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Preview: Porter County Conference (PCC) ChampionshipA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith(01-11-2011) |
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Preview: Porter County Conference (PCC) ChampionshipA USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith(01-11-2011) |
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Monday, January 17
Kouts (8-3) vs. South Central (8-2) 5:30 p.m.
HANOVER CENTRAL (6-6) vs. LaCrosse (3-10) 7 p.m.
Tuesday, January 18
Hebron (2-12) at Washington Township (1-11) 5:30 p.m.
BOONE GROVE (13-1) vs. Morgan Township (11-3) 7 p.m.
Friday, January 21
Kouts/South Central vs. HC/LaCrosse - 6 p.m.
Hebron/WT vs. BOONE/Morgan - 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, January 22
39th PCC Girls championship game - 6 p.m.
WASHINGTON
TOWNSHIP (01-14-2011) While the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) stumbles
through another incredibly boring 14-game round robin and the seven-team
Northwest Crossroads Conference still searches for an eighth team, the crown
jewel of Northwest Indiana regular season basketball kicks off Monday night in
suburban Valparaiso.
The eight-team Porter County Conference (PCC) begins its week-long championship
tournament, the 39th for girls and the 88th for boys, the oldest high school
basketball tournament in this part of the state.
The PCC tournament exists because this is Indiana basketball. It's not the PCC
that's unusual, it's the DAC the NCC and Gary's watered down Northwestern
Conference that are clueless. Most conferences or counties in the state have
conference or county championship tournaments. The PCC tournament existed BEFORE
there was a PCC. What takes place next week began as a county tournament
including DAC members Chesterton and Portage. Chesterton won the first DAC
tourney in 1924.
In an era where teams play on ESPN or trudge though 20 single games close to
home, eight teams going head-to-head for their league title is still what this
sport is all about. The PCC has the perfect tournament. The girls quarterfinals
are Monday and Tuesday while the Boys follow Wednesday and Thursday. The girls
semifinals are Friday night while the boys semifinal games are played Saturday
morning. Saturday night is a double-header celebration of the league as a whole
with the girls and boys championship games wrapped around fall sports awards,
spirit competitions and an overload of small town folks watching the same sport
they've probably watched or played much of their lives. If you've heard of this
tournament but never attended, go to the Saturday night double-header. The crowd
is usually littered with letter jackets from other schools which do not have
league championship games, spirit awards or all-star cheerleader routines.
The
unintended genius of the format is: Anyone in the league, player, coach or
parent, can watch every game of both the boys and girls tournament, if they wish
to. No games are played on home sites and no games are played simultaneously as
they are in many other tournaments.
.
This is a good year for PCC girls as three of the Top-15 Class 1A schools
(Morgan Township, Kouts and South Central) are in the field along with the
defending champ, 2A No. 5 Boone Grove (13-1).
But
those four winning teams go head-to-head in the quarterfinals so the door is
open for someone like Hanover Central (6-6) or host Washington Township (1-12)
to reach Friday's semifinals.
I'm not sure there's a reason the girls tournament moved from Morgan Township to
Washington this year. Washington has more parking than Morgan but the Washington
gym (capacity 1,250) is smaller than Morgan's 2,200-seat gym. If Friday night's
semifinal double-header includes Boone, Hanover and host Washington, space could
be at a premium. Host Washington Township is in last place in the PCC standings,
but they broke an 11-game losing streak last week with a 49-41 overtime win over
LaCrosse. The four winning teams are the favorites here. but the way the blind
draw fell out, there's no guarantee any of those four will win the title. A
mid-winter oddity here. Kouts plays South Central in Tuesday's quarterfinals.
Those two schools were scheduled to meet last week but snow postponed the game.
One
final note that folks occasionally miss: There is a seven game regular season in
the PCC but that is largely a consolation prize. As long as I've been around,
the winner of the PCC tournament is considered the Porter County Conference
champion. And since no PCC team has ever won the state title, this week is big
time for the little schools.
KOUTS (8-3) The Mustangs have lost to Knox, Morgan Township and
West Central (12-2). Kouts has a good inside, outside game with 6-foot senior
Eastern McNeil (8.7 ppg.) and 5-foot guard Lexi Sippel (14 ppg.). They stay with
six players but all of them are juniors or seniors so they have a good chance
here. Kouts won the 2008 title and not everybody knows they are 87-17 in the
last five seasons. A Kouts-Boone final game would not be a shock. The Mustangs
have won eight PCC titles.
SOUTH CENTRAL (8-2) The Satellites have lost to Boone and 2A
Culver (12-1) so they've had a strong season so far. This team plays nine
seniors among its seven regular players led by 5-foot-10 center Stephanie Balon
(10 ppg.), 5-foot-9 Katie Bekavac (9.6 ppg.) and 5-foot-4 senior guard Shelby
Worthen (8.9 pg.). Freshman rookie Jill Rosenbaum (7.4 ppg.) gives SC a little
extra depth, but they might not be as sharp as they want to be. January
snowstorms threatened both of South Central's games this week with West Central
Tuesday and Hanover Thursday.
MORGAN TOWNSHIP (11-3) Morgan has lost twice to Boone and once to
Kouts so despite five seniors and 5-foot-6 freshman Tina Coleman (9.6 pg) they
have only an outside chance here because they drew Boone Grove again in the
quarterfinals. 5-foot-6 Shelby Westerhouse (8.2 ppg.) and 5-foot-4 Jasmine
Turner (7.5 ppg.) are going to have to lead an inspired effort here, but it's
not impossible. The first loss to Boone was 58-27 but the second loss in
December's South County Tournament, was only 49-40 as Turner scored 15. The
match up of 1A No.12 Morgan and 2A No. 5 Boone Grove is the final quarterfinal
game at 7 p.m. Tuesday night and the entire girls bracket swings on that
outcome.
BOONE GROVE (13-1) Boone is the top-rated team here. The Wolves
are the two-time defending champs and they've won six of the last eight PCC
tournaments. Boone had won nine in a row heading into Thursday night's game with
arch-rival Wheeler and they have a balanced attack led by 5-foot-8 senior
Brittany Dewell (10.5 ppg.), 5-foot-11 junior Brittany Shaffer (11.9) and
5-foot-4 three-point shooter Emily Bobrowski (13 ppg.). Boone is also 3-0
against Class 4A schools including a 54-42 win over Lowell (9-3) on New Year's
Day. Boone needs 5-foot-10 Claudia Cooper (5.7 ppg.) to rebound, but they are
not small and a little quicker than they look. The Wolves' only weakness is that
they only have two seniors and they are largely a jump shooting team which can
go cold. Most PCC teams do not have a post player and that's why anybody can
upset anybody else.
HANOVER CENTRAL (6-6) The eternal underdog, Hanover, drew Lacrosse
(3-7) in the first round so they should reach the semifinals. HC relies on guard
Blayr Poston (14 ppg.) for scoring, but they will rise or fall on the rebounding
of 6-foot-junior Kayla Garthus, and 5-foot-6 freshman Kristin Roper. Poston
fouls a lot and if she goes to the bench, the Lady Cats, who have not yet seen
Boone, Morgan or Kouts this season, will need big games from seniors Becky
Fortner a 6-foot Kim McKeague. Hanover is a classic small school team in that
they need contributions from a couple of players in every (freshman, sophomore,
junior and senior) class to win three games in a week. Does HC have a real
chance? Maybe. Going into Thursday night's scheduled game against South Central,
Hanover was 6-0 against 1A and 2A schools and 0-6 against 3A and 4A schools.
Obviously, there are no 3A or 4A schools in the PCC. Seven years ago, an HC team
that would finish at 11-11 defeated Boone, Morgan and Kouts 53-52 in overtime to
win the title here, one of the program's finest hours.
PCC Girls Tourney Champs
2009-10-Boone Grove (Candy Wilson)
2008-09-Boone Grove (Candy Wilson)
2007-08-Kouts (Mike Cronkhite)
2006-07-Boone Grove (Candy Wilson)
2005-06-Boone Grove (Candy Wilson)
2004-05-Boone Grove (Candy Wilson)
2003-04-Hanover Central (Chris York)
2002-03-Boone Grove (Candy Wilson)
2001-02-Hebron (Jerry Bechtold)
2000-01-Hebron (Jerry Bechtold)
1999-2000-Hanover Central (Dennis Foster)
1998-99-Hanover Central (Dennis Foster)
1997-98-Morgan Township (Jeff Edwards)
1996-97-Wheeler (Dennis Spoor)
1995-96-Boone Grove (Linda Eleftheri)
1994-95-Hanover Central (Terry Heldt)
1993-94-Hanover Central (Terry Heldt)
1992-93-Boone Grove (Linda Eleftheri)
1991-92-Hebron (Don Allison)
1990-91-Kouts (George Davis)
1989-90-Kouts (George Davis)
1988-89-Boone Grove (Linda Eleftheri)
1987-88-Morgan Township (Jeff Edwards)
1986-87-LaCrosse (Mike McBride)
1985-86-Kouts (George Davis)
1984-85-Hanover Central (Ann Thompson)
1983-84-Kouts (George Davis)
1982-83-Kouts (George Davis)
1981-82-Kouts (George Davis)
1980-81-Boone Grove (Dave Kahn)
1979-80-Washington Township (Anita Brower)
1978-79-LaCrosse (Margie Riley)
1977-78-Hebron (Nancy Scroggins)
1976-77-Washington Township (Sherry Prather)
1975-76-Boone Grove (Bev Long)
1974-75-Boone Grove (Jody Leek)
1973-74-Kouts (Linda Moses)
Tournament Championships
BOONE
GROVE-12
Kouts-8
HANOVER CENTRAL-6
Hebron-4
LaCrosse, Morgan Township, Washington Township-2 Wheeler-1 South Central
Westville-0