35th (PCC) Girls Championship Schedule
at Morgan Township High School
1-14 (M)  Washington Township (4-7) vs. BOONE GROVE (10-5)  5:30 p.m.
1-14 (M)  South Central (8-6) vs. HANOVER CENTRAL (8-6)
1-15 (Tu) Morgan Township (5-7) vs. Hebron (3-11) 5:30 p.m.
1-15 (Tu) Kouts (13-1) vs. LaCrosse (1-12)
1-18 (F)  semifinals  -  5:30 p.m.
1-18 (F)  semifinals  -  7:30 p.m.
1-19 (S)  PCC girls championship - 5:30 p.m.**

**Saturday's game will be at Valparaiso  high school in honor of the leagues 50th anniversary. The PCC Tournament was held at Valparaiso high school in the 1980s.


Porter County Conference (PCC) Girls Tournament Champions
(Head coach is listed in parenthesis)

2007-BOONE GROVE (Candy Wilson)
2006-BOONE GROVE (Candy Wilson)
2005-BOONE GROVE (Candy Wilson)
2004-HANOVER CENTRAL (Chris York)
2003-BOONE GROVE (Candy Wilson)
2002-Hebron (Jerry Bechtold)
2001-Hebron (Jerry Bechtold)
2000-HANOVER  (Dennis Foster)

1999-HANOVER (Dennis Foster)
1998-Morgan Township (Jeff Edwards)
1997-Wheeler (Dennis Spoor)
1996-BOONE GROVE (Linda Eleftheri)
1995-HANOVER (Terry Heldt)
1994-HANOVER (Terry Heldt)
1993-BOONE GROVE (Linda Eleftheri)
1992-Hebron (Don Allison)
1991-Kouts (George Davis)
1990-Kouts (George Davis)

1989-BOONE GROVE (Linda Eleftheri)
1988-Morgan Township (Jeff Edwards)
1987-LaCrosse (Mike McBride)
1986-Kouts (George Davis)
1985-HANOVER  (Ann Thompson)
1984-Kouts (George Davis)
1983-Kouts (George Davis)
1982-Kouts (George Davis)
1981-BOONE GROVE (Dave Kahn)
1980-Washington Twsp. (Anita Brower)

1979-LaCrosse (Margie Riley)
1978-Hebron (Nancy Scroggins)
1977-Washington Twsp. (Sherry Prather)
1976-BOONE GROVE (Bev Long)
1975-BOONE GROVE (Jody Leek)
1974-Kouts (Linda Moses)

Girls PCC Tournament Championships
BOONE GROVE-10  Kouts-7  HANOVER  -6  Hebron-4   LaCrosse 2, Morgan Township 2,
Washington Township-2  Wheeler-1  South Central-0

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VALPARAISO, IN (01-14-2008) - One of the oldest Indiana basketball traditions is the county championship.  In the central and southern parts of the state, there are at least a dozen this month alone.  There used to be a LaPorte County Tournament in the 1950s and 60s.  Lake County is just behind the times.

The Porter County Conference (PCC) tournament is celebrating its 50th anniversary, but girls, who were second class citizens in athletics in the first half of the 20th Century, have only been playing since 1973.

The best thing about this six-day co-ed competition is the near-perfect format.  No matter who you are and no matter what school you play for, you can watch every single game of this tournament if you want to.  That is not true of the new Greater South Shore Conference (GSSC) Tournament which has four home site games in the first round.  It is single-elimination with no consolation round, the same as the state tournament.  The PCC tournament captures the true tourney atmosphere, especially this year when the finals will be played on a totally neutral site, Valparaiso High School.

You may not want to play Monday, but winning Monday night grants you the reward of three full days off before the Friday night semifinals and puts you in a good strategic position to reach the championship game.  The downside to Monday night's 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal is that you come in with virtually no immediate practice.  No one can practice on Sunday by IHSAA rules, so unless you practice early Monday afternoon, you come in somewhat cold to the opener of the league tourney.

The boys/girls championship night double-header is the league's showcase.  The girls' title game begins in front of a half empty gym and ends in front of a standing room only crowd, although it will take some doing to fill Valpo's 5,000-seat gym this year.  Everybody wants to win the sectional, but before class basketball began in 1997, schools this size (nobody here has more than 600 students) truthfully had little to no real chance to win in the post-season.  That's why this late January eight-team single-elimination battle became as popular as it is.

This year's tourney will be special because the 50 Greatest Players in the history of the PCC Tournament will be honored.  Valparaiso High School is where the PCC Tournament was played in the 80s and early 90s before it was split between Boone Grove and Morgan Township.  At times, the final day of the tournament is too large for Boone Grove high school, which seats about 2,100.  There is no PCC gym that seats over 2,500.  If there are four different schools represented in the boys and girls finals on Saturday, Boone is overflowing with people.  Fans may welcome the visit to Valparaiso, which is built to handle larger crowds.  Boone, Kouts and Hanover certainly have at least a 50-50 chance of winning the sectional title this year, but one thing is for sure.  There will be a larger crowd at the PCC championship than there will be at the sectional championship and the teams sometimes value the PCC trophy more than the sectional.

If you want to follow this tournament, you pretty much have to attend.  Possibly because it involves small, largely Porter and LaPorte County schools, the PCC tourney rarely gets the newspaper or radio coverage that single games involving Lake County teams do.  NW Indiana media is based in Lake County and many times, the PCC final isn't even included in Lake County editions because 1.) They feel most Lake County folks could not care less and 2.) Lake County media has been known to forget that Hanover Central is in Lake County.

Whatever the reason, even though this is the 50th Anniversary PCC, you can bet your bottom dollar that the Crown Point-East Chicago basketball game will get more newspaper space and radio coverage than the PCC league championship double-header.

But it is worth the $5 to see the PCC Tournament.  Even if these are the only PCC games you see all year, you would enjoy this week-long playoff, if only to see how much these eight schools care about winning this trophy.

Here is a look at the four first division teams in the PCC at the end of last week, for what it's worth.  I must remind you that Kouts entered the tournament with the best record last year, too.  They drew Boone in the first round and lost by 16.  Boone beat Washington Township 51-23 for the 2007 PCC Championship.

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KOUTS (13-1, 4-0)

KOUTS -  I'm not totally sure how they're doing it, but the Fillies have stayed in the Top-10 all-season and should carry a 10-game winning streak into the PCC Tournament.  The Fillies are undefeated at home and have only a 42-38 November loss on the road at North Judson, a very difficult place to play.

Guard sisters Ann Marie and Juliette Keller [16.2 ppg., 3.3 steals, 26-of-75 (3s) 46-of-58 (FTs) after 11 games] spark the Fillies, who have defeated Boone Grove twice, each time by six points.  Sophomore guard Courtney Bennett and senior Hannah McNeil [47-of-101 (FGs), 5.5 rebounds per game] start and finish plays, but the real strength of Kouts has been their pressing defense, which has held the opposition to less than 40 points nine times in 14 games.  I'm not sure anybody in the PCC except Hanover has a true lead guard, so the Fillies' ability to disturb the dribble makes them the tournament favorite.

The Fillies are not a large team physically (5-11 Hannah McNeil and Karley Van Dyke are the big girls) and I don't think they have a lot of offensive weapons, so there can't be foul or injury trouble.  But Kouts got the "yellow brick road" draw.  They drew last place LaCrosse in the first round, a team they truthfully can't lose to if everybody's healthy.  Somebody's going to have to prove to Kouts that they cannot win their first PCC championship in 17 years, because they have every reason to think they can.

SOUTH CENTRAL (8-6, 4-2)

UNION MILLS - South Central replaced Wheeler in the PCC three years ago and they have yet to reach the title game of the PCC tournament.  They got a very tough draw here, facing a Hanover Central team they had some trouble with before winning 66-59 on January 10.  This team has been a surprise with senior guard Robin Wright, who had 12 points, 10 rebounds and four steals in a 55-47 win over Washington Township that gave SC the Mid-Winter Tournament championship.

The Satellites have gotten good play from freshman Stephanie Balon and Shelby Worthen, who was named to the Mid-Winter Classic All-Tournament team after scoring 13 points in the championship game.  They are another small PCC team, so 5-foot-10 junior Olivia Pahl has to stay in the game and play "big".  Pahl was just 1-of-6 from the foul line against Hanover last week, but she grabbed 16 rebounds against the small Lady Cats.  Wright, Worthen and senior Courtney Michael, all 5-foot-5 guards, have to control the pace of the game.  Michael was just 7-of-23 from the floor against Hanover in a 66-59 win last week but she did total 20 points.

South Central did get smoked by Kouts and Boone two weeks ago, and if you look closely, the win over Hanover Central was their first over a winning team.  The Satellites are an up-tempo team and I don't know if they can run with three winning teams in six games.

BOONE GROVE (10-5, 4-1)

PORTER TOWNSHIP - Boone has won 10 of their last 13 games and two of the losses are to Kouts.  The three-time defending champion will not lack for motivation here after two six-point losses to the first place Fillies.  The Wolves need Emily Strilich in the game because the 6-foot-1 sophomore affects the shots of other players.  Soph Kelly Dobson has to hit some jump shots so senior guard Jessica Dowdy, the league's top three-point shooter (27 3-point goals), can get some chances to fire away.  Dowdy had five three-point goals in a 48-33 win over rival Wheeler last week.

Senior Kristyn Kessler and Jessica Fauser lead the defense for Boone, which has started these same five girls all season.  Boone, which dominated South Central 50-31 two weeks ago,  might be the deepest team here and freshman forward Brittany Dewell has been a factor defensively and on the offensive boards.  The Wolves are going for an unprecedented fourth consecutive title.  Only Kouts (1982-1984) and Boone (2005-2007) have ever won three PCC tournaments in a row.

Boone lost two close games to Kouts last season and then defeated them on their way to the school's 10th PCC title.  If they can get Dobson and Dowdy started in shooting the ball, they won't have to ask anyone if they can do it again.  Boone has to be ready to play three times and it won't be easy.  If they get to the semifinals, they may be playing a Hanover team they have not seen this year.

Boone and Kouts seemed destined to meet in the final game, but Boone has an infinitely tougher road to the finals than Kouts does.

HANOVER CENTRAL (8-6, 3-1 PCC)

CEDAR LAKE - The league's most unpredictable team.  The Lady Cats battled 3A Griffith (14-2) and Gavit (6-7) on even terms and beat 4A Lowell, but also lost to 2A North Newton (6-7) and last week, to South Central.  The Lady Cats may not mind playing the Satellites (8-6) again in the quarterfinals even if that's a hard opener.  HC is the league's smallest team with no regular player taller than 5-foot-8 and that is a problem in every single game.

HC also has one of the PCC's best shooting teams with 5-foot-5 lead guard Jordan Kramer, who scored 27 against South Central and 5-foot-6 senior wing shooter Chrissy Homolka, who scored 21 against Clark on Dec. 28.  Obviously, Hanover has to go to war on the backboards because everybody they face will be taller.  The Lady Cats also need someone like Lindsay Martinez to have a good week as the point defender to disrupt the other side's offense.  HC will try to shorten every game by being careful on offense.  South Central got 66 shots from the field last week and that can't happen again.  Less possessions for everybody means the less chance the Lady Cats lose.

Boone and Kouts are the favorites next week, but Hanover Central wasn't favored in 2004 either when they upset state-ranked Boone in the first round and won a 53-52 double-overtime championship game from Kouts that still ranks as one of the wildest games ever played in this tournament.

HC got a worse draw than South Central because they're 45 minutes from Morgan Township, where they have to go for a late Monday quarterfinal.  The Lady Cats face the prospect of going back Friday to take on the league's 3-time defending champ at 5:30 p.m.  Plus, in the opener, they have to take out a team than beat them 4 days earlier.  But they have the league's best ball-handler in Kramer (14 ppg, 32 3-point goals) and they have played a tough schedule.  Griffith, Calumet and Crown Point are bigger or faster than anybody in the PCC and Hanover didn't get killed by those three.  Hanover Central has a chance here, but a lot of rebounds have to bounce their way.

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Revised: January 14, 2008 .