2016 Girls Basketball Sectional Preview for Northwest Indiana A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith 01-31-2016

All Northwest Indiana basketball teams want to see this 'big ball' on Feb. 20 when their bus pulls up to the Crown Point Semistate. Four teams in two yet-to-be determined classes will play for the right to go to the state title game in Crown Point at 12 noon and 2 p.m. on Feb. 20. (Photo by Mark Smith)

CROWN POINT, IN (01-31-2016) The best thing about girls basketball in Northwest Indiana continues to be that Crown Point hosts two Northern semistate championship games on Saturday, Feb. 20. Hopefully two local teams reach that level, but even if they don’t, that’s a must-see game double-header for all players and coaches.

Hopefully it will be televised locally, but it's unlikely to be a sellout so there’s plenty of room for everyone. I’ve been there every year Crown Point has held the double header and it's worth your time. One big factor in the post-season is that Oregon-Davis, which is 1A by enrollment, has been bumped up by their success to 2A. that could allow both O-D and Marquette to reach the state finals.

Classes 3A and 4A are a different story.

If 3A No. 3 St. Joseph’s (13-1) and 3A No. 6 Benton Central (22-3) reach the regional level from sectionals 19 and 20, it will be very tough for anyone in Class 3A to get to the CP semistate.

In 4A, someone’s going to have to stop Sectional 4 favorite Penn (21-2) for a big NW Indiana school to get to CP. Sectional rival Northridge (20-4) will have a chance if they get by Goshen (18-4) in the sectional opener.

The state tournament has been moved up one more week to avoid any conflict with the boys tournament and that’s unfortunate. The entire tourney will take place in February when weather and travel are the worst.

The better option would have been to push the boys tournament back a week and begin it in the second week of March. You get better weather and less conflicts with other sports. Every other winter sport will compete for attention and attendance during February with girls basketball. It simply doesn’t have to be that way. There’s no reason the boys state finals can't be held the first week of April. Outdoor spring sports are often postponed that weekend anyway.

So here it comes. The earliest ever start (Feb. 2) for the girls state tournament with the first trophies being handed out Saturday night. For all the bad talk about class basketball, there’s a lot of schools that have a chance this week that would be on the back of the bus in the old days.

Class 1A
KOUTS Sectional
Tuesday, Feb. 2
Westville (6-15) vs. Morgan Township (15-7)
Washington Township (12-9) vs. Marquette (21-2)
Friday Feb. 5
Morgan Township vs, 21st Century (3-14)
Kouts (14-9) vs. Marquette (21-2) or WT (12-9)

KOUTS: Marquette could lose if they have an injury. They have had just eight varsity players much of the year. With 6-foot-1 freshmen Emma and Sophia Nolan averaging 16.5 and 16.7, it's hard to take them down. Guards Morgan Marovich (4.9) and Morgan Crook (7.1) are key because defenses will attack them full court. Marquette uses six players primarily, so three games in five days will be an issue.

Give Morgan Township and 6-foot junior Kia Holder (16.4 ppg., 10.0 rebounds per game) an outside chance for an upset with 5-foot-9 Kameron Stanko (12.8 points, 7.8 rebounds). They can slow the pace and keep it close. But no one here has played the schedule Marquette has.

Class 2A
WHITING Sectional
Tuesday, Feb. 2
Gary Roosevelt (8-11) vs. Bishop Noll (9-12)
Wednesday, Feb 3
Lake Station (4-16) vs, Whiting (1-20)
Boone Grove (6-14) vs. River Forest (18-4)
Friday Feb. 5
Bowman Academy (4-17) vs. Noll/Velt
Whiting/Lake Station vs. River Forest/Boone

WHITING: Let's just forget about the entire remainder of the state tournament. There’s a moment here. River Forest is one of the few schools left in Indiana which has never won a girls varsity basketball sectional. The boys have won only one in 2001. This is the whole idea behind the much-maligned class basketball system. RF, with a school-record 18 wins, has four losses to teams with winning records and they carry an 11-game win streak into the post season.

Nobody has a great chance to win the regional if Oregon-Davis is there, but River Forest does not care. 5-foot-9 sisters Kali (19.1 ppg.) and Erica Winkler give the Ingots decent size and this is a team that returned four starters off a 13-win team last season.

But Bishop Noll with Brenda Pennington (16.8 ppg.) is the two-time defending champ here and there seems likely to be a River-Noll final. The biggest story in NW Indiana girls basketball is whether River Forest finally wins the sectional.

Class 2A
HEBRON Sectional
Tuesday, Feb. 2
Knox (8-15) vs. Hebron (11-10)
Wednesday, Feb. 3
Oregon-Davis (21-2) vs. North Judson (11-9)
Delphi (18-5) vs. Winamac (14-8)
Friday Feb. 5
North Newton (11-10) vs. Knox/Hebron
O-D vs. Delphi/Winamac

HEBRON: Oregon-Davis returns their entire team from last year’s 1A regional champs and added Kyleigh Kubik (17 ppg.) from LaPorte. They have lost only to 4A Top-10 schools Roncali (20-4) and Lawrence North (18-3) and the Bobcats carry a 12-gamne win streak into sectional play.

Delphi’s 5-foot-11 forward Myka Roth (19.6 ppg., 9.6 rebounds per game) has scored 20 or more 13 times, but Oregon-Davis just has too many players to lose here.

Class 3A
CALUMET Sectional
Tuesday, Feb. 2
Clark (9-12) vs. Calumet (4-18)
Lighthouse (14-7) vs. Griffith (3-20)
Friday Feb. 5
Hammond (9-12) vs. Clark/Calumet
Gavit (3-17) vs. Griffith/Lighthouse

GARY: Lighthouse is the defending champ here and 5-foot-10 sophomore Daijah Smith (18.6 ppg.) leads a team with four double figure scorers including 5-foot-6 guard Lyric Ward (12.4ppg.), 5-foot-8 sophomore Shaiana Johnson (12.8 ppg.) and 5-foot-7 freshman Kiaria Brown (11.2 ppg.).

Hammond enters the sectional with a 3-game win streak, but they lost to Lighthouse by 26 in December. Three teams will try to slow Lighthouse (66 points per game) down and pull an upset, but I don't know think anyone here has the guards to do it.

Class 3A
WHEELER Sectional
Tuesday, Feb. 2
Wheeler (10-12) vs. New Prairie (3-18)
ANDREAN (12-12) vs. Twin Lakes (9-14)
Friday Feb. 5
HANOVER CENTRAL (18-5) vs. Wheeler/New Prairie
Rensselaer vs. ANDREAN/Twin Lakes

WHEELER: Three questions here. 1.) What is Twin Lakes doing in the Wheeler Sectional? 2.) What happened to Kankakee Valley and 3.) Can anyone stop defending champion Hanover Central, which is the only team here with a winning record?

I don't know how Kankakee Valley is a 4A school, but they are in girls basketball and that reduces the chance of an upset here. Hanover has 146 three-point field goals led by Brooke Sterkowitz (17.6 ppg,) who is 48 of 154, 31%). The Lady Cats have played hard riders like East Chicago, Crown Point and Marquette. HC got a quarterfinal bye which is very important when you must travel to the sectional site.

Andrean could pull an upset here. They don’t have a high scorer, but 5-foot-10 Hannah Sarosy (8.6 ppg.), 5-foot-7 Kennedy Kuykendall (9.0 ppg.) and 6-foot-3 junior Talia Roldan 5.7 ppg.) give them good size. If Hanover can't pick up the pace of the game, it could be close. But while Hanover has been beaten five times, they haven’t been slowed very often.

Class 4A
LOWELL Sectional
Tuesday, Feb. 2
Munster (11-11) vs. Morton (17-5)
Wednesday, Feb. 3
Highland (13-8) vs, East Chicago (17-5)
Lake Central (22-1) vs. LOWELL (6-17)
Friday Feb. 5
Gary West Side (17-4) vs. Munster/ Morton
LC or LOWELL Vs. EC or Highland

LOWELL: Lake Central should win here, but West Side got the best draw. LC is going to have to defeat EC and West Side on back-to-back nights. They could do it. LC’s only loss is 54-36 to Penn (21-2). LC does not have a big scorer. 5-foot-11 Vicki Gard (12.8 ppg.) leads them and the lack of a top caliber offensive player is a problem in a single-elimination tournament. Gard has 55 three-point baskets on a team that shoots 33% on long shots.

This is an inexperienced playoff team but they have played a difficult schedule and they don’t have much travel involved here. East Chicago's Jenae Bishop (24.5 ppg,) and the 6-foot-3 Jackson sisters make EC a big favorite. West Side has All-American guard Dana Evans (35.8 ppg.) which means you have to be ahead of them heading into the final minutes. Morton is a having a fine year, but they are a little overmatched here.

This is the best ticket in NW Indiana. You can't see a game without one very good team in it.

Class 4A
VALPARAISO Sectional
Tuesday, Feb. 2
CROWN POINT (18-5) vs. Valparaiso (14-8)
Wednesday, Feb. 3
Portage (13-11) vs Chesterton (8-14)
Kankakee Valley (19-4) vs. MERRILLVILLE (16-6)
Friday Feb. 5
Hobart (6-17) vs. CP/Valpo
Portage/Chesterton vs. KV/MERRILLVILLE

VALPARAISO: Explain to me how KV is 4A in girls basketball and 3A in boys basketball. The more you look at it the odder it is. There’s no clear-cut favorite here. Crown Point was second in the Duneland Conference (LC was first) but they open with the host Vikings. Merrillville is going to have to win three games in four days. Hobart got a bye, but they lost to everybody in the DAC.
Some genius decided that the first semifinal game here Wednesday and Friday would begin at 5 p.m., which is a big advantage for Valpo and schools close to VHS. Not so much for somebody like Crown Point.

CP’s Hannah Albrecht (14.6 ppg.) and Sydney Taylor (14.4 ppg.) lead the scoring, but it's been a tricky zone defense that’s sparked an 18-win season. Merrillville will have to slow KV’s top scoring duo of 5-foot-9 Breanna Koppen (13.7 ppg.) and 5-foot-7 Raegan Walther (17.1 ppg.), but the Pirates have played a significantly tougher schedule.

Portage has won seven of their last 10, and they could sneak up on the Merrillville-KV winner. This is like those Republican political primaries. There’s a lot of candidates shooting at each other and anybody can win if things go right.


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Revised: January 31, 2016 .