LaPorte girls overwhelmed by No. 5 Crown Point, 69-38
It may have taken Crown Point's girls basketball team a couple of minutes
to get started, but it didn't take much longer for the Bulldogs to prove
they're the class of the Duneland Conference.
The Class 4A No. 5-ranked visitors clinched at least a tie for the Duneland
championship Friday night by cruising to a very impressive 69-38 victory over
LaPorte in front of a large crowd at Slicer Gym.
After falling behind 9-0 in the first two minutes, coach Tom May's Bulldogs
promptly went on a sizzling 29-2 run that featured some of the best basketball
of the 2000-01 season. They were never threatened thereafter in improving
their record to 15-1, including six DAC wins in a row.
Crown Point, which has won nine games in a row, can claim the title
outright by winning at home against Hobart next Saturday night. Only 5-1
Valparaiso can tie.
"They're No. 5 for a reason," said LaPorte coach Greg Samuelson,
whose team fell to 7-9 overall and 1-5 in the conference. "The only way
we could have played with them is if we were very sharp. But we weren't sharp
at all.
"I'm disappointed that we didn't give them a better game, especially
with such a nice crowd," Samuelson said. "But they're a very good
team, the best we've faced."
Visions of a major upset began to dance in LaPorte fans' heads after those
first two minutes. Junior center Katie Beckman scored in the paint, freshman
guard Kristin Drabyn put back her own miss, Beckman netted a 3-point play and
senior forward Alexis Bernacchi nailed a shot.
Junior forward Krysti Havens already had three assists and a steal and, by
golly, it was 9-0, Slicers.
But a trapping defense and a beautifully meshed halfcourt offense quickly
brought the Bulldogs to life. Junior guard Ashley Plumley came off the bench
for four first-quarter steals to ignite the rally.
Crown Point proceeded to score the next 14 points and, after junior forward
Mandy Masterson connected for the Slicers, added another 15 in a row. It was
all over.
Samuelson said a couple of key LaPorte players were less than 100 percent
physically, but declined to use that as an excuse.
"Beckman had the flu; that's why we had to keep resting her,"
said Samuelson, who added that the Slicer center did not re-injure her knee in
the third quarter, even though she had to be helped off the court.
"And Brooke (Reed) got hit in the nose in practice yesterday and it
was bothering her," he said of his star senior guard, who was held to 5
points. "She had an off night shooting against Crown Point last year,
too."
Multitalented junior guard Alex Webster led Crown Point with 18 points,
nine rebounds, five assists and four steals. She had 16 points by halftime, 11
in the second quarter, and took only one shot thereafter.
Carissa Triplett, a 6-1 junior, scored 14 on 7-of-9 shooting and senior
guard Sarah Zondor also had 14. Nikki Borys, a 6-0 senior, had seven rebounds
and six assists.
The Bulldogs had 20 assists on their 26 baskets, nearly all coming out of
their basic, simplistic halfcourt attack that is living proof that execution,
not elaborateness, is the key to halfcourt offense.
Beckman had 8 points and six rebounds for the Slicers, despite limited
action. Senior forward Alexis Bernacchi grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and
Havens finished with four assists and three steals. Drabyn scored 7 points.
"We made a lot of careless passes tonight," Samuelson said.
"And after all our concerns about poor shot selection, now we don't seem
to know when to shoot the ball."
LaPorte visits North Judson on Tuesday night. Crown Point hosts Class 3A power
Plymouth the same night.
Crown Point's junior varsity outscored LaPorte 11-0 in the fourth quarter
and handed the Slicers just their fourth loss in 14 starts, 26-20. Eight
different LaPorte players scored, led by sophomore Kayte Mebust with 4 points
in one quarter of play. Sophomore Ashley Harrow had five rebounds and two
assists and classmates Rachel Griffin and Candice Link had two steals each.
Keri Cuculich scored 8 for Crown Point. | 