NW Indiana 2004-05 Girls Basketball Poll: Week-2

2004-2005 Girls Basketball Poll:

Week Two

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

(11-24-2004)

CROWN POINT, IN - (11-24-2004) Falling off the radar screen is Lew Wallace, which appears disorganized. They beat Morton but lose to a Roosevelt team that could not beat Morton. There's lots of time to get it together and they have more talent than 90% of region teams but anyone who watches Wallace would be very surprised at their 2-4 record after six games. DAC cellar dwellars LaPorte and Michigan City are very young but appear to be on the rise while LAC squads Highland (3-1), Griffith (4-0) and Munster (3-1) are clearly going to have winning seasons.

The PCC seems much stronger with Washington Township, Hebron, South Central and Hanover Central all with more usable depth than last season, Boone Grove dominating all comers and Kouts (3-1) and Morgan Township (3-0) having early success. Hopefully LaCrosse (0-4) can have fun and enjoy the sport because there doesn't appear to be anyone in the PCC they can beat.

EAST CHICAGO - Conventional polls don't change the leader until the former leader loses but this is not a conventional poll. Everyone who watched basketball in NW Indiana in the last two years realized this day would come. The Cardinals have two Division I players in Dee Dee Jernigan (17.4 ppg.) and Kelly Watts (13.0 pg.). Shareya Patrick (13.8 ppg.), a 5-6 guard, seems to compliment Watts and Jernigan well. EC also beat Chicago's John Hope high 72-58, a quality victory over a top Illinois small school. Everyone will come to agree with this judgment eventually.

GARY – Gary West Side had a week off and it was probably something they needed to get together. They have a couple of new players including Shanee Butler from Horace Mann. You only get two practice weeks before you can play the first game so I wonder if more schools will begin with a very light schedule to get in maximum practice time. The showdown with East Chicago is on the horizon but a potentially greater showdown is inevitable when speedy South Bend Washington (4-0) gets off the bus for the Gary Holiday Tournament on Dec. 27.

Has anyone ever considered South Bend City schools joining with Gary city schools to form a public school city basketball and football league?

VALPARAISO – Valparaiso got a career-best 17 from 6-0 guard Erica Humes (12.8 ppg.) in a 49-38 win over Merrillville. 6-3 center Cassie Kerns (19.0 ppg.) helped hold Merrillville's 6-2 Brittney Moore to just 12 points. Valpo was 38-of-50 from the foul line (76%) after four games and if they can stay above 75%, they will be very tough to beat. Lauren Prow is 11 of 12 from the line.

Valpo takes on Plymouth (3-0) on Nov. 27 and Highland (3-1) on Dec. 4. as they continue to benefit from a high caliber nonconference schedule.

CROWN POINT – Crown Point trailed by seven but rallied to beat Warsaw 58-53 last week. The style they play and the depth they have does not allow teams without depth to stay close. CP has outscored 4 teams 65-26 in the third quarter and they outscored Warsaw 17-4.

Cassie Pruzin (13.3 ppg.) and Kaitlyn Sertich (15.0 ppg.) have combined for 53 steals and 38 assists with only 19 turnovers in four games.

Team shooting (95-203, 41.5%) is not great but it's up from last season. Chesterton, Lowell, LaPorte and Lake Central are the next four and CP will be favored in all of them. But there are storm clouds on the horizon with undefeated Boone Grove (5-0) and Valparaiso (4-0) headed CP's way.

MERRILLVILLE – The Pirates have lost to Highland (3-1) and Valparaiso (4-0) and by the time you read this, they'll have lost to East Chicago (5-0). But it's all good. Merrillville shot just 14-of-46 against Valparaiso's defense. Nobody thinks this is a bad team and the early schedule will help them down the line. They'll get two more shots at Valparaiso. Here's a team that needs 10 games together. I still think that Merrillville would beat Boone Grove and Highland if they met tomorrow. I know Highland beat Merrillville but Pirate center Brittney Moore did not start that game.

PORTER TOWNSHIP – They cannot possibly be disappointed with anything except the level of competition so far. It's too late for this season, obviously, but I'd like to see teams like East Chicago or Rochester on this schedule. The Wolves would get beat by those schools but you can't play Twinkies if you want a big piece of the pie in the state tournament. Boone has won five games by 29 points or more and they need a challenge they may or may not find on Nov. 29 at Kankakee Valley (0-3). Boone was 14 of 16 from the foul line in a Tuesday (Nov. 23) game against LaCrosse. Courtney Flanigan was working on a streak of 14 consecutive free throws. This is the same team that could barely get the ball up on the rim half the time from the free throw line last season. The Wolves are at 75% for the season. Karissa Walter (17.8 ppg.), Becky Keller (13.2 ppg.) lead a team that has to know that the all-hit weekend (Dec. 9 - Washington Township (2-1) and Dec. 11 – Crown Point (4-0) is coming soon.

HIGHLAND – The Trojans are 3-1 on the way to 5-1 before they play Valparaiso on Dec. 4. They do not shoot well. 10 of 26 against Merrillville and 12 of 32 against West Side. 16 of 41 against Portage. But most girls teams cant shoot. Why? The same reason most boys teams can shoot. Girls simply don't work on it hard enough.

Why aren't the Trojans higher in this poll.? The ball dosen't go in the basket that often. This team is also 33 of 76 from the foul line. That Chicago Bulls' caliber shooting. But Highland's defense and size inside is solid. 5-11 Ashley Sampson (12.1 ppg.) is another in a long line of effective tall players that have blessed the Highland lineup. Even though the Trojans are clearly graduates of the 'Ray Charles School of Shooting' who's going to rebound against them and score over them at the upcoming LAC tournament? Nobody.

PORTAGE – As we said last week, the back-to-back weekend with Crown Point and Highland was an 0-2 weekend for Portage. The Indians scored only 22 points against CP and just 27 against Portage. But if Griffith and Wheeler played this schedule, they'd be 1-3 too.

They are 55 of 80 (69.4%) from the line and guards Amy Samplawski (9.7 ppg. 13-16 FTs) and Tracy Markwell (6.7 ppg., 15 of 21 FTs) will eventually keep them in the game better than last weekend.

Portage is locked in that DAC 'Axis of Evil' schedule where they have to see all their league teams twice and possibly a third time in the sectional. This team has to forget about the won-loss record because it's going to be uglier than a drunken Detroit Piston crowd. The Indian girls need to keep kicking butt (or vice versa) and taking notes.

ST. JOHN – Lake Central turned back Michigan City 48-45 for their first win. Senior guard Katie Mitchell (11.3 ppg.) and 5-7 guard Angie Funston (8.3 pg.) will both need to put more points on the board until the others can. Mitchell had 20 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists against Michigan City. She can do that on many nights and she probably will. After 10 of 26 from the line in the opening loss to Lafayette Jeff, LC has been 25 of 39 since then. LC is in largely the same boat that Portage is.

MUNSTER – The Lady Ponies join the top-10 even though not everyone agrees with this rank. Wins over Chesterton, Bishop Noll and Gavit are something and a loss to undefeated Valparaiso (4-0) is nothing, especially since leading scorer Jackie Yerga (13 ppg.) did not play that day. Munster suddenly has a very tall team with the addition of 6-1 Natalie Emro and 5-11 junior Libbie Thompson (6.0 ppg.), who scored a career-best 12 in the 55-20 win over Gavit on Nov. 23. The Mustangs have four girls who stand 5-10 or taller and that will put them on the same playing field with always tall Highland. After four games, 5-7 junior Kristin Rueth had six field goals, four from three-point range. The Mustangs, from the line, made 33 of 54, (61.1%) through four games, but they were just 8-of-20 against Gavit.

Here's another team that needs to call independent East Chicago and ask for a game.

MICHIGAN CITY – The loss to Lake Central by just a 49-45 score is encouraging. 6-2 junior center Emma Tucker scored 15 points with 19 rebounds. Remember, this is the team with five freshmen on the varsity and they are coming. I do not know the last time that Michigan City came within four points of LC. I would suggest that MC has never beaten LC.

VALPARAISO – Washington Township was shocked by Hebron 45-31 in the season opener, but this is a team with a lot of players who did not play last season. WT came back strong with a win at Marquette and a 72-36 runaway from Oregon-Davis. 6-foot Alisha Polite (11 ppg.) scored 12 against O-D. Guard Aimee Mishler (13 ppg.) added 21 points. They get another test at Wheeler (2-1) on Nov. 26

UNION MILLS – South Central has lost to Argos (2-1) and Triton (3-1) but that's not unexpected. Mallory Gorski (15 ppg.) and center Anna Kammrath (14.0 ppg.) are off to good starts. They should beat LaCrosse Marquette and River Forest before Morgan Township (3-1) visits on Dec. 14. South Central drew Washington Township on Dec. 20 in the Mid-Winter Classic. The Satellites could face WT four times if they meet in the PCC tournament and the state tournament.

KOUTS – The 47-38 loss to undefeated West Central (3-0) probably tells you more than the three wins. Soph guard Jaclyn Jessen (14.3) and Nicole Griffey (9.3 ppg.) have started well. Kouts' bench mark could be Morgan Township, a team they'll see for the first of a potential four times on Dec. 11. But we'll know about Kouts the night they play at Hanover Central on Dec. 11.

LOWELL – The early undefeated status will certainly be gone by the end of next Tuesday night's game at Crown Point but the Devils were 2-0 going into Wednesday night's game with Hanover Central. Soph guard Kelly Johnson and junior Ashley Cosentino are both averaging double figures after wins over North Newton and Morton. With only one senior and just one player over 5-7, There are depth problems, but two good guards and a strong center in Rachel Thiel can can win a lot of games. The Devils have already had nonconference games with Hanover Central and Andrean postponed for different reasons.

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 25, 2004 .

Copyright © 2004 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp. All rights reserved.
Revised: November 25, 2004 .