Lady Wolves 4th Qtr rally for 46-43 win over North Newton, capture first ever Sectional championship
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Rensselaer Sectional championship  -  Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2002  in Rensselaer

BOONE GROVE (46)  AJ Puller 3-0-6,  Karissa Walter 4-4-13,  Heather Moy 7-3-19, Jenn Keller 0-1-1, Lani Marsh 0-0-0, Rachel Jenkins 2-1-5, Sara Martinovich 1-0-2 Becky Keller 0-0-0, Danielle Jacobs 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 17-9-46
FTS: 9-22,  40.2 percent _ Moy 3-3, Walter 4-6,  Jenn Keller 1-9, Jenkins 1-4.
TURNOVERS: 16
REBOUNDS: Rachel Jenkins 11, AJ Puller 11
ASSISTS: Karissa Walter - 4
STEALS: Heather Moy 6
FOULED OUT: AJ Puller (4th Q - 1:31 left).
3-POINT GOALS (3) Heather Moy 2, Karissa Walter.

NORTH NEWTON (43)  Kassie Koselke 4-0-10,  Danielle Doty 2-1-5, Holly Martin 4-2-13, Claire Christensen 1-3-5, Natalie Christensen 5-0-10, Kira Christensen 0-0-0 1-0-2, Kristen Stone 0-0-0.
FTS: 6-9, 66 .7 percent  (Doty 1-2, Martin 2-2, Claire Christensen 3-5.)
TURNOVERS: 22
ASSISTS: Kassie Koselke - 4
REBOUNDS: Holly Martin - 7
FOULED OUT: Holly Martin (4th Q) :14 left
3-POINT GOALS (5) Holly Martin 3, Kassie Koselke 2.

RENSSELAER (2-18-2003) -  The Boone Grove Wolves will have a story to tell their friends for many years to come.

After two snow delays and three hard fought games, Boone ended an almost 30-year history of sectional failure Tuesday night with a 46-43 victory over North Newton in the championship of the Rennselaer 2A Sectional.

"I never thought we were going to lose," said Boone's Jenn Keller with a big smiley face. "Really, I'm not just saying that.  I always thought we'd win."

She may have been the only one.  Boone was outscored 21-6 over a 17 minute span, The Lady Wolves committed 16 turnovers and made just 17 of 49 field goal attempts and only 9 of 22 foul shots.

And they still won.

"We hit our lows," said senior Heather Moy, who scored 19 points and grabbed six steals.  "But we always have our runs.  We were ready to play tonight. I didn't want the season to be over."

"I was her shooting partner," said Keller.  "I went down in the post and she went out and shot threes.  Heather was awesome shooting."

Moy's shooting against a combination zone and chaser against Boone star Karissa Walter boosted Boone to leads of 6-0 and 16-6 early.  Her line drive shots surprised the Spartans, who had clearly scouted the poor-shooting transition-based Wolves (20-4).

But North Newton rallied and had the game under control.  Natalie Christensen came off the bench and led a comeback which eventually saw the Spartans (18-4) outscore Boone 11-2 in the third period.  Claire Christensen's free throw put the Spartans ahead 34-26 with 7:19 left in the game.

Boone had abandoned their trademark full court pressure and also got away from their nine-girl rotation.  The Wolves starting five played much of the night.

We pressed when we played them the time before (on Jan. 9) and it didn't work," explained Boone coach Candy Wilson.  "And we got into foul trouble doing it.  We also got out of our man-to-man because we didn't play it well last time.  We played a zone because it gave us a little more togetherness on the perimeter to shut down those threes."

"It was just overwhelming tonight for the sophomores.  You expect that of young players. Sometimes they're up and sometimes they're down.  You put it in your seniors' and juniors' hands.  Rachel fought inside and got rebounds.  I told her, 'We don't need you to score.'

"We put Jen inside and Heather outside.  She's got a nice shot.  She got a fire in her butt and she starting hitting them.  The referees helped us tonight (just 11 Boone fouls).  They did not call it tight and that favored us."

Still, it looked as if North Newton, which eliminated Boone in the sectional title game last year, would win.  The Wolves had choked up shooting the ball and the Spartans fans in the crowd of about 800 were making noise.

But Walter hit a lob pass to the 5-10 Jenkins for a layup.  Walter then rebounded a miss and drove the length of the court for a three-point play.  After Holly Martin sank two foul shots to make it 36-31 with 5:40 left, Walter sank a three-point goal before Moy's steal and free throw closed the gap to 36-35.

Jenn Keller got a free throw out of another Walter steal and Moy's steal and layup made it 38-36 with 4:20 left.  North Newton became frustrated with Boone's 1-2-2 zone and threw the ball into defenders' hands.

"I knew they were gong to wake up but I didn't know when," said Wilson.  "We put a little more pressure on the ball up top (of the zone).  That's what we weren't doing.  We've got to get steals and layups.  That's our game.  We got to the offensive board.  There's only one time we haven't come back.  It was North Judson."

"I keep telling them that in the bigger games we can't keep doing this.  But our seniors came through.  And Rachel.  They don't like to lose and they have a lot of backbone.  We're better than we were last year."

Walter hit some key shots from the line, a Boone weakness.  "I had to hit 'em," the sophomore said. "I knew they could come back.  I just try to block out the crowd.  Heather was bombing the shots all over the place tonight.  They gave us that.  I knew we weren't going to press tonight.  She (Wilson) thinks we get into too much foul trouble."

North Newton hit five three-point goals, three in the second half.  The 16-of-51 shooting from the field (31.3 percent) was critical.  Few teams challenge the good-shooting Spartans with the zone and they could not respond.

After the game, Boone did not know they would play LaVille and didn't much care.

"We're all going to Pizza King," announced Wilson as the Renssealer gym emptied out. The prospect of a short week and two games on Saturday was something that just didn't register on anyone from Boone.  After 29 years of the state tournament, she carried the school's first IHSAA girls basketball trophy out into the Jasper County night. "I feel great," said the coach.

SECTIONAL GIRLS NOTES:  From the 'everybody is related to everybody' department:  Boone's sophomore Karissa Walter is a cousin of Morgan Township sophomore up-and-comer Nate McGinley and former Morgan all-stater Kim McGinley.  Both Nate and Karissa wear number 21, although they didn't plan to be the same.  They made the same choice independently of each other.

North Newton had lost only to Hobart, Harrison and state 4A power Mooresville.

Rachel Jenkins said that everybody thought the Wolves would rally from the eight-point deficit.

"We came to the bench yesterday,' said Jenkins of the semifinal with Wheeler.. "and we were down 10.  Jenn (Keller) said, 'just shut up. we're fine.'  We just have to work harder."

This game marked the fourth time Boone Grove had come from eight or more behind to win this year. 

"We think we're going to win," said Becky Keller.  "I don't think anyone thinks we can't come back." 

Jenkins grabbed 11 rebounds. "She was a beast inside tonight," said Walter.

There was no radio or TV of the game back to Lake and Porter County, even though there were no other playoff games Tuesday night in the region.  WLQI-FM in Renssealer aired the game live.

Boone Grove is not one of the schools that gets a lot of media attention.  There will be no live radio of Saturday's games and tape-delay TV is highly unlikely.  With Highland, Washington Township and either Valpo or West Side with a good chance to advance to the semistate, Boone would probably have to reach the state finals to be on TV or radio.

Wilson tried to talk Jenn Keller and Heather Moy out of a scheduled field trip they had set for Wednesday and Thursday that would cause them to miss practice.  The trips apparently had been scheduled after the sectional, which, for 27 years, was the end of Boone's season.

The other three semifinals at Triton are Fremont (15-10), the from the extreme northeast corner of the state;  LaVille, from the LakeVille and LaPaz area south of South Bend and Rochester (21-2), a powerful team that has lost only to Chicago power Whitney Young (15-12) and Merrillville (16-8).

The prohibitive state Class 2A favorite is Heritage Christian (23-1), which is an IHSAA school for the first time this year.  2002 state finalist Shenandoah (19-5) should await the Triton winner at the Warsaw 2A semistate on March 1.

No Porter County basketball team has ever won a state final.  Hebron (25-3) reached the 1A finals last year and Kim McGinley's Morgan Township team reached the finals in 1998.  No Boone team has ever reached the semistate level in basketball.  Boone has never reached a state championship game in any team sport.

Boone's fan support was poor. They had maybe 250 fans travel the 45 miles south to the game on a Tuesday night.  There are hopes that maybe 500 could show for Saturday's 10 a.m. game. Triton is about 40 miles east of Boone on Route 2.  Route 331 (Bourbon) is about 15 miles east of Plymouth.  Triton is about 1/8 of a mile south of Rout 30, just east of 331. You lose an hour once you get to Plymouth.  Triton is in the Eastern time zone so the 10 a.m. start will begin at 9 a.m. Porter County time.  Tickets are $6 and with Boone favored to beat LaVille, you would do well to buy the $9 ticket for all day.

The 20th win sets a Boone school record for victories.  They are 37-9 in the last two years.  The two snow delays made the Rensselaer Sectional last eight days long.  Some sectionals were still playing Wednesday night.  No amounts have been stated but snow is predicted for Saturday.

BOONE GROVE (20-4, 7-0 PCC)
Coach Candy Wilson (6th year)  39-61 in 5 seasons
PCC games in CAPS, Home games in bold

11-12-2002:  58-28 at River Forest (7-14)
11-15-2002:  45-34 at Calumet (16-7)
11-16-2002:  71-47 at HEBRON (8-13)
11-22-2002:  62-55 at Knox  (5-15)
11-26-2002:  89-34 LaCROSSE (8-13)
12-2-2002:  57-67 at Kankakee Valley (7-13)
12-6-2002:  79-61 at WHEELER (16-7)
12-12-2002:  63-72 WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP (18-5)
12-14-2002:  49-55  CROWN POINT (12-9) 
12-17-2002:  82-33 KOUTS (3-18) 
12-19-2002:  85-42 at MORGAN TOWNSHIP (3-18)

South County Tournament  (at Boone Grove)
1-3-2003:  61-35 Hebron (8-13)
1-4-2003:  73-31 Kouts (3-18)  title
1-7-2003:  60-63 at North Newton (19-3)
1-9-2003:  84-45  SOUTH CENTRAL (9-11)
1-15-2003:  94-14 Lake Station (0-19)

Porter County Conference (PCC) Tournament  (at Morgan Township)
1-20-2003:  63-61 Washington Township (18-5)
1-24-2003:  80-33  LaCrosse (8-13)
1-25-2003:  57-55 Wheeler (16-7)

1-30-2003:  66-40 HANOVER CENTRAL  (7-13)
2-6-2003:  46-69 at North Judson (14-8)

Rensselaer (2A) Sectional
2-11-2003:  55-31 Rensselaer (7-14)
2-17-2003:  56-50 Wheeler (16-7)
2-18-2003:  46-43 North Newton (19-4)

Triton (2A) Regional
2-22-2003:  (S)  LaVille (15-7)  9 a.m.
2-22-2003:  (S) Rochester (21-2) or Fremont (15-10)  7 p.m.