Lady Wolves rally from 10-down to beat Wheeler 56-50, advance to Sectional finals
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Rensselaer Sectional semifinals  -  Monday, Feb. 17, 2002  in Rensselaer

BOONE GROVE (56)  AJ Puller 4-1-10,  Karissa Walter 7-3-16,  Heather Moy 2-3-7, Jenn Keller 4-2-10, Lani Marsh 1-0-2, Rachel Jenkins 0-0-0, Sara Martinovich 2-1-5, Becky Keller 3-0-6, Danielle Jacobs 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 23-9-56
FTS: 9-16, 56.2 percent  Moy 3-4, Walter 2-4, Puller 1-2, Jenn Keller 2-3, Martinovich 1-1, Marsh 0-2.
TURNOVERS: 11
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (1) AJ Puller.

WHEELER (50)  Alyse Bruszewski 7-1-16, Maggie Schultz 1-2-4, Lindsey Schiess 7-1-19, Allison Roper 1-0-2, Allison Goetcheus 2-0-4, Carolyn Schrall 1-0-3,  Allison Hayes 1-0-2.  TOTALS: 20-4-50.
FTS: 4-5, 80.0 percent  (Schultz 2-2, Bruszewski 1-2, Schiess 1-1)
TURNOVERS: 17
FOULED OUT: none
3-POINT GOALS (6) Lindsey Schiess 4, Carolyn Schrall  Alyse Bruszewski.

RENSSELAER (2-17-2003) -  You can't see the dawn of a new day unless you sit through the 11th hour.

That's a fancy way of saying that you can't get to the finals, where you can ultimately win the big one, until you win in the semifinal round, where only a loss is permanent.

After two games, seven days and two snow delays, Boone Grove again stepped to the pay window late Monday night, rallying from 10 points behind to beat Wheeler 56-50 to reach the Class 2A sectional championship game.

"We have to make it interesting for our fans," said Jenn Keller, who scored eight of her 10 points in the second half.  We have to make it interesting for our coach, too.  I never, for one minute thought we were not going to win tonight."

Give her the positive mental attitude award right now.  Facing their Porter County Conference (PCC) rivals for the third time this season, the Wolves (19-4) fell behind 38-28 in the second quarter and 38-34 late in the third period before pulling ahead to reach the sectional title game for the second consecutive season.

"They didn't seem necessarily worried," said Wilson after the game. "I think they knew our second group was going to come in and pick it up.  I was a little panicky when we were getting out 10 but then our second group came in with a little more energy.  Becky Keller, Sara Martinovich, Danielle Jacobs and Lani Marsh.  I think AJ Puller was out there, too.  Then the others came back in and they picked it up.  They gave us a little extra step to get out there on the shooters.  I don't know why we needed it. We knew they'd shoot threes."

"It was a total team effort.  We were running kids in and out at the end and everybody was playing their role."

Wheeler (16-7), again played a strong strategic game.  As in a 57-55 loss to Boone in the PCC championship game last month, coach Phil Misecko used a 1-3 defense with a chaser, usually 4-foot-10 Allison Hayes, following Boone's top scorer and lead guard Karissa Walter.  The Bearcats took advantage of some lazy Boone defense to score consistently early.  Senior Lindsey Schiess, who scored 22 in Wheeler's 47-39 sectional quarterfinal victory over Hanover Central, hit Boone with four three-point field goals in the first half to help create the 28-18 lead with 5:05 left in the first half.

At that point, the Wolves rallied behind their core group of 10th graders.  Sophomore Becky Keller stole the ball and fed Walter for a layup, Walter fed Martinovich for a short jump shot, Lani Marsh scored on a short jump shot and Walter and Becky Keller added layups to tie the game with 1:31 left in the half.

Wheeler got five early points from 5-9 Alyse Bruszewski to pull ahead 38-34 with 4:12 left in the third quarter but baskets by Becky and Jenn Keller tied the game during a late offensive drought at the end of the third quarter.  As both sides' small Monday night cheering sections, a long way from home in the Rensselaer gym, began to make more and more noise, the Wolves scored five in a row in the middle of the final quarter for a 48-42 lead with 3:36 to go.

Boone had undergone a certain amount of stress during the entire sectional.  After beating the host team 55-31 with a 25-7 fourth quarter run on Feb.11, the Wolves and Bearcats sat through snow-related postponements on Friday, Feb. 14 and Saturday, Feb. 15.

"We found out Friday afternoon at 12:30 that we weren't playing," said Wilson. "We said, what's going on?  Because it wasn't snowing where we were.  Saturday, we found out at 10:30 in the morning during our shoot-around.  It takes the wind right out of your sails.  Today (Monday) we came in for a shoot-around, and we're saying, 'Don't let the phone ring again.'"

Boone seemed in a tough spot, playing a tam they'd already beaten twice after a long bus ride on a Monday night.  But in the end, their depth bailed them out.

"I thought we used a lot more players than they did," said Jenn Keller. "We used all nine players and they didn't use very many at all," Walter added.  "A lot of their girls still had their warm-ups on when we shook hands after the game.  They only played a couple of people off the bench."

Wheeler got a large break when a foul almost 15 feet from the basket was called continuation giving Schiess a three-point play with 2:48 left.  But Heather Moy grabbed a key offensive rebound and sank two free throws for a 52-48 lead.  After two more misses by Wheeler, Moy sank the front end of a 1-and-1 for a 53-50 edge with 15 seconds to play.  Moy missed the second shot but Becky Keller grabbed the ball in the lane, stepped to the basket and scored a layup to make it 55-50 with eight seconds left.  "Heather hit some big free throws and grabbed a big offensive rebound," said Wilson.  "All our players did a good job."

So here is Boone, 365 days after a loss to North Newton in the 2002 sectional finals, back for another try at that elusive first ever sectional championship.  A small crowd Monday night should balloon into a larger Boone fan following for the Tuesday showdown with the Spartans, a 90-16 semifinal victory over winless Lake Station late Monday."

"I think we have a better chance than we did last year," said Wilson.  "We have to be smarter than when we played them the first time (a 64-61 loss at North Newton in January) this season. We did some really stupid things last time."

"I didn't play last year in the sectional," said Becky Keller, speaking for all of the sophomore class except Walter.  "I was on the JV so I was mostly just cheering them on."

"Actually," said senior Jenn Keller, speaking to the nutty and seemingly never-ending Rensselaer Sectional. "it's more than 365 days later."

SECTIONAL GIRLS NOTES:  If Boone Grove wins the sectional title, they will enter the Triton Regional with very limited practice time. "We have two seniors (Heather Moy and Jenn Keller) who will be gone on a field trip down in Indianapolis Wednesday and Thursday. So we won't be able to practice.  I think we need to change the regional to a different date.  I don't know exactly when.  But it's not fair to the teams that can't play.  Other teams are waiting for us and scouting us."

Two of the other Triton Regional finalists are Fremont (15-10) and LaVille (15-7), both upset winners.  The Boone-North Newton winner will face LaVille, an upset winner over favorites Triton and North Judson in the sectional.

The Wolves' victory Monday night secured the PCC 'Cup' for another season.  The Cup is the ceremonial traveling trophy that bounces back and forth between PCC teams.  You only get the Cup by winning it from a PCC team that has it.  Boone cannot face a PCC team again in the state tournament (all but Class 1A Washington Township have been eliminated).

"We get to keep the Cup for another year," said senior Jenn Keller.

There was very little snow on the ground in Rensselaer Monday, making Wheeler and Boone fans wonder why the games had been postponed.  Rensselaer officials said the winds were high, the forecast was bad and they simply didn't want a lot of kids on the highway in treacherous conditions.  But the weather forecasts turned out to be as lame and unfounded as the Bush administration's color-coded terrorist warnings.

To be fair, Boone and Wheeler are both almost 40 miles from Rensselaer and Lake Station is almost 50 miles away.  If you need to call something off it has to be early.  North Newton is only 20 minutes to the east of Rensselaer.

The crowd was small Monday night for the semifinals, although the fans who showed up were vocal.  Wheeler did not even bring cheerleaders, something that did not sit well with Bearcat fans.  Wheeler used only seven players in the game.  Boone Grove was 11-0 against PCC teams this year.

BOONE GROVE (19-4, 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:   0-0  North Newton (19-3)

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