Lady Bulldogs lose Perry, fall to Portage 51-37, rebound with 49-44 win at Chesterton

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
01-07-2007

Friday, January 5, 2007 - Duneland Athletic Conference game at Chesterton

CROWN POINT (49)  Daniela Tarailo 2-3-7, Amanda Moore 3-6-12, Anjellica Rospond 1-0-2, Jessica Martinez 1-2-5, Andjalina Obradovic 0-0-0, Nicci Brown 2-0-4, Sydnee Reeves 3-2-9, Kristi Quigley 2-4-8, Kristen Morason 1-0-2.  TOTALS:  15 (17-31, 54.8%) 49.

CHESTERTON (44)  Kathy McMannes 2-2-7, Abby Skube 3-2-9, Katie Foster 2-2-7, Morgan Palombizio 4-0-8, Dana Christensen 0-1-1, Jessica O'Brien 1-0-2, Katie Talbert 2-0-4, Amanda Gough 2-0-6, Stacy Stawicke 0-0-0, Angela Richardson 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 16 (7-14, 50%) 44.

FREE THROWS:  CHESTERTON (7-14, 50%) McMannes 2-3, Palombizio 0-1, Christensen 1-4, Foster 4-4, Gough 0-2, CROWN POINT (17-31, 54.8%) Moore 6-8, Quigley 4-6, Reeves 2-8, Martinez 2-2, Tarailo 3-7.

3-GOALS:  CHESTERTON (5) Amanda Gough 2, Katie Foster, Abby Skube, Kathy McMannes;  CP (2) Jessica Martinez, Sydnee Reeves.
 

Thursday, January 4, 2007 - Duneland Athletic Conference game at Crown Point

PORTAGE  (51)  Brittany Buzea 1-1-3, Kacey Kornacki 3-1-7, Gloria Hernandez 4-6-14, Tara Ellis 0-0-0, Lisa Samplawski 6-8-21, Tiffany Keil 1-1-3, Ashley Thompson 1-1-3, Hannah Pajor 0-0-0, Kayla Criswell 0-0-0, Taylor Haramnac 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 16 (16-26, 61.5%) 51.

CROWN POINT (37)  Daniela Tarailo 2-2-6, Amanda Moore 1-0-2, Courtney Perry 2-0-4, Anjellica Rospond 4-5-13, Jessica Martinez 1-1-3, Andjalina Obradovic 1-0-2, Nicci Brown 0-2-2, Sydnee Reeves 1-0-2, Kristi Quigley 1-1-3, Brittany Clements 0-0-0, Kristen Morason 0-0-0.   TOTALS: 13 (11-17, 64.7%) 37.

FREE THROWS:  PORTAGE (16-26, .615) Buzea 1-3, Kornacki 1-5, Hernandez 6-9, Samplawski 8-9;   CROWN POINT (11-17, .647) Tarailo 2-4, Rospond 5-7, Martinez 1-2, Quigley 1-2, Brown 2-2.

REBOUNDS:  PORTAGE (21) Kornacki 9, Hernandez 7, Buzea , Samplawski, Keil, Thompson, Pajor.  CROWN POINT (36) Rospond 10, Tarailo 8, Moore 7, Martinez 4, Perry 2, Quigley 2, Brown, Morason, Reeves.

STEALS:  PORTAGE (21) Buzea 8, Hernandez 7, Samplawski 4, Ellis, Keil;   CROWN POINT (11) Tarailo 2, Moore 2, Reeves 2, Martinez 2, Clements, Perry, Rospond.

ASSISTS:  PORTAGE (8) Thompson 3, Buzea 2, Ellis 2, Criswell;  CROWN POINT (6) Rospond 2, Brown, Moore, Martinez, Maloney.

3-GOALS:  PORTAGE (3) Tiffany Keil, Ashley Thompson, Lisa Samplawski. CP (0).

CHESTERTON, IN (01-05-2007) -  The best thing about Crown Point's 49-44 road victory at Chesterton Friday was CP's 51-37 home loss to Portage Thursday.

"We had two ways to go after last night," said CP coach Tom May.  "And we really stepped up tonight.  A lot of people who don't usually play stepped in and did a good job.  We told them we were really proud of them."

It wasn't a great victory, a five point decision over a team well under the .500 mark.  But CP made 34 turnovers against Portage Thursday night, scoring just 37 points.  Their confidence level appeared low even before they lost senior center Courtney Perry to an ankle injury.

Chesterton, a slow-paced defensive squad, led the Lady Bulldogs 18-17 at the half, a Lady Bulldog team which had not won a Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) road game all season. But backup point guard Sydnee Reeves, who played much of the game Friday, scored six third quarter points.  Backup center Nicci Brown added two field goals, and the CP defense forced six third quarter turnovers as the Bulldogs built an eight point lead.  Seniors Amanda Moore and Kristi Quigley sank eight foul shots in 10 attempts in the final quarter to ice the win, keeping CP over the .500 mark.

"We were shorthanded tonight," May said, "and we were a little overmatched up front.  Moore played the '4'.  She's never done that before.  Quigley played the '3'.  She's never done that.  Nicci Brown hardly plays at all.  But they all played well tonight."

Moore might have had her best game of the season.  In the final quarter after picking up her fourth foul, the 5-8 senior scored nine points including five of six from the foul line.  Overall she scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds, playing with her back to the basket on offense.  CP was a weak ball handling team Thursday night, but they improved dramatically Friday.

"She wanted the ball," said May, who has been waiting for Moore to play well down the stretch in games.  "She did what we needed for us to win tonight.  This is a tough place to play and we knew this would be a tough game."

Crown Point is still looking for answers in the back court.  They made 21 turnovers against Chesterton and the 14-point home loss to Portage was a nightmare.  CP trailed 13-1 after six minutes and then lost the three-year veteran center Perry for possibly as much as four weeks.  Portage (6-6) stole the ball 21 times and got 21 points from Lisa Samplawski.

"This is a big win," said Portage coach Kristen Petersen, who watched her side beat CP 40-31 in November.  "It's always big to come here and win.  It's never a easy game.  We wanted to put pressure on them early in the game."

Crown Point was 3-0 against Portage last season.  CP brought up JV sophomore Jessica Martinez to help out at point guard and Martinez, who made eight turnovers Thursday, scored five second half points Friday.

"She doesn't back down," said May.  "She's not afraid.  In basketball, your opponent gets up in your face.  You have to give it back to them.  You have to have that mentality."

"I think they may have played better tonight because they are starting to realize that it's up to them," added May.  "They have to realize that we as the coaches can't go out there and play for them.  They have to do it.  Last night had nothing to do with basketball.  Some kids that had taken a step up took two steps back.  We're going to be shorthanded now.  We have to play the way we did tonight."

CPLB NOTES:  The ankle injury to CP center Courtney Perry does not have a definite rehabilitation time.  The doctor's call says she'll be out four weeks, but more than one person near the team hopes it will be less.  The last Crown Point road victory in the Duneland Athletic Conference was exactly one year ago, Jan. 5, 2006, when CP won 50-25 at Portage.

Sophomore guard Sydnee Reeves played with confidence and had her best game of the year, with one exception.  She was just 2-of-8 from the foul line, a problem which must be improved on for her to play guard late in games.  CP won Friday with just 26 shots from the field (16-26, 61.5%) in four quarters.

CP coach Tom May enjoyed the play of junior center Nicci Brown.

"She doesn't have much athletic ability," he said.  "But she will do exactly what you tell her.  We tell her to turn and keep the ball above her head and she does it and nobody can block her shot."  Brown is the only one of four varsity centers listed on the CP roster who returns next season.

You can't always say that when Team 'A' beats team 'B', that team 'A' is the better team.  Portage has now beaten Crown Point twice while CP had defeated Chesterton twice.  When Portage played Chesterton, Chesterton won 26-24.  No, that doesn't make sense.

Undefeated DAC leader Michigan City (14-1) had the ultimate reality check at home Friday, losing to 4A No. 3 South Bend Washington 71-35.  The 36-point loss is the second largest margin of defeat by any DAC team in any game this year.  Washington (14-1) and Michigan City are in the same six team sectional playoff bracket.

Crown Point travels to Lake Central (5-8) on Saturday, Jan. 13.  The rescheduled season opener against Hebron will be Saturday, Jan. 30.  It won't be hard for the Lady Bulldogs to finish stronger than they did last season.  After a 37-34 victory over Chesterton on Jan. 6, 2006, CP lost the final five games of the season.

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Revised: January 07, 2007 .