|
Team
|
1st Qtr
|
2nd Qtr
|
3rd Qtr
|
4th Qtr
|
Final
|
| BOONE
GROVE (11-3)
|
17 |
11 |
19 |
13 |
60 |
|
North Newton (10-2)
|
16 |
20 |
11 |
16 |
63 |
Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2002 in Morocco
BOONE GROVE (60) AJ Puller 0-2-2, Karissa Walter 9-4-24,
Heather Moy 3-0-6, Jenn Keller 0-1-1, Lani Marsh 0-0-0, Rachel Jenkins 5-4-14,
Sara Martinovich 0-0-0, Becky Keller 3-1-8, Danielle Jacobs 2-1-5. TOTALS:
22-13-60
FTS: 13-19, 68.4 percent (Jenkins 4-5, Walter 4-6)
TURNOVERS: 13
FOULED OUT: Becky Keller (B) :35 left - 4th Q
3-POINT GOALS (3) Karissa Walter 2, Becky Keller.
NORTH NEWTON (64) Claire Christenson 3-3-9, Holly Martin 8-2-23,
Kassie Koselke 2-8-13, Natalie Christenson 3-1-7, Kristan Stone 4-2-11, Shelly
Leach 0-0-0, Kira Christenson 0-0-0. TOTALS: 20-16-63
FTS: 16-21, 76.1 %
TURNOVERS: 26
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (7) Holly Martin 5, Kassie Koselke, Kristan Stone
MOROCCO,
IN (1-7-2003) - All high school
basketball games should be played at this level.
There were lots of fouls and lots of flaws in North Newton's 63-60 victory over
Boone Grove on a Tuesday night in Newton County but, as someone who has sat
through a lot of 46-43 50-turnover struggles, this up-and-down attack-style game
was worth the long, dark drive down US 41 to the dimly lit North Newton
gymnasium.
"I'd have rather won," said Boone senior Heather Moy.
I can't argue with that. But Boone will see North Newton again. In
the six-team Rensselaer Sectional which includes Hanover Central, Lake Station,
Wheeler and River Forest, it would take a major upset to keep the Spartans
(10-3) and Wolves (11-3) from meeting again this season.
"Hopefully, on a neutral court," said Boone coach Candy Wilson.
There were about a half dozen issues within this match up of
2A powers. The Spartans, playing without starting guard Danielle Doty (ankle
sprain), got a career-best wing shooting performance from 5-7 junior guard Holly
Martin (23 points, 5 3-point goals) to counter the 'Energizer Bunny' drives and
pop-up jump shots of Boone ball handler Karissa Walter (24 points).
Boone defended 6-foot Spartan senior Kassie Koselke, holding
her to two field goals and their athletic full court forced 26 North Newton
turnovers. But the Wolves could not overcome 6-foot center Claire
Christenson (9 points, 10 rebounds) inside, her 6-foot freshman forward Natalie
Christenson (7 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals) on the perimeter and the Spartans'
trademark foul shooting (16-of-21, 76.1 percent) excellence.
"I thought this would be a close
game," Wilson said. "I knew it would be down to the wire. They don't
have just one person who can score and we don't just have one person scoring.
I
thought it was pretty even. I knew they could knock down outside shots, too.
The player who stepped out of
character was clearly Martin (7.6 ppg.), whose previous high game was 15 against
Hanover Central on Dec. 17. If Boone holds Koselke (14 ppg.) below her
average and puts 60 points on the board, they should win. But Martin shot very
well against Boone's defense, which chased the ball from side to side as the
Spartans reversed the basketball.
"It was a good night for Holly on the
perimeter," said North Newton coach Mark Christenson. "She's been
struggling with her shot. She spent some time the other night after practice
working on it. We took a glitch out of her shot. She didn't get
discouraged when she missed a couple tonight and they started going in."
"We've got to cut our turnovers out.
I thought we
could've won by more tonight. We did hit six free throws at the end of the
game. Three one and ones."
After a high-scoring first quarter, North
Newton, which has lost only to Hobart (8-6) and Mooresville (13-0) pulled out to
a 32-25 lead with 2:15 left in the half. Martin scored nine in the second
quarter after 5-6 junior Kristan Stone had posted a seven point first quarter.
Boone forced 14 first half turnovers but their
press was sloppy and North Newton got some breakaway layups they didn't earn.
The lack of Doty, a 5-6 senior two-year starter, contributed to the Spartans
giveaways but the North Newton halftime lead (36-28) also got built with
Boone's Jenn Keller on the bench. Keller, the Wolves' speedy '2' guard and top
defender, got her third foul with 6:28 left in the second quarter and quickly
picked up her fourth foul 31 seconds later before Wilson could get her out of
the game.
"I didn't touch anybody for the fourth foul,"
said Keller, who had to sit out the rest of the half and all of the third
quarter. "I guess the refs didn't want any Kellers to play tonight."
Jenn's sophomore sister Becky
Keller, another very athletic player, had five steals but also picked up three
first half fouls that limited her playing time.
Boone Grove rallied to pull even in
the third quarter with Walter, Moy, Rachel Jenkins, sophomores Danielle
Jacobs and Becky Keller on the floor most of the time. Jenkins, a 5-10 junior,
scored eight of her 14 points in the second half and gave Boone a significant
presence in the foul lane.
"Rachel had a very good game," said Wilson.
"Danielle Jacobs played very well off the bench. She's going to be a very
good player. She's really smart. I was proud of all of them in the
second half. I wasn't very happy at all in the first half."
The Wolves led 55-52 but Claire Christenson made a spinning
off balance layup for a three-point play with 1:24 left. Becky Keller's
15-footer gave the Wolves their final lead with 1:05 left. But Natalie
Christenson tied the game off a pass from Kristan Stone with 50 seconds to play.
Walter drove the lane but her shot was blocked by the
younger Christenson. That started the parade of free throws. Martin, Koselke and
Stone all converted two shot opportunities to push the home team up 63-57. The
final points of the game came on a 40-foot, three-point last second bank
shot by Walter, who had eight assists, four rebounds and three steals.
"She doesn't really shoot the '3'; that
well," said Christenson, "although she can shoot them from half court.
If she ever gets to shoot the '3' consistently, she'll be able to score from
inside and outside and it will be almost impossible to stop her."
While a rematch seems inevitable, both
teams left with other things on their minds. North Newton is eyeing
a home game with rival North Judson (8-4) on Jan. 16. Despite the strength of the
two programs, North Newton has not beaten North Judson in over 20 years. "I
don't know how long the streak is," said coach Christenson, "but I'm
sure they do. They're not anywhere near as strong up front as they were last
year. I think we match up pretty well with them."
Boone Grove ends the regular season at North
Judson but Porter County Conference (PCC) teams spend early January getting
ready for the tradition-rich PCC tournament at the end of the month.
Boone Grove will go in as the favorite, but Washington Township
(9-4) and Wheeler (8-5) want another shot at the Wolves after early season losses
to Boone. Wheeler is a bad word to the Boone coach. Boone was looking ahead to a
match up with rival Hebron in the PCC championship game last January when they
were upset by Wheeler in the semifinals. Don't tell Wilson that her girls
should be in the PCC title game.
"I don't want to hear that," she smiled.
"I won't believe it until we're standing there and the game is about to
start."
WOLF NOTES: Boone Grove had about 50 fans make the 40-mile Tuesday
night trip to Morocco and they made a lot of noise at key points during the
game. Boone Grove still has not mounted much fan support for a team that
has won 27 of their last 37 games.
North Newton's official record is 11-2, even though they have played just 12
games. In the Wheeler Holiday tournament, Gary Roosevelt did not show up for a
third place game and North Newton took a forfeit. Danielle Doty will be
back for North Newton before the Jan. 16 game with North Judson. Coach
Christenson requires girls who sprain ankles to sit out a week after they are
cleared to play. Boone's Rachel Jenkins (8.3) has averaged 11 ppg. in her
last six games. Walter (16.1 ppg.) is the PCC's second leading scorer behind
Washington Township's Christi Gladdis (18.6 ppg.).
Wilson was glad to play a top-caliber
opponent before the Porter County Conference (PCC) tournament (which begins on
Jan. 20). We beefed up our schedule a little this year. We took three guaranteed
wins off and we added North Newton and Crown Point.
Boone's
win in the South County Tournament was their fifth in the 22-year-old tournament
and their first since 1996.
North Newton is always a top shooting team. The Spartans are 66 of 92 (71.8
percent) from the foul line in their last five games and they traditionally
shoot 70 percent from the foul line.
"Our girls want to score, I guess," joked coach Christenson.
"John Koselke here (North Newton's assistant coach and father of Kristi and
Kassie Koselke) has pretty much taught his daughters. He was a great shooter
himself."
John Koselke commented, "We work on form but a lot of it is being ready to
shoot. Being ready to fire the ball when you get the pass. You need to
be ready to be a triple threat (dribble, pass or shoot) when the ball comes to
you."
BOONE
GROVE (11-3, 6-0 PCC)
Coach Candy Wilson (6th year) 39-61 in 5 seasons
JV coach: Stephanie Lytle
Freshman coach: Ben Breuninger
PCC games in CAPS, Home games in bold
11-12-2002:
58-28 at River Forest (3-7)
11-15-2002: 45-34 at Calumet (6-5)
11-16-2002: 71-47 at HEBRON (2-10)
11-22-2002: 62-55 at Knox (2-9)
11-26-2002: 89-34 LaCROSSE (1-8)
12-2-2002: 57-67 at Kankakee Valley (5-7)
12-6-2002: 79-61 at WHEELER (8-5)
12-12-2002: 63-72 WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP (9-4)
12-14-2002: 49-55 CROWN POINT (8-6)
12-17-2002: 82-33 KOUTS (3-10)
12-19-2002: 85-42 at MORGAN TOWNSHIP (2-10)
South
County Tournament (at Boone Grove)
1-3-2003: 61-35 Hebron (2-10)
1-4-2003: 73-31 Kouts (3-10)
1-7-2003: 60-63 at North Newton (10-2)
1-9-2003 (Th) SOUTH CENTRAL (3-8) 6 p.m.
1-15-2003 (W) Lake Station (0-8) 6 p.m.
Porter
County Conference (PCC) Tournament (at Morgan Township)
1-20-2003 (M) quarterfinals ( 6 or 8 p.m.)
1-21-2003 (Tu) quarterfinals (6 or 8 p.m.)
1-24-2003 (F) semifinals (6 or 8 p.m.)
1-25-2003: 6 p.m. (championship) at Boone Grove
1-30-2003 (Th) HANOVER CENTRAL (5-7) 6 p.m.
2-6-2003 (F) at North Judson (9-4) 5 p.m.
Boone Grove (2A) Sectional
2-11-2003 (Tu) Quarterfinals (6 p.m.)
2-14-2003 (F) Semifinals (6 p.m.)
2-15-2003 (S) Championship (7:30 p.m.)
North Judson (2A) Regional
2-22-2003 (S) Semifinals (11 a.m.)
2-22-2003 (S) Championship (7 p.m.)
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