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2011-2012 Renegade Girls BasketballWeek-5 PollA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith12-16-2011 |
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2011-2012 Renegade Girls BasketballWeek-5 PollA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith12-16-2011 |
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MERRILLVILLE, IN (12-20-2011)
Unlike boys basketball in NW Indiana, which has about as much chance of winning
the 'big one' next year as Rick Perry does, local girls teams continue to excel,
creating more than enough squads for the local Top-10. By the end of the week,
Hanover Central will be 8-1 and still not be in this poll. Nor will the Kankakee
Valley team that topped HC. If you like redundancy, you'll love the Duneland
Conference where the first of three meetings between Michigan City (6-1) and
Merrillville (8-0) went to Merrillville Tuesday night. The first of a potential
three meetings between Crown Point and Michigan City is set for Friday.
What match ups don't occur?
Michigan City and Oregon Davis
A blend of similar styles. Schools that are only about 15 miles apart. Class 4A
vs. Class 1A, but MC doesn't have a big edge here. To my knowledge, they've
never met.
Gary West Side vs. Bowman Academy
Gary basketball has gone down the drain in recent years because the public
schools won't play the charter school that is 'taking' their players. But West
Side foes play the other Gary charter schools. Here's a match that would draw
more than the usual 'friends of the family' in Gary.
Boone Grove and Crown Point
These two stopped playing probably because of the rivalry between old CP coach
Mike Cronkhite and Boone coach Candy Wilson. But Cronkhite's gone and CP and
Boone should meet in every sport. When the DAC axes its infamous 14-game league
schedule after next season, I think Boone plays CP again.
Lake Central vs. Hanover Central
I know. LC would win most times, but LaPorte beats New Prairie most of the time,
too. Sometimes you should just play the game because of the fact that a few more
people would go to see it. These are border schools where some of the players
went to the same grade schools. It hasn't sunk in that Hanover is a 3A school
now.
Wheeler vs. Valparaiso
Same deal as LC vs. HC. Valpo has little to gain by beating Wheeler except in
gate receipts. Again, go back to the LaPorte-New Prairie example. LaPorte wins
the match up most of the time, but local community people come to see the game
because they are local community people. Isn't that what you want?
One other note. If you want to know what local radio really thinks about girls
basketball, Tuesday, Dec. 13 comes to mind. On the night of the major state
showdown between undefeated 4A No. 7 Merrillville and 4A No. 10 Michigan City,
WLPR (89.1) which should be commended for doing ANY mid week games, chose to do
the Merrillville-Michigan City boys game, a match up of two sub-.500 losers. A
little embarrassing.
HANOVER CENTRAL Winter Classic
Wednesday, Dec. 28 - quarterfinals in Cedar Lake
HANOVER CENTRAL (7-1) vs. Bishop Noll (5-1) 11 a.m.
Oregon-Davis (6-1) vs. Whiting (6-2) 11 a.m.
Wheeler (5-3) vs. Knox (2-6) 12:30 p.m.
Bowman Academy (6-2) vs. Griffith (8-1) 12:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 28 semifinals in Cedar Lake
HANOVER (or Noll) vs. Oregon Davis - 7:30 p.m.
Wheeler (or Knox) vs. Griffith or Bowman - 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 29 in Cedar Lake
Championship game - 7:30 p.m.
SOUTH COUNTY TOURNAMENT
Semifinals (at Hebron)
Dec. 22 (Th) Morgan Twp. (3-6) vs. Hebron (4-4) 3 p.m.
Dec. 22 (Th) Kouts (5-3) vs. Boone Grove (8-1) 5 p.m.
Finals (at Morgan Township)
Dec. 23 (F) 3rd place game - 5 p.m.
Dec. 23 (F) championship - 7 p.m.
1. (4A) Merrillville (8-0)
2011 (14-8), 2010 (25-2), 2009 (10-11), 2008 (17-5)
MERRILLVILLE: The Pirates jumped to 8-0 with their 76-71 win at Michigan City Tuesday night, proving that while Michigan City is just as good as they were last year, Merrillville has gotten better. Raveen Murray scored 22 and freshman forward Victoria Gaines added 21 for the Pirates, who led 31-21 at the half. This game only confirmed what we already knew: Merrillville is No. 1.
2. (4A) Michigan City (7-1)
2011 (19-4), 2010 (15-8), 2009 (21-4), 2008 (20-6), 2007 (22-2)
MICHIGAN CITY: The Wolves have five wins by 10 points or more, but the 76-71 loss to Merrillville gives them something to play for. The rematch is Jan. 27 at Merrillville. Neither team slowed the pace in this showdown and that may change next time around. Led by Toni Murphy (19.7 ppg.), MC has four starters who average in double figures and none of them are seniors.
3. (1A) Oregon-Davis (6-1)
2011 (17-6), 2010 (22-5), 2009 (22-3), 2008 (24-1), 2007 (25-3)
HAMLET: The calm before the storm here for the Bobcats who have a span where they played only two games in three weeks but that won't last. O-D plays Rochester (5-2) next Tuesday (12-20-2011) and they'll make their first-ever visit to Lake County to play three times in the Hanover Central tournament Dec. 28-29. Led by Ashley Campbell (18.1 ppg.) O-D has four starters who average in double figures and only one of them is a senior. Wouldn't you like to see Oregon-Davis play Michigan City or Merrillville? Most likely, so would they.
4. (4A) Lowell (7-1)
2011 (13-8), 2010 (6-15), 2009 (1-19),
2008 (4-17), 2007 (5-16)
LOWELL: Lowell coasted past Munster 63-26 to stay unbeaten in the Northwest Crossroads Conference and the Devils had three games in five days against Highland and at the Carroll County tournament on Dec. 17. The Devils probably secretly wish the conference was a little stronger this year. Nobody in the NCC is over .500 except Griffith and Hobart (5-4) and with all due respect to the lovable Carroll Cougars (6-3), this particular Lowell team is too good for this weekend's Carroll County Christmas Classic. But judgment day is coming for Lowell. The Devils game of the year is the Tuesday, Jan. 10 home match up against undefeated Merrillville (8-0).
5. (4A) Crown Point (6-3)
2011 (14-8), 2010 (10-11), 2009 (12-9), 2008 (6-15)
CROWN POINT: CP won four in a row... lost three in a row and then won the last two, including a 49-33 win over Valparaiso Tuesday (12-13-2011) night. Unknown Beth Ingram came off the bench to help out CP's injury depleted guard line and the Lady Bulldogs have stopped throwing up 15-20 three-point shots a game. Crown Point has yet to play either of two games against Merrillville (8-0) or Michigan City (6-1) so they don't know how good they are. And CP doesn't play Boone Grove, so we can only guess who the better team there is. Winning teams that border each other should play. They just should.
6. (3A) Griffith (8-1)
2011 (16-7), 2010 (19-6), 2009 (16-7),
2008 (17-5)
GRIFFITH: The Panthers rolled to 8-1 with easy wins over Andrean, Rensselaer and Hebron. Griffith allows a state-low average of 26.7 points per game. That's almost cheating. Again, the team with the lowest defensive average has almost certainly never won the state title. That number is a product of your style. But the Panthers are rolling through a schedule easier than that of the Denver Broncos. Bowman Academy and Griffith is the opening morning match up at the Hanover tourney on Dec. 28 and that contrast (Bowman averages 67 points a game) should be worth seeing.
7. 2A Boone Grove (8-1)
2011 (20-2), 2010 (22-2), 2009 (16-7), 2008 (16-7), 2007 (18-5)
PORTER TOWNSHIP: Boone got steamrollered at Bowman Academy 58-44 on Dec. 8, but they bounced back with a 56-42 PCC win over Kouts. Boone gets a quick rematch with Kouts in the South County tournament on Dec. 22, but any rematch with Bowman will have to wait until regional play. Nobody believes that Boone can go deep into the playoffs because past post-seasons speak for themselves. Boone's going to have to hear how overrated they are, but wins at December's South County tournament and January's PCC tourney (where they will be favored) will soften those nasty insinuations.
8. (2A) Bowman Academy (6-2)
2011 (17-8), 2010 (12-8), 2009 (5-10)
GARY: The Eagles won a big one 58-44 over Boone and senior guard Princess German scored 23 and 6-foot-2 freshman Joshlynn King blocked five shots. Bowman is certainly looking forward to the matchup with Griffith (8-1) on Dec. 28 because they will face a style that is foreign to them. One question. Bowman's boys team complains that no one in NW Indiana will play them so they have to play 15 games outside the area. Bowman's girls team will play a total of 14 NW Indiana foes this year. You can tell someone doesn't understand the state tournament when they suggest that Bowman, a 1A school last year, will do just as well in the 2A playoffs because they play a tough schedule. With that said, the Eagles girls are going about winning sectional and regional titles the right way.
9. (4A) Lake Central (5-4)
2011 (13-11), 2010 (15-7), 2009 (12-10), 2008 (9-13)
ST. JOHN: The three losses are to Hamilton Southeastern (8-0), Penn (8-0), Crown Point (6-3) and Michigan City (6-1) so LC should still be in the Top-10. But the Indians lost at home to CP and they actually allow more points (56.1) than they score (54.6), an eventual blueprint for losing. LC has two games with Merrillville (8-0) to play, but they are probably focused on the Jan. 17 home game with 4A Sectional 1 rival Lowell. There are a lot of doubts about LC, but the four losses are games they most certainly should have lost.
10. (4A) LaPorte (6-3)
2011 (7-14), 2010 (1-20), 2009 (1-20), 2008 (10-12)
LaPORTE: The Slicers got smoked out 57-30 by Merrillville (8-0), but they bounced back to beat Portage Tuesday (12-13-2011) as sophomore Jaclyn Heath scored 14. The Slicers led 17-4 after one quarter. The Slicers have about as much chance of winning the Duneland Conference as Khloe Kardashian does of being elected president. But look at their records the last two years. This is a big step up.