NW Indiana Girls Basketball: 2016 Week-8 Poll

2016 Renegade Girls Basketball
Week-8 'Magnificent 7' Poll

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

01-24-2016

The seven schools in Class 4A Sectional 1 (Lowell, Highland, Munster, Gary West Side, East Chicago, Lake Central and Highland) get together at Lowell next week for the
sectional playoffs. Four of the seven teams at Lowell already have 15 victories or more. (Photo by Mark Smith)

ST. JOHN, IN (01-20-2016) It's been as strong an overall year in NW Indiana girls basketball as I can remember. Whether we have state champs in the northwest corner is yet to be determined, but there is a depth in the region that usually is not there.

Despite losing key transfers (Nicole Konieczny (16 ppg.) to St. Joseph’s and Kyleigh Kubik (16.2 ppg.) to Oregon-Davis, LaPorte has still won 13 games. There are six winning teams in the eight-team Duneland Athletic Conference, six in the eight-team Porter County Conference (PCC), five in the nine team Greater South Shore Conference (GSSC) and four in the seven-team Northwest Crossroads Conference (NCC).

Changes in sectional play include Kankakee Valley moving from 3A to 4A Sectional 2.

The beneficiary of that is Hanover Central, which is now the favorite in the Class 2A Wheeler Sectional. Also, Oregon-Davis, a true 1A school, is in 2A at Hebron. Bad news for the other five schools at Hebron, but good news for Class 1A Marquette. I believe that Marquette and O-D would be in the same sectional (or certainly the same regional) had not O-D been bumped up to 2A.

The easiest sectional appears to be at Calumet, where Lighthouse Academy is the only winning team in the 6-team Class 3A field. The Class 3A regional that pits the winners at Calumet and Wheeler against the winners at St. Josephs’ (17-1) and West Lafayette (probably Benton Central (19-1) is the one where the draw is most crucial.

LaPorte (13-6) moves out of 4A Sectional 2 into Sectional 3 where they and Mishawaka (14-6) are the co-favorites.
Every big school in NW Indiana knows that 4A Sectional 4 favorite Penn (20-1) is likely to be a regional foe. Northridge (18-3) is in sectional 4 but they’ve already lost painfully to Penn 77-26.

I hope the girls state tournament gets better coverage than it has in recent years. Newspapers are a little handcuffed because the girls tournament runs at the same time as wrestling and swimming. There’s only so many people to cover things. The boys state tourney runs unopposed in that respect. But I’d like to hear all the bigger school sectionals (3A and 4A) and regionals all on local radio as they once were. Local sectional sites are Calumet and Wheeler (3A) and Lowell and Valparaiso (4A), all within a short ride.

Understanding that you must pay a fee to air state tournament games (there is no such fee during the regular season) I still hope that all games involving local teams beyond the sectional level are aired.

Hours before the state tournament draw, let's look at what each team needs to get lucky when the state pairings come out.

ST. JOHN: The surprise of the season in my mind. Only two double figure scorers in 5-foot-11 senior forward Vicki Gard (11.7 ppg., 43 of 113 3-pointers) and 5-foot-8 senior Emily Miklusak (11.6 ppg.). Sophomore Rachael Robards (6.2 ppg.) shoots 67% from the floor and 79% from the line and is one of several first year regulars on a team with just three seniors. Coaches and players like to say that they “knew they were this good" but I can't believe that in this case. LC has exceeded expectations to this point and is a clear No.1.

WHAT DO THEY NEED?

They need a draw that does not have them face BOTH East Chicago, a team LC defeated 66-64 on Dec. 16 and Gary West Side, a team they defeated 79-74 on Jan. 13.

EAST CHICAGO: The Cardinals' five losses are to elite teams including Lawrence North (13-3), LC (21-1) and Heritage Christian (14-2). The Cardinals have defeated Lighthouse (13-5), Crown Point (13-4), Hanover Central (14-6) and West Side (14-4). EC is led by soph guard Janae Bishop (24.0 ppg.) but that’s not your biggest problems when you face them . 6-foot-5 freshman TiYanna Jackson (10 .4 points, 11.4 rebounds and 3.9 blocks per game) and 6-foot-3 freshman Tiara Jackson (3.9 points, 8.9 rebounds. Add in 5-foot-3 freshman Precious Browning (11 7 ppg.) and the EC girls will rule the world. It's just a matter of when.

Again, Lake Central (20-1) and Gary West Side (14-5) play in 4A Sectional 1. You want to play one of them, but not both of them.

3. (4A) Gary West Side (16-4)
2015 (18-8), 2014 (19-4), 2013 (17-4), 2012 (17-5)

GARY: Here’s the hardest team to rate. West Side doesn’t have the depth that Lake Central and East Chicago have, but they have 5-foot-7 junior guard Dana Evans (35.8 ppg.), probably the state’s second best offensive player behind Princeton, Indiana star Jackie Young (37.8 ppg.), who is about to be the state’s all-time leading scorer. Evans scored 40 against East Chicago in a 68-59 loss on Jan. 7 and she had 43 in a 79-74 loss to Lake Central on Jan. 13. West Side doesn't have a deep bench and conventional wisdom says that a team based on one big-time scorer can't beat a balanced team. Ask the Golden State Warriors about that.

WHAT DO THEY NEED?

I think West Side needs a bye. They depend so much on one player that three wins in five nights is a lot to ask, especially traveling to the 4A Lowell Sectional. The Cougars could beat LC and EC on back to back nights, but add Morton (15-4) and it becomes an even higher hill to climb.

CROWN POINT: The Lady Bulldogs’ first victory over Merrillville in seven years pushes them ahead of the rival Pirates, although CP then lost to Kankakee Valley (17-3) by a 60-56 score. CP is having a premier year even though they have lost to KV and Hanover for the first time in history. That may speak to how good NW Indiana is this season. Senior Hannah Albrecht (14.4 ppg.) and junior Sydney Taylor (14.2 ppg.) have given CP consistent scoring and the defense has kept them close in all games except against Penn and Lake Central.

Let's be honest. In the 8-team 4A Sectional 2, Hobart (4-16) is 0-14 against 4A schools. CP wants to draw Hobart and they’re not alone.

MERRILLVILLE: The six losses are to Penn (20-1), St. Joseph’s (17-1), Lake Central (21-1), Evansville Memorial (12-6), Crown Point (15-5) and Center Grove (10-10). The Pirates don’t have a lot of significant wins over teams with good records. The 18-point victory over Morton (15-4) and a 33-point win over South Bend Washington (10-7) are the high points. I’m not sure Crown Point is better than Merrillville, but the Pirates did lose to them. The Pirates are small, except for 5-foot-9 Erika McClinton and 5-foot-11 Ashaila Jackson.

WHAT DO THEY NEED?

See CP ‘What do they need.’ Merrillville and Crown Point don’t want to draw each other. Or Valparaiso (12-6). Or KV (17-3), which is a 4A school now and joins Sectional 2. Merrillville wants to play Hobart (4-16) as everyone else does. Merrillville defeated Hobart 59-20 last week.

6. (2A) Oregon-Davis (19-2)
2015 (19-8), 2014 (23-2), 2013 (22-4), 2012 (21-5), 2011 (17-6)

HAMLET: The 2014 1A state champs are making a big run again with losses only to 4A No. 4 Lawrence North (15-3) and 4A No. 5 Roncalli (18-3). Oregon-Davis returned all 12 varsity players from last year. Oregon-Davis plays a few weak 1A schools, but let the record show they average 82 points a game, which is almost unheard of in girls basketball. The problem with O-D is that they haven’t been tested enough but, again, they didn’t play anyone in the Duneland Athletic Conference or anyone in Lake County.

WHAT DO THEY NEED?

A coke and a smile. O-D plays in the seven-team Hebron Sectional and Delphi (16-5) is the only strong team there other than the Bobcats. O-D isn’t going to lose to Delphi.

MICHIGAN CITY: I’d like to put Hanover Central (17-4) or Kankakee Valley (17-3) here, but the problems Marquette causes are significant with the 6-foot-1 freshman Nolan twins. The losses are to Greenfield-Central (16-4) and in the season opener at Elkhart Memorial (10-10). The flaw for the Blazers is that they only have eight varsity players. There is little depth to survive fouls or injuries. But the top six players can stay and play with anyone.

WHAT DO THEY NEED?

Marquette truthfully needs a bye because of their depth situation. In the 6-team Class 1A Sectional 49, Morgan Township (14-6). Washington Township (12-9), and Kouts (12-7) have good records, but they don’t match up with Marquette well at all. No one else in Sectional 49 has played Marquette during the regular season. No one they’ll see knows how to play them.

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Revised: January 24, 2016 .

2016 Renegade Girls Basketball Week-8 'Magnificent 7' Poll

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

2016 Renegade Girls Basketball
Week-8 'Magnificent 7' Poll