Crown Point vs. Plymouth

Crown Point 47, Plymouth 51

Still down by 9 points with 3:44 in the third, junior Amanda Bernard and sophomore Alex Webster teamed together to bring their team back from the dead. First Webster nabbed a steal and went in for a layup. Then on the next possession Webster pulled up and sank a jumper in traffic. Webster picked up another steal and found open teammate Bernard, who drained a three from the right side. On the next possession, Bernard found the hole from the 3-point line again, getting nothing but net from the left side. Then when Webster grabbed a third steal and headed for a breakaway layup, it looked like she had misjudged and was too far under the basket, but she drew the defense with her and made a no-look backwards pass to teammate Bernard behind her, who put in the bank uncontested. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the third frame, CP was within 3.

CP continued on their run at the start of the fourth when Webster made a long pass from near half-court right after the inbounds, finding freshman Nicole Smoljan all alone for a layin. On the next possession junior Sarah Zondor stepped up and dropped in a jumper to finally give CP the lead for the first time in the game by one. Plymouth went to the line four times after that, hitting 3 of 4 to take the lead by 2. And then Bernard, who you think would have been covered tight by now but wasn't, dropped in her third trey. The Dogs were up by 1, and even went up by as many as 3 on a lob to center Nikki Borys. With 1:30 to go, a Plymouth steal and layup by coach's daughter Nichole Cox and a soft 4-footer by junior center Brandy Swihart gave Plymouth the lead by one. Then this is where it got interesting.

With 57 ticks left, Plymouth passed the ball around the permimeter and the Dogs let the clock go down an unbelievable 52 seconds before they were able to put Plymouth at the line. Swihart missed the front of a 1-and-1, giving CP just 5 seconds to get a shot off. Bernard got the pass, brought the ball to halfcourt and let it go. The shot came close, but missed and then the whistles blew. The officials felt that a Plymouth player had interfered with the desperation shot. With no time on the clock in regulation, Bernard stood at the free throw line for three attempts. Bernard missed the first, made the second and the third rimmed out to send the game into overtime 45-45.

The remainder of the game was pretty much played from the free throw line, with Plymouth making the trip 9 times, to CP's zero times. The final score, 51-47 Plymouth.

A key factor in the game was freethrows, Plymouth getting to the line 28 times to CP's 13.

Plymouth is a nice team with some good outside shooters in juniors Carin Benge and Lelsley Blackburn, the latter who finished with 12. Junior center Brandy Swihart does some really nice things around the basket, and finished as high scorer in the game with 15. Junior Nichole Cox and sophomore Lindsay Houin are nice penetrators and know how to use the baseline.

For CP, junior Amanda Bernard came off the bench to give her teammates a personal best effort of 14 points and 4 rebounds.   Junior center Nikki Borys was outstanding with 10 points in 14 minutes of play (foul trouble). Junior Sarah Zondor contributed with 8 points and 6 rebounds, and soph Alex Webster tied a school record with 10 assists, to go along with 6 points, 6 steals and 2 rebounds.
      

Varsity Scoring by Quarters:
CP	9	8	16	12	2	47
Ply	10	2	14	11	6	51

CP - Bernard 14, Borys 10, Zondor 7, Webster 6, Smoljan 4, Plumley 4, Lemke 2

Ply - Swihart 15, Blackburn 12, Cox 9, Benge 6, Houin 6, Bunton 2, Schlosser 1