GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL

No. 7 Crown Point 68, Michigan City 32

* Carissa Triplett scored 20 points for the Bulldogs.

MICHIGAN CITY -- Carissa Triplett knew it was coming. She wasn't scoring like she knew she could, and her team didn't seem to be grasping the offense like it should. She's a senior, she's the post player, and "the talk" was imminent.

It's like looking forward to a vanload of freeloading cousins visiting over the holidays. You just hope it won't last long, and everything will be better afterward.

And it came this week.

"Coach (Tom) May and I had a long talk," the soft-spoken Triplett said. "He said he needed me to score more, that our team needed me to get some points and be a leader."

Well, the cousins are gone, and Triplett hung 20 points on host Michigan City Friday night as the Times No. 7 Lady Bulldogs rambled to a 68-32 pounding the Wolves.

Many of Triplett's points came in the first half as Crown Point (9-5 overall, 3-1 Duneland Athletic Conference) established dominance in the paint, despite early foul trouble on several starters. The Bulldogs were whistled for 14 first-half fouls, and 24 for the game.

But the fouls didn't slow the 'Dogs, who also found help from the outside. Amy Zondor and Alex Webster combined for five 3-pointers.

"It was nice to have the inside-outside game working because we haven't been doing that well," Triplett said. "I think it was a pretty fun game, I was able to block everything out and help our team."

May said Crown Point installed a new "woman-to-woman offense," over the holiday break, and it seemed to start to work better against City (4-9, 0-4).

"The key was the good start," May said. "But we're trying to do three things: Communicate on the floor, get some leadership and get some heart."

Crown Point owned the contest from the start, pasting 21 points on the short-handed Wolves in the first quarter. However, Michigan City was able to dictate the pace with a track-meet offense that went straight to the hoop almost every time down the court. Those quick change of possessions and fast breaks seemed to generate a lot of fouls, mostly against Crown Point.

While raising an eyebrow to several of the calls, May stayed calm and stuck to his gameplan, and was complimentary of the young Wolves.

"(Michigan City) was playing with mostly JV and young kids, and they played harder than we did. They jumped on the loose balls, they dove on the floor and that's a credit to Coach (Monica) Claridge and her staff."

Claridge said the Wolves had no answer for Crown Point's inside-outside attack, but was happy with the effort.

"Crown Point is a great team, they're great competition for a young team like ours," she said. "Tonight was the best game for us in terms of hustle and effort, and we can build on that."

CROWN POINT (68)

Cassie Pruzin 1-2 1-2 4, Alex Webster 3-11 0-2 8, Amy Zondor 6-11 0-0 15, Blayre Reeves 1-6 1-2 3, Carissa Triplett 10-12 0-0 20, Ashley Plumley 2-3 0-0 8, Danielle Brueck 2-5 0-0 4, Allison Isailovich 1-3 1-2 3, Keri Cuculich 1-2 0-0 2, Janel Henegnan 0-0 0-0 0, Kathleen Fredericks 0-0 0-0 0, Jill Weiand 1-2 0-0 2, Kaitlyn Sertich 0-1 2-3 2. Totals: 28-58 5-11 68.

MICHIGAN CITY (32)

Ellen Henry 3-8 4-9 12, Jonieka McGee 0-8 0-4 0, Sarah Johnson 1-3 2-2 4, Jade Walus 0-4 0-0 0, Tekisha Martin 2-8 3-6 7, Kristen Jones 1-7 2-5 4, Brianne Lewis 0-3 1-2 1, Tamara Watts 0-1 0-0 0, Sierra Frierson 2-7 0-0 4. Totals: 9-49 12-28 32.

SCORING BY QUARTER

Crown Point 21 19 16 12 - 68

Michigan City 8 13 3 8 - 32