Valparaiso squeezes out critical DAC showdown win, 44-41 over CP Lady Bulldogs
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Saturday,  Dec. 21, 2002  in Valparaiso

CROWN POINT (41)  Cassie Pruzin 2-1-5, Blayre Reeves 2-1-5, Allison Isailovich 3-2-9, Jill Weiand 0-4-4, Amy Zondor 1-2-5, Kaitlyn Sertich 1-0-2, Jen McMullin 2-0-4, Keri Cuculich 0-0-0, Kathleen Fredericks 0-0-0, Jessica Herdt 0-0-0, Missy Cooper 0-0-0.   TOTALS: 14-10-41

FTS: 10-14, 71.4%   (Isailovich 2-3, Zondor 2-2, Pruzin 1-2, Weiand 4-4, Reeves 1-2, Brueck 0-1)
TURNOVERS: 10
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (2) Amy Zondor, Allison Isailovich

VALPARAISO (44)  Cassie Kerns 3-0-6, Katie Ramirez 1-0-3, Lindsay Humes 3-0-6, Erica Humes 5-1-13, Megan Rose 1-0-2, Lauren Hutton 3-2-11, Leslie Bryan 0-2-2, Breanne Gustke 0-1-1, Jamie Doane 0-0-0.   TOTALS:  16-6-44

FTS: 6-12, 50 percent (Lauren Hutton 2-4, Cassie Kerns 0-2, Breanne Gustke 1-2, Leslie Bryan 2-2, Erica Humes 1-2)
TURNOVERS: 12
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS: (6) Erica Humes 2, Lauren Hutton 3, Katie Ramirez.

VALPARAISO   (12-21-2002) - If you didn't care who won, Saturday's Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) showdown between longtime powers Crown Point and Valparaiso was an excellent high school basketball game with a great finish.

If you were pulling for Crown Point's Lady Bulldogs, it was an excellent high school game with a very familiar finish.

Valparaiso which defeated Crown Point 39-37 and 41-38 last season, got a 20-foot, three-point shot from junior point guard Lauren Hutton at the buzzer to beat CP 44-41 last Saturday (Dec.21) in the pivotal game of the DAC season.

The Bulldogs led 41-38 with 5:31 left but they could not score again and Valparaiso (6-4), which began the season 0-3, got three-point shots from reserve Kate Ramirez (with 2:40 to play) and Hutton on the final possession to move to the top of the DAC standings.

"It was our general end-of-the-quarter play," said Hutton after the midday game in front of a small but noisy crowd of about 400 in the classic, green-hued Viking gym. I was wide open. I was a little nervous."

"The play was designed for Lauren." said Valpo coach Greg Kirby, who called time out with 12 seconds left after CP's Allison Isailovich was called for traveling with the score tied 41-41.

Valparaiso moved the ball into the front court and reversed it to 5-11 freshman Erica Humes on the right wing, Humes, who led all scorers with 13 points, zipped as pass over the top of CP's defense to Hutton on the left wing, who sank her third three-point goal of the game as time ran out.

"We executed it very well," said Kirby. "It was just as important, I thought, to execute well defensively on the possession before that. And Erica's pass. That was a difficult pass to make. We definitely want her (Hutton) to take that shot. She hit the shot last year at Crown Point (in the final minute) that put us ahead. I have a lot of faith in her."

"That was a little luck," Hutton said of last year's key three-point shot at CP. "It's different now because I didn't have the leadership role that I do now. A lot of girls are following my example now because most of these girls had not started a game before this year."

Crown Point is in much the same situation experience-wise and it showed. The Lady Bulldogs, who finished the first half of the season with three losses by seven points or less, never trailed in the second half Saturday (until the final horn), but turned the ball over three times in the final four minutes trying to get fouled or create a high percentage scoring opportunity.

"Basically, we knew when we got five up (33-28 with 4:03 left in the third quarter) that they'd do what they always do," said longtime CP coach Tom May. "They'd give us mediocre pressure on the perimeter.  We had to make them give a total commitment on the outside and they didn't. We said, 'Okay then. We'll just wait until they do. We're not going to get a layup (in the delay offense) until they make a commitment. We needed to just keep doing what they were doing. But, for some reason, we started making curls and cut-ins and we made bad passes and mistakes. The whole thing was, they weren't coming out. We just had to handle the basketball. They weren't coming out."

In retrospect, Crown Point got caught between a rock and a hard place. After the first turnover, Ramirez hit her shot off the left wing with 2:40 left to tie the game.  Pruzin was called for a questionable five-second violation with 2:15 left. She appeared to be advancing the ball at the top of the circle when the referees whistled her for not advancing the ball.  Ramirez missed a 10-foot shot with 1:40 left but CP's Amy Zondor tried to shoot over 6-3 Cassie Kerns on the baseline with 1:25 to play and missed.  Valparaiso called time out with 1:17 to play but Isailovich, who had a crucial three-point basket wiped out by game referees at the end of the third quarter of last years' 41-38 playoff loss, stole Erica Humes' inbound pass to give CP the ball going to the final minute.

"Even after the turnover (a bad pass with 3:05 left), we still were in position to win. We had the ball with 33 seconds left and we took it down to 12. Nobody makes a move and we go at it hard for the last 10.  We decided to make a hard drive to the basket for a kick out. That was not the play.  We already had the play. Cassie was going to have the ball at the top. We were going to run a double screen on one side and a single screen on the other, open up the middle and Cassie was going to go to the basket.  But we turned the ball over at 12 (seconds). Why were we doing anything at 12?"

The Lady Bulldogs wanted to wait for the last shot, but with the five-second violation fresh in their minds, they moved the ball a little more than they needed to, especially since Valparaiso was in the penalty and any foul would've produced potential game-winning (CP was 10 of 14 from the line) free throws.

"On the last shot, they had two girls on one side," said May. "They never had anybody on the block and they had one girl on the other side. And we said that Hutton's going to get the ball on a double screen on the back side. The ball went to the right wing and we had one kid matched with three kids on the back side. We had three kids with their back to the ball and they never saw what was happening. That's not because we're bad. That's just because, except for Pruzin, we've never had but one kid who's ever been in that situation. They (Valpo) talk about how they lost a lot of people (from last year), so have we. We lost four starters. But we still played a nice game up until the last three or four minutes. We just have to close it out."

The latest renewal of the DAC's top rivalry featured, as always, the two teams vivid contrast in styles. In front of small but vocal cheering sections, Valparaiso worked a patient inside-outside game, collapsing the defense with the 6-3 Kerns and 6-2 Lindsay Humes and kicking out to the younger Humes, Ramirez and Hutton, Valpo's lone returning starter.

Crown Point countered with changing full and half court defenses that sparked runs of 8-1 in the first quarter and 14-4 in the second period giving the visitors a 25-20 lead 3:15 before halftime. Valparaiso had eight first half turnovers, most of them a result of the Lady Bulldog pressure defense.

CP was hurt by the fact that 5-10 forward Blayre Reeves, who returned to the starting lineup, drew three first half fouls and picked up her fourth with 7:30 left in the game. Blayre scored five points in the first period but went scoreless after that.

Isailovich had nine points and two steals and Danielle Brueck came off the bench with a hot hand, scoring seven in the second quarter. CP senior Jen McMullin, who had started most of the season, came off the bench to hit CP's last two field goals of the game, a driving bank shot over Kerns with 6:18 to play and a 12 foot baseline jumper off a pass from Pruzin with 5:31 left. Both baskets gave CP a three-point lead. "She's shooting the ball well for us now," said May. "I told her, she's got to take the open shot or she'll have to sit down."

Both teams shot very well at times. Kerns, who appears larger than her listed 6-3, grabbed 10 rebounds against a CP front line that had no one stand taller than 5-10. Pruzin had seven rebounds and three assists but unofficially, just two steals in a relatively slow-paced game. That was significant to Hutton because Pruzin led northwest Indiana with 62 steals in her first nine games (6.8 per game) and much of Crown Point's offense comes in transition.  "Cassie's a very good player," Hutton smiled. "I just thought I had to protect the ball. She goes for it a lot."

"I also want to congratulate Crown Point," said the soft-spoken Kirby. "They hit some shots. I didn't think we were doing anything particularly wrong in the first half. I just told them (Valpo's players) that I didn't think they could shoot that well all game.  I thought both tams played very well. I was a great game."

If you didn't care who won.

LADY BULLDOG NOTES:  Valparaiso won 39-37 last year in Crown Point and the Vikings won the Portage Sectional championship game 41-38 last February.

The lunchtime varsity start (12:30 p.m.) clearly contributed to the smaller crowd. CP's game with Valparaiso last year both drew upwards of 1,000 fans. There were less than 500 spectators at last Saturday's game.

Valparaiso plays in the Warsaw Holiday Tournament next weekend (Dec. 28) against Perry Meridian (8-1), (South Bend) St. Joseph's (6-1) and Warsaw (8-0).  The Vikings drew Warsaw in a 9 a.m. start. "We might be the fourth best team there," said coach Greg Kirby.  Valparaiso will have to leave the Warsaw Holiday tourney after this year because of the Duneland Athletic Conference's upcoming double-round-robin format (14 league games) that leaves only six nonconference dates.

"Let's try it for a while and see how it works," he says.

Valpo was 0-3 this season after losses to East Chicago, Carmel and Jefferson, all 4A top-20 teams.  Kirby just told his girls to stay the course and the wins would come to them.

"Pretty much," he agreed. "We do have faith in what we do. It's time tested. We were very young and we played like it."

Carroll got back on track Saturday with a 21-point win (69-48) over Homestead. CP (7-3) faces Carroll (9-1) in the opening game of the Lady Bulldog Shootout at Crown Point high school this Saturday (Dec. 28.). Carroll's only loss came earlier in the week 50-47 at Fort Wayne Northrop (8-1).  Defending champion Martinsville (4-7) and Noblesville (7-4) meet in the 12:30 p.m. semifinal.  CP could've chosen to play Martinsville, the defending champ (and the only team with a losing record but Tom May didn't want to."

"We played Martinsville in the title game last year," he said. "We've never played Carroll before so we thought we might as well. They're all good teams.

Looking down the road, Highland, which visits Crown Point on Jan. 3, stayed undefeated (9-0) with an easy 42-20 win over Andrean. Four-time defending (Three 2A titles and last year's 3A crown) state champion Bishop Luers (7-1) which makes a first-ever visit to Crown Point on Jan. 25, was to play at undefeated Angola (9-0) Monday night (Dec.23).

Graduated CP star Alex Webster was at Saturday's game. Alex is gradually increasing her playing time as a freshman at Southern Mississippi. Webster has been asked to help out the Southern Mississippi soccer team (Alex was an all-DAC player at CP) but she says her aid is limited to being the host for soccer recruits.

2002 Valparaiso star forward Kelly Compton has a cast on a broken foot that ended her college basketball season early.  Compton, who had her foot broken in eight places in her season debut, will be ready for track season (she was a shot put and discus all-stater at Valpo high).

Valparaiso is 3-0 in the DAC with Portage, Hobart, LaPorte and Merrillville left to play. While Portage (6-3, 2-1) is a big rival and Hobart is 7-5, it would appear that none of those four teams can stop VHS from winning their 12th league title in the last 13 years.

2003 CROWN POINT (7-3)
Coach Tom May (23 years -378-128)
Start times are JV starting times

11-15-2002:  74-19 Hebron (1-9)
11-16-2002:  40-47  at Andrean (6-4)
11-22-2002:  55-30 Kankakee Valley (3-6)
11-23-2002:  52-30 at Munster (1-9)
11-29-2002:  42-46 Warsaw  (8-0)
12-3-2002: 34-53 Lowell (6-5)
12-6-2002:  47-28 at PORTAGE (6-5)
12-13-2002:  50-44 MERRILLVILLE (4-5)
12-14-2002: 55-49 at Boone Grove (9-2)
12-21-2002:  41-44 at Valparaiso (7-4)

Lady Bulldog Shootout (with Martinsville, Carroll and Noblesville)

12-28-2002 (S) semifinal vs Carroll (9-1)  11 a.m.
12-28-2002 (S) 3rd place or finals
vs. Noblesville (7-4) or Martinsville (4-7) 6 or 8 p.m.

1-3-2003 (F) Highland (9-0)  6 p.m.
1-4-2003 (S) at Hanover Central  (4-4)  6 p.m.
1-10-2003 (F) MICHIGAN CITY - 6 p.m.
1-18-2003 (S) CHESTERTON - 6 p.m.
1-24-2003 (F) at LaPORTE (2-7) 6 p.m.
1-25-2003 (S) Bishop Luers (9-1)  6 p.m.
2-1-2003 (S) HOBART (7-5) 6 p.m.
2-4-2003 (Tu) at Lake Central (7-2) 6 p.m.

Portage (4A) Sectional

2-11-2003 (Tu) Quarterfinals  (6 or 8 p.m.)
2-14-2003 (F) Semifinals  (6 of 8 p.m.)
2-15-2003 (S) Championship  (7:30 p.m.)

Valparaiso (4A) Regional

2-22-2003 (S) Semifinals  (11a.m.)
2-22-2003 (S) Championship  (7 p.m.)

Plymouth (4A) Semistate

3-1-2003 (S) Semistate championship (TBA)

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Revised: July 10, 2004 .