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2011-2012 Renegade Girls BasketballWeek-9 PollA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith02-01-2012 |
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2011-2012 Renegade Girls BasketballWeek-9 PollA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith02-01-2012 |
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MERRILLVILLE, IN (01-25-2012)
We pretty much established in the final weeks of the season that there's no
question who the No. 1 team in NW Indiana is: Merrillville needs just one win to
become the first team to go 20-0 in the regular season. Prior to the last 15 or
so years, girls basketball teams only played 18-game regular seasons.
Wheeler won the Greater South Shore Conference (GSSC) title, turning back Whiting 44-31. Boone Grove took the Porter County Conference (PCC) for the fourth year in a row, topping Kouts 44-40 and Oregon-Davis won the snow-delayed Bi-County Tournament, topping Culver 49-38 on Monday night, Jan. 25.
The state tournament draw is out and it's the final 'heads up' that some teams have changed classes since 'last year. Bowman Academy (15-6), which has been a Class 2A-sized school for sometime now, is now actually in 2A and they'll battle Wheeler (14-4) and another new 2A school (formerly 1A) Whiting (15-5) for the 2A Sectional 33 title.
Leaving
2A is Hanover Central (11-6), but not overmatched in 3A Sectional 17 where the
host school Kankakee Valley (10-9) would have to be considered the favorite.
Small school eyes will be at Washington Township where perennial PCC power Kouts
(13-6) is a clear favorite, but DeMotte's Covenant Christian (12-7), which has
only had a team for five years, has a chance to win their first-ever sectional.
A tip of the cap to 'the Lakeshore', radio station WLPR (89.1) FM, which opted
out of carrying another Friday night boys game to air the DAC girls showdown
between Michigan City (14-5) and Merrillville (19-0) on Jan. 27. I don't expect
any radio station to carry as many girls games as they do boys game. Most years,
there are more quality boys teams and the boys play largely on Fridays, the
traditional radio basketball night.
But the
girls have more quality teams in NW Indiana this season and when a top girls
contest is on Friday night, local radio should carry it. Nothing is more unfair
than radio showing up for the second game of a girls/boys double-header to catch
the boys match up. I know that all prep sports broadcasters and schedule-makers
are men (get a woman, please) and they prefer boys basketball to the girls game.
But if you are going to be at the boys game anyway and there's a girls game
preceding it, please carry the girls, too. It's only fair.
Okay, the Pairings are out for the 37th state tournament. Let's look at who got
a good draw.
1. (4A) Merrillville (19-0)
2011 (14-8), 2010 (25-2), 2009 (10-11), 2008 (17-5)
MERRILLVILLE: The Pirates rolled over Michigan City 74-57 on Jan. 27 to an undisputed DAC title. Merrillville needs only to win at CP on Thursday, Feb. 2 to become NW Indiana's first 20-0 regular season team. The Pirates were 25-2 in 2010 but they lost to Lake Central in January. Cousins Raveen Murray and Victoria Gaines lead the Pirates in scoring, but pressure defense will be needed at the sectional where they must win three times in five days against teams that know them well.
DRAW: Not good. Merrillville must defeat Michigan City a third time just to get to the sectional final and they'd have to defeat superpower Penn (19-1) just to get to the regional final. Rough road.
2. (4A) Michigan City (15-4)
2011 (19-4), 2010 (15-8), 2009 (21-4), 2008 (20-6), 2007 (22-2)
MICHIGAN CITY: The Wolves have lost to Chesterton, South Bend Washington, Crown Point and twice to Merrillville (19-0). You could make an argument for Lowell to be rated ahead of Michigan City, but strength of schedule would say the Wolves are second best led by junior guard Toni Murphy (19.5 ppg.) and top newcomer Michal Miller (12.2 ppg.). The difference between Merrillville and Michigan City is Murphy is more of a scorer and Raveen Murray is a true lead guard. Something wrong here. There have been some internal problems. MC is fading in the final weeks.
DRAW: A nightmare. First, a difficult Hobart team and then they'd face Merrillville, a team they are 0-2 against. They'd also draw Penn in the regional semifinal.
3. (4A) Lowell (16-3)
2011 (13-8), 2010 (6-15), 2009 (1-19),
2008 (4-17), 2007 (5-16)
LOWELL: Lowell has lost only to Merrillville (19-0), Lake Central (10-9) and Hanover Central (11-6). The problem is: LC blocks their path at the sectional and Merrillville conceivably blocks everybody's path in 4A. Forward Savannah Summers, one of just two Lowell seniors, may sit out the final week to get ready. But Lowell's all-junior starting lineup has been playing together almost half their lives. If Lowell won the finale at Hebron, 17-3 would be their regular season best record in school history. The future is now.
DRAW: Good. The Devils face a Highland team they've defeated and a LC team they should have defeated. The Devils can't see West Side or East Chicago before the sectional final.
4. (1A) Oregon-Davis (17-4)
2011 (17-6), 2010 (22-5), 2009 (22-3), 2008 (24-1), 2007 (25-3)
HAMLET: Oregon-Davis has lost to Argos (11-7), Wheeler (14-4), Mishawaka (15-5) and Prospect, Ill., four schools which, as far as I can tell, have absolutely nothing in common with each other. The Bobcats play such a wide-ranging schedule that they are ready for the post season led by speedy sophomore fast breakers Ashley Campbell (18.5 ppg.) and Jesse Averone (13.3 ppg.). O-D is a small team physically, but that only matters if you can catch them. O-D finished early (on Jan. 31), which gave them a week off.
DRAW: Very good. O-D will have to defeat Triton or Argos, but not both. O-D is at home and they should win here.
5. (2A) Bowman Academy (15-6)
2011 (17-8), 2010 (12-8), 2009 (5-10)
GARY: The Eagles completed their schedule with a double-overtime win over
Hobart last week and they'll be well-rested for the 2A River Forest Sectional.
Everybody has doubts about Bowman because they don't play well when you slow the
game down. But Hobart couldn't slow them down and they played an Oregon-Davis
style schedule.
DRAW: Bowman's problem here is that Wheeler, which has defeated
high-speed Oregon-Davis, can slow them in the sectional title game.
Wheeler-Bowman would be the sectional title game, the third game in five days
for both. Fatigue will hurt Bowman more than it will Wheeler.
6. (4A) Crown Point (12-7)
2011 (14-8), 2010 (10-11), 2009 (12-9), 2008 (6-15)
CROWN POINT: CP has lost to Merrillville (19-0), Michigan City (15-4),
Lowell (16-3) Carmel, Hobart, and LaPorte (12-7) twice but the game may come to
them now. CP's weakness is at guard where they lost two projected regulars for
the entire season due to injury and now senior sparkplug Beth Ingram is out,
too. Senior Courtney Kvachkoff and Kendall Brown start at guard, but, in a
perfect world, they would be wing players and scorers. Everyone will try to
speed up the game against CP, but sectional play traditionally slows down and CP
is NW Indiana's tallest team led by 6-foot-1 Michaela Prough, 6-0 Alexis Joseph
and three other 5-foot-10, 5-foot-11 forwards. In the final week, 5-foot-11
Morgan Frame posted two double figure games. CP topped fading Michigan City
67-54 on Jan. 31. When everybody gets tired playing three games in five days,
speedy girls slow down but CP's taller girls don't get shorter.
DRAW: As good as they cold have hoped. CP is looking at a Portage
team they've beaten twice in the quarterfinals and a LaPorte team they feel they
should have beaten twice. CP can earn a third shot at Merrillville in the
sectional final but it's going to take some new tricks to defeat the Pirates.
7. 2A Boone Grove (17-2)
2011 (20-2), 2010 (22-2), 2009 (16-7), 2008 (16-7), 2007 (18-5)
PORTER TOWNSHIP: Boone came from 15 points behind to win at Hanover 52-48 on
Jan. 26 in a game that made me worry about their post-season prospects. Boone
looked tired and they won largely because Hanover's younger squad
self-destructed. Boone does not have a true lead guard, but they do have good
size in 5-foot-11 Claudia Cooper and Brittany Shaffer and more of a physical
attitude than in past years. There's a secret defensive weapon in 6-foot-1
Nicole Malhous, too. But they played four times in the last 12 days of the
season.
DRAW: Not good. The Wolves drew Rochester (14-6) in the
quarterfinals and could see host North Judson in the 2A Sectional 34 title game.
Plus, Boone plays twice in the final 3 days of the regular season and that's not
what you want. One of these years, Boone will break through, but it's a hard
road this year.
8. (3A) Griffith (13-6)
2011 (16-7), 2010 (19-6), 2009 (16-7),
2008 (17-5)
GRIFFITH: Griffith got injured Alyssa Gebo back and that makes them the sectional favorite. The Panthers have lost to Lowell (15-3), Lake Central (10-9), East Chicago (13-6), Gary West Side (14-4), Wheeler (14-4) and Hanover Central (11-6), all winning teams and mostly 4A schools they won't see again. The Panthers host the sectional and they will be hard to beat in the tiny Panther gym. Plus, their patient offense is playoff-style basketball and they play it all season.
DRAW: It's a two team fight in 3A Sectional 17 with the host Panthers looking to take out Gary Roosevelt in the semifinals. Games slow in the playoffs and that heavily favors Griffith here. It's a clicheŽ, but Griffith is 9-3 in their last 12 post-season playoff games.
9. (4A) Gary West Side (14-4)
2011 (19-5) 2010 (17-5), 2009 (17-7),
2008 (18-5)
GARY: I'm still not buying West Side because of the three freshman starters who do not know what they're getting into in Sectional play. The losses are to East Chicago, Benton Central, North Lawndale and Marshall high of Chicago, again four teams that have absolutely nothing in common. Again, this freshman class is a nationally ranked AAU squad as was Lowell's three years ago. But freshmen do not often beat seniors. Not hardly. Not ever.
DRAW: Not good. The freshman-dominated Cougars must defeat East Chicago in the semifinals and probably Lowell in the finals of 4A Sectional 1. That's too much to ask.
10. (4A) LaPorte (12-7)
2011 (7-14), 2010 (1-20), 2009 (1-20), 2008 (10-12)
LaPORTE: The 10th team here again is a toss up. East Chicago could be here. Wheeler could be here. Chesterton has beaten Bowman, Hobart and Michigan City. But I still like LaPorte, which has lost only to Mishawaka outside the DAC. Sophomore guard Jaclyn Health (11.5 ppg.) is the leading scorer, but senior Kelsey Sule (9.3 ppg.) is a dangerous 3-point shooter. Here's the problem with the middle of the DAC in 2012. LaPorte has two wins over CP (12-7) 60-45, and 50-46. CP has two wins over Lake Central (10-9) 61-48 and 70-49. But LC has two wins over LaPorte (12-7) 62-49, and 43-31. Analyze those six games and get back to me, okay?
DRAW: Probably the most difficult draw in all of NW Indiana. LaPorte plays a difficult Chesterton team in the quarterfinals and then would have to beat a very tall CP team in the semifinals. The Slicers they get a shot at Merrillville, a team that's already beaten them (and everyone else in the DAC) twice. That's not a workable path to the sectional title.