Saturday, 11-22-2003  at Warsaw

CROWN POINT (47)  Kaitlyn Sertich 4-0-10, Blayre Reeves 2-1-5, Stephanie Sandilla 0-0-0, Jill Weiand 1-3-5, Mallory Michaels 1-1-3, Hannah Plumley 2-0-4 Cassie Pruzin 5-0-14, Jackie Clements 0-0-0, Anjellica Rospond  0-0-0, Stephanie Poulos 2-2-6, Courtney Perry 0-0-0, Michelle Lipton 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 17-7-47

FTS: 7-17, 41.1% :  Reeves 1-1, Weiand 3-7, Pruzin 0-3, Michaels 1-2, Rospond 0-2, Poulos 2-2.
REBOUNDS (35) Sertich 7, Weiand 5, Poulos 5.
ASSISTS: Pruzin - 4.
TURNOVERS: 14
STEALS: Pruzin - 4, Sertich 4.
FOULED OUT: Blayre Reeves (4th Q - 3:12)
3-POINT GOALS (6) Cassie Pruzin 4, Kaitlyn Sertich 2.

WARSAW (62)  Julie Seiss 4-8-18, Michelle DeGeeter 3-0-6, Rebekah Richard 2-0-4, Jacklyn Leininger 4-10-18, Kara Mayer 4-2-11, Tasia Smith 2-0-4, Amy Abbitt 0-1-1, Holly Durcholz 0-0-0, Kim Clay 0-0-0, Karen Sand 0-0-0, Mallory Hepler 0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-21-62

FTS: 21-28, 75% percent  (Seiss 8-10, Leininger 10-11, Mayer 2-2, Abbitt 1-2, DeGeeter 0-1, Reichard 0-2)
TURNOVERS: 15
ASSISTS: Seiss - 4
REBOUNDS: Leininger 9, Richard 9, DeGeeter 7,
JV: CP 41, Warsaw 37
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (3) Julie Seiss 2, Kara Mayer.

WARSAW (11-22-2003) -  It's not hard to lose to Warsaw at Warsaw. It's hard to know what to make of it.
After CP's 62-47 loss Saturday night, the Bulldogs still seemed to be in the 'jury is still out' mode. CP won three games they were supposed to win and lost a game on the road against the preseason Class 4A number one team.

Saturday in the brightly lit and brightly colored Tiger Den 90 miles east of Crown Point, the Lady Bulldogs got into early foul trouble and fell away from a 15-15 tie to trail 35-24 at the half. With both teams changing pressing defenses, the taller Tigers, who were upset the night before 54-45 at Class 3A No. 8 Tippecanoe Valley, ran their lead to 21 points before the CP subs closed the gap in the final minutes.

"They ran a 2-2-1 defense at us," said CP coach Tom May, "and we handled it pretty well. They pinched us at the top and we handled it pretty well. They ran a 3-2 and they handled it pretty well."

"When you play a really good team, you want to hold them to 50 points. Throw out all the free throws they got (21 of 28) and we didn't get, and we were about there. The thing is, we missed shot after shot after shot. Lay-ups. Six foot jump shots. Break away layups. Five-foot shots in the paint. Threes. Twos."

CP got no breaks from the referees. In the first half, the Lady Bulldogs were called for eight fouls before the home team was whistled for even one. CP drew 22 fouls and earned most of them.  But, at the other end, the Tigers did get away with some 'aggressive' rebounding that led to easy follow shots. The CP bench and traveling crowd howled to no avail, although the final foul totals (22-15) evened up somewhat.

It was CP's inability to shoot the basketball from the field that continues to be disturbing. Warsaw's switching defenses notwithstanding, you can't win with sub-30 percent shooting and 17 field goals on the road.

"It comes down to fundamentals," said May. "We've got some shooters who revert to bad form in the game. You've got to put points on the board. We've got to get production out of every position."

The Tigers often trapped CP scoring leader Cassie Pruzin at the time line with two players, forcing her to pass the ball. Other than Kaitlyn Sertich (10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals), the Lady Bulldogs (3-1) didn't have much other offense. "We had lots of shots," said May. "We just didn't hit them."

Warsaw's 6-1 wing player Jacklyn Leininger also missed a lot of shots. The Miami of Ohio recruit needed 10 of 11 from the foul line to score 18. Sophomore point guard Julie Seiss, notably larger than she was last year also scored 18. The 5-9 floor leader sparked a 9-0 run at the top of the third quarter that put the game away.

The Tigers may have been in recovery from the 9-point loss to Tippecanoe Valley, a jolt for the preseason top team.  "I don't think it was the pressure' said Warsaw's long time coach Will Weinhorst. "We didn't go out with the feeling that we had to play every play. As Tippy stayed with us, they gained a lot of confidence. Then we started to play not to lose. Tippy's got a nice ball club. They're going to make a run in the tournament, too."

"Jacklyn didn't make the shots she usually makes. Our point guard, (Seiss) she's a player. If we'd have played last night like we played tonight, we'd have won."

The best news for Crown Point was their bench outscored Warsaw in the final minutes. May used all his timeouts as a protest of the lopsided foul totals and his team played better the more time outs he called.

"Point number one, I was upset with the officials," he said. "This hasn't happened to us over here in a long time. What it did was turn the game into minute and a half segments. I told them what to do and they went out and busted their butts for about 90 seconds. Then I called time out again. And they did it again. Then they did something else. But I should not have to keep calling time outs. They should retain things with intensity for more than a minute and a half. I told them, I don't have 24 time outs."

As the week starts, second- ranked Merrillville and top-rated Warsaw will switch positions in the state polls.  The Lady Bulldogs won't see Warsaw again short of a 4A semistate game in February but CP now knows what it's like to face a number one team. If that impression fades, that feeling will soon be reinforced as well.

LADY BULLDOG NOTES:  Crown Point sophomore Stephanie Poulos scored her first six varsity points in the fourth quarter. The 5-7 forward also grabbed an unofficial five rebounds. Soph guard Michelle Lipton also played briefly in the second and fourth quarters at Warsaw as the fouls mounted on CP.  Both girls, who play for coach Scott Reid's undefeated JV (4-0), may be listed on the varsity roster as well on many nights because the Lady Bulldogs have only eight non-freshman varsity players.  Combination varsity-JV players are allowed five quarters a night.

Warsaw was good but they'll have to get better. "I like Will (Warsaw coach Will Weinhorst) and I hope they go all the way," said May. "But I was not in awe of them tonight. I don't know why, but they seemed a little slow.
Warsaw back-up forward Mallory Helper suffered a knee injury and had to be carried off the floor. She may have an ACL injury. Due to scheduling problems, Warsaw and Valparaiso will no longer meet. Crown Point is the only Lake and Porter County team on the Warsaw schedule. The crowd Saturday was abut 750, abut one half of the CP-Portage crowd in Crown Point the night before.

	Coach Tom May (25 years -390-137) Assistant coaches: Beth Jacobs JV coach: Scott Reid   -  Freshman coach: Brian McClanahan 8th grade coach: Mike Malaski    -     7th grade coach: Angie Babjak
	2003-2004 Schedule
	Start times are JV starting times
Date	Location ALL CAPS = Duneland Athletic Conference game	Time/Result
Nov. 14	at Hebron (1-2)	W, 66-38
Nov. 15	at Kankakee Valley (0-1)	W, 62-31
Nov. 21	PORTAGE (1-2)	W, 52-39
Nov. 22	at Warsaw (1-1)	L, 47-62
Nov. 28	at CHESTERTON	6:00 pm
Dec.  2	at Lowell	6:00 pm
Dec.  5	LaPORTE	6:00 pm
Dec. 12	at LAKE CENTRAL	6:00 pm
Dec. 13	Boone Grove	6:00 pm
Dec. 16	at VALPARAISO	6:00 pm
Dec. 19	MICHIGAN CITY	6:00 pm
Jan.  2	MERRILLVILLE	6:00 pm
Jan.  3	Hanover Central	6:00 pm
Jan.  7	at PORTAGE	6:00 pm
Jan. 10	CHESTERTON	6:00 pm
Jan. 16	LAKE CENTRAL	6:00 pm
Jan. 23	at MICHIGAN CITY	6:00 pm
Jan. 27	at LaPORTE	6:00 pm
Jan. 30	VALPARAISO	6:00 pm
Feb.  6	at MERRILLVILLE	6:00 pm
	CROWN POINT (4A) Sectional
2-10-4 (Tu)	Quarterfinals	6 or 8 p.m.
2-13-4 (F)	Semifinals	6 or 8 p.m.
2-14-4 (S)	Championship	7:30 p.m.
	Valparaiso (4A) Regional
2-21-4 (S)	Semifinals	11 a.m.
2-21-4 (S)	Championship	7 p.m.
	Plymouth (4A) Semistate
2-28-4 (S)	Semistate championship	(TBA)

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Revised: June 08, 2004 .