huber (59 of 154, 38.3%) hit four three-point baskets against Floyd Central last week.

So what can Merrillville do?

First of all, a box-and-one defense against Huber.  Let the other Giants shoot 3-pointers.

On offense, you spread the floor.

The Pirates have three good balll handlers in Murray, Davis and Latoi Merriweather.  You dig up boys coach Jim East's old four-corners offense (he stole it from old Dean Smith at North Carolina) and you take two or three minutes off the clock every quarter.  Few girls can guard Davis one on one in the middle of the floor.  She can slice to the basket and score before the Giants adjust.  The game has to stay in the 40s or 50s and Murray has to get fouled a dozen times and get her side into the penalty situation.

On defense, you get into a box-and-one on Huber, pack the defense in around the basket and let other Giants shoot uncontested from the three-point line.  The theory there being that you need to pack four defenders near the basket to get a 50-50 rebound break with the taller Giants and that teams do not shoot well from outside in a stadium in which they have never previously played.

It's a strategy.  Does it presume that Ben Davis is a superior team?  Sure it does.  Will it work?  Definitely.  Enough to win?  Probably not.

But at least the Pirates won't get beat down 65-28 like Franklin Central did.

35th Indiana Girls State Basketball Tournament
All times are Central Standard time* -State Finals @ Allen County Coliseum - Fort Wayne
1A: (FW) Canterbury [24-2] vs. Vincennes Rivet [26-0], 9:30 a.m.
2A: Bishop Luers [18-7 vs. Austin [25-2], 11:45 a.m.
3A: (FW) Concordia Jesuit [23-3] vs. Rushville [25-2], 5 p.m.
4A: MERRILLVILLE [25-1] vs. Ben Davis [27-0], 7:45 p.m.
*all games live on Comcast Digital Cable Channel 114

Girls Basketball Top-15
Class 4A - Indiana Girls Coaches Association (final poll)
1. (Indianapolis) Ben Davis (27-0)
2. Jeffersonville (20-2)
3. Mooresville (25-2)
4. Floyd Central (25-2)
5. MERRILLVILLE (25-1)
6. Bloomington North (21-3)
7. Elkhart Memorial (24-3)
8. Kokomo (17-3)
9. Penn (16-3)
10. Westfield (21-3)
11. Logansport (21-2)
12. (South Bend) Clay (21-5)
13. Mishawaka (18-4)
14. Decatur Central (17-5)
15. Bloomington South (19-5)
 

Copyright © 2010 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: March 06, 2010 .