NW Indiana 2004-05 Girls Basketball Poll: Week-1

2004-2005 Girls Basketball Poll:

Week One

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

(11-17-2004)

CROWN POINT, IN - (11-17-2004) There have been an increase in embarrassing scores in the first week of the season with Rensselaer beating North White 68-9 and Knox 60-19. Rensselaer is just not that good. West Central over LaCrosse 96-21. Morgan Township over Westville 65-24. These are more than just blowouts. They speak to the weakness of the game as a whole. Boys teams don't get beat by 50-60 points that often. The sport as a whole simply has to get better. It's not a sport if one side is getting humiliated. Certainly not an amateur sport. Coaches or other teams in the same league need to help out bad programs or, at least, ask if there's something they can do in the off-season. You cant just beat somebody 67-4 and look the other way. Games like that hurt both sides and convince players not to play and fans not to watch.

GARY – The Cougars smoked out Highland 50-35 with transfer student Farren Congress scoring 12 points and grabbing four steals. West Side may be stronger than first indicated. Horace Mann transfer Shanee Butler did not take many shots in the opener. West Side led all the way in their season opener. The Cougars are still a team under construction and it needs to happen fast. Word is powerful South Bend Washington has entered the Gary Holiday Tournament.

EAST CHICAGO - The Cardinals went to Chicago and laid the smack down on Morgan Park 69-24 Monday night with Kelly Watts rolling in 19 points. EC beat Hammond 77-38 and Clay 64-46. 5-10 junior Dee Dee Jernigan scored 20 against Clay and Shareya Patrick tallied 18 against Hammond.

The Cardinals were 18 of 24 from the foul line against Clay and 21 of 33 against Morgan Park. Foul shooting was the the major problem for EC last year. For the season: 50 of 75 (66.7%). That's improvement. Watch the game with John Hope high school of Chicago this week. Hope is a favorite for the Illinois Class A (small school) state title.

VALPARAISO – Valparaiso got 26 from all-stater Cassie Kerns in a 54-36 win over Lafayette Jefferson Saturday after their defense held Carmel scoreless in the third quarter of a 41-34 win. Early on it would seem that the Valpo scoring defense is even tougher than it was last year. Valpo plays Merrillville this Friday and Plymouth on Nov. 27. No non-independent plays the schedule that Valpo does. Still, they could be 9-0 when they get to Crown Point on Dec. 14.

CROWN POINT – Crown Point was much better on night two (60-27 over KV) than they were on night one (67-48 over Hebron). This week they step up to play Portage (1-1) and Warsaw (0-1). CP will face Chesterton, Lowell, LaPorte and Lake Central before they get Boone Grove (3-0) and Valparaiso (3-0) back-to-back.

Cassie Pruzin (15.0 ppg.) had 15 steals in two games. Kaitlyn Sertich (16.5 ppg.) looks improved at the '2' guard and CP goes 10 deep. CP could conceivably be 8-0 before the Wolves and Vikings line up against them. But 20 of 39 (51.2%) from the foul line isn't very good.

MERRILLVILLE – You don't overreact to the season opener, which, for the Pirates, was a 38-29 loss to Highland. Brittney Moore did not start the game. The 6-2 center figures to be back full-time for the game with Valparaiso Friday (11-19-4). The Pirates were unable to press Highland the way Gary West Side did easily four days later. But again, Warsaw lost the season opener last year and went on to the state finals.

PORTER TOWNSHIP – A very fast start for Boone Grove against a weak schedule. The Wolves stomped River Forest 64-29, Calumet 73-33 and Hebron 64-35. Boone's next two foes Knox and LaCrosse are very bad teams and Kankakee Valley (0-2) is not well-suited to face Boone's press. Boone will be 6-0 going against Washington Township on Dec 9 and Crown Point on Dec. 11. Senior Karissa Walter (19.0) is 117 points away from 1,000 and she might be there on Dec. 11. Becky Keller (11.3 ppg.) has four of Boone's five three-point goals.

You wish they played a better schedule but the PCC is tougher than first thought with South Central and Hanover Central having promise. Boone was 24 of 30 (80.0%) from the line against Hebron.

ST. JOHN – I thought Lake Central would go 0-2 in the Tip-Off Classic in Lafayette Saturday and the 61-57 double-overtime loss was a positive. 6-1 center Brooke Lail scored 11 for LC but the Indians were 11 of 26 from the line. Again, you want to look past opening day here. Look for a win at young Michigan City this Friday, but it will be after the first of the year before LC shows a lot of improvement. Double-overtime against Lafayette Jeff is a good game.

HIGHLAND – A good start for the Trojans who beat Merrillville 38-29 but lost to Gary West Side 50-35. This schedule will get them ready for the LAC which does not have another strong team as it looks now. Ashley Sampson scored 19 against Merrillville, but was injured against West Side. As the Trojans are dominating the LAC, they need to remember that they could draw West Side or East Chicago at the sectional. That's what they're getting ready for. The Trojans, who now play a strong non-conference schedule, should be 6-1 when they go to Valparaiso on Dec. 4.

GARY – Their second game was worse than the first. Wallace barely nipped weak Gary Roosevelt and then lost 65-55 Tuesday to Harlan high of Chicago. 6-2 junior Sharon Houston scored 22 but the Hornets were only 5-of-11 from the line. There's a lot of time for the semi-Killer Bees to get it together. Andrean, Hammond and Morton are the next three games and Wallace should win those three. But we'll see.

PORTAGE – It's hard to find a 9^th and 10^th best team this week. But Portage was solid against Marian and lost a close one to Penn 40-36 in the Penn Classic Saturday. Amy Samplawski had 19 against Penn including three three-pointers. The Indians were 34 of 49 (69.4%) from the foul line, but it's hard to see a team as small as they are winning many in the DAC. Back-to-back games against Crown Point (Nov. 19) and Highland (Nov. 20) may not go well.

MUNSTER – The Lady Ponies split two and a 42-39 win over Chesterton is an eye-opener, even with the Trojans crippled without 6-0 center Stephanie Boyle. Laura Meneghetti scored 12 against Chesterton but the Mustangs sank just 8 of 19 from the line. Munster has five games beginning with Bishop Noll Friday that are fairly tough but winnable. This should be a plus-.500 team and that's a big step up.

MICHIGAN CITY – Check the score in the season opener Friday (Nov. 19) against Lake Central. The Wolves have brought up five freshmen to the varsity as a unit and the word is that those players have lost only two games in two years. It's one thing to say you're going to play them but it's another to actually do it.

You wouldn't give this team much chance except that the Wolves return 6-1 center Emma Tucker and guard sisters Felicia and Steffanie Sanders. They can't compete for the DAC title now, but they could win eight games, a step up.

VALPARAISO – They open with two road games at Hebron and at Marquette this weekend (Nov. 19-20). The return of 6-0 Alisha Polite (who did not play as a junior but averaged 11 points as a sophomore) makes this team a PCC contender and a regional contender in 1A. The back court of Aimee Mishler (14.7 ppg.) and Jen Smith (13.6) will shine, even in the guard-heavy PCC. There's a lot of depth here. If they do not stumble this weekend, WT should be 3-0 hosting Wheeler on Nov. 26.

UNION MILLS – The Satellites split their first two games with guard Mallory Gorski (15.5) 6-0 center Anna Kammrath (11.5) and 5-7 junior Whitney Anderson (8.5 ppg.) out of the gate quickly.

The 62-53 loss to Argos is worrisome, but it's early. Can they deal with Triton (2-1) Saturday afternoon? If they can, it should start a winning streak.

KOUTS – I don't know if the schedule has challenged them yet. Wins over Oregon-Davis 61-36, LaVille 42-36 and North White 67-4 aren't exactly cause for a parade.

But understand that this team lost their center and their leading scorer in the off-season. To be 3-0 is a surprise . Guard Jacklyn Jessen (15.6 ppg.) and Marlie Kniefel (9.3) have started fast.

Kouts led North White 50-0 in the third quarter. That's not Kouts' fault but that's not a game. They will be severely tested by West Central (1-0), North Judson (1-0) and Hanover Central (1-0) in the next 10 days. But, truthfully, considering the personnel losses, if they're 3-3 at the end of the month, that's still a good position to be in.

2004-2005 Girls Basketball Poll:

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Copyright © 2004 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp. All rights reserved. Revised: November 23, 2004 .

Copyright © 2004 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp. All rights reserved.
Revised: November 23, 2004 .