Hanover Central Lady Wildcats win 3rd straight game, 61-27 over River Forest

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
12-18-2006

Thursday, December 14, 2006 - non-conference game in Cedar Lake, IN

RIVER FOREST (27)  Cristal Cisneros 2-1-5, Alyssa Trinidad 3-1-7, Ariel Ochoa 1-0-2, Natalie Sovich 5-1-11, Nicole Goin 1-0-2, Nikkie Green 0-0-0, Falon Lucas 0-0-0, Vanessa Bravo 0-0-0, Mycala Walker 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 12 (3-8, 37.5%) 27.

HANOVER CENTRAL (61)  Danielle Graham 3-4-11, Samantha Plant 3-2-8, Jordan Kramer 3-0-8, Beth Flores 1-5-7, Lindsey Martinez 4-2-10, Chrissy Homolka 5-1-13, Anna Plassman 1-0-2, Tori Dahlin 1-0-2. Megan Parks 0-0-0, Kayla Higginbotham 0-0-0, Abby Schweitzer 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 21 (14-21, 66.7%) 61.

FREE THROWS:  River Forest (3-8, 37.5%)  Cisneros 1-2, Alyssa Trinidad 1-2, Sovich 1-3.  HANOVER CENTRAL (14-21, 66.7%) Graham 4-6, Plant 2-4, Flores 5-7, Martinez 2-2, Homolka 1-2.

REBOUNDS:  River Forest (21) Cisneros 7, Green 4, Sovich 4, Trinidad 2, Goin 2, Lucas, Ochoa;  HANOVER (28) Plassman 8, Flores 7, Plant 5, Parks 3, Dahlin 2, Graham, Martinez, Schweitzer.

ASSISTS:  River Forest (6) Cisneros 3, Goin, Sovich, Trinidad;   HANOVER (13) Plant 5, Kramer 4, Graham, Parks, Homolka, Dahlin.

STEALS:  River Forest (6) Sovich 3, Trinidad 2, Cisneros;  HANOVER (13) Plant 3, Graham 3, Homolka 3, Kramer, Flores, Martinez, Dahlin.

3-GOALS:  RIVER FOREST (0);  HANOVER CENTRAL (5) Jordan Kramer 2, Chrissy Homolka 2, Danielle Graham. 

Hanover Central's Samantha Plant #32 (above, left) looks to the bench for instructions, while River Forest's Nikkie Green #22 (above, right) enjoys a lighter moment during pregame at Hanover, 12-14-2006.  (All photos by Mark Smith.)
The Lady Ingots' Natalie Sovich #12 pulls down a rebound, while Hanover's Megan Parks #21 and Tori Dahlin #22 defend for the Lady Wildcats, 12-14-06. (All photos by Mark Smith.)
Hanover's junior 5-foot-8 guard Chrissy Homolka #14 defends a River Forest player in route to her 3 steals and 13 points on the night to help HC to a 61-27 win, 12-14-06.
Hanover Central coach Doug Nelson (right) exhorts his Lady Wildcat team during a time-out en route to Hanover's 61-27 win over River Forest , 12-14-06.  (All photos by Mark Smith.)

CEDAR LAKE, IN  (12-14-2006) The question for Hanover Central after an easy three-game span with LaCrosse (0-9), North Newton (0-4) and River Forest (4-5) was, how much have you improved?

With Crown Point (6-3) coming up Saturday night and Calumet (6-4), Boone Grove (9-1) and Kouts (8-1) lined up in the next six weeks, plus the Momence Holiday and Porter County Conference (PCC) tournaments, Hanover needed to beat River Forest 61-27 like they did Thursday night, even without injured forwards Anna Turturillo and Brenda McQuade.

They have to improve.  Who's getting better?

"Jordan's getting better everyday," said first year coach Doug Nelson of lead guard Jordan Kramer.  "She's getting more confident.  She had some bad turnovers tonight.  If she can control those things, she's going to be very good.  She's getting better dribbling and passing the ball and being a leader on the floor."

Kramer and senior guard Samantha Plant were both effective playing the point, combining for 16 points and 10 assists and helping Chrissy Homolka (13), Danielle Graham (11) and Lindsey Martinez (10) all reach double figures.  HC did not have leading scorer and rebounder Turturillo due to an ankle injury.  But 5-7 junior Beth Flores posted seven points and seven rebounds against a taller RF team.

"Beth (Flores) played her best game of the year tonight," Nelson said.  "She played better than she has.  We wanted to put a lot of pressure on the guards tonight and we were active.   We're trying to get some easy baskets."

HC didn't start the game quickly.  A steal and lay up by junior Chrissy Homolka broke an 8-8 tie and started a 9-3 run.  HC scored the final six points of the second period to lead 28-13 at the half over the 1A Ingots (4-5).  The Lady Cats, who have lost to 4A Lowell, Wheeler (8-1) and Hebron, scored a season-best 28 points in the third quarter as Nelson used all 12 players in uniform.

"We wanted to wear them down," he said.  "We've got 11 or 12 players we can use and we're going to use them.  It didn't matter tonight, but we told them that if you keep pressure on them, we can wear them down.  Keep running transition.  It might not run them down in the second quarter, but it'll get them in the fourth quarter."

Hanover beat LaCrosse 67-28, North Newton 63-42 and River Forest 61-27, but these are 'feel good' wins over teams you're supposed to beat.  The mood changes Saturday night when big neighbor CP rolls in.

Crown Point (6-3) is a big physical team that will come to Cedar Lake Saturday night after a game at undefeated Michigan City (7-0) Friday.  The front line of 6-foot-1 Anjellica Rospond and 6-0 Courtney Perry will be the biggest one HC will see all season.  CP has not won a road game all season, but HC has not defeated a team with a winning record and HC has never beaten CP in Tom May's 27 years as CP coach.

Nelson isn't putting a lot of weight on the game.  He may not play injured forwards Turturillo and McQuade.

"I'm leaning toward not playing them," said Nelson, although Turturillo is HC's tallest starter.  "I'd like to not dress them at all.  We have 10 days off after that game.  But they want to play."

It is time to see how much HC has improved since mid-November.

CAT NOTES:  Hanover Central sophomores Jordan Kramer, Lindsay Martinez, and Danielle Graham, the only three sophs on the HC varsity, clearly have no problem being on the floor at the same time.

"We've noticed that," said coach Doug Nelson.  "They know where each other are and they look for each other.  They work well together."

JV coach JoAnn Heldt says that the trio played on a PCC title team in eighth grade in 2005.

"They've played together since they were little.  They're very comfortable because they've been together so long."

Barring someone moving into the district, HC needs to get used to being a very small team.  Other than senior Anna Turturillo and junior Anna Plassman, there is no one in the Hanover Central girls basketball program taller than 5-foot-8.  And while Turturillo is listed at 5-10 and Plassman at 5-9, those listings might be slight exaggerations.

Crown Point probably will not have 5-9 forward Amanda Moore in uniform Saturday against Hanover Central.  Moore, CP's most experienced player, twisted an ankle Tuesday night in CP's 49-44 win over Valparaiso.

The draw is out for the annual Momence Holiday Tournament and Hanover and the host school are in opposite brackets.  HC drew Peotone to start the tournament in a night game at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 29.  If HC wins in the quarterfinals, they will play a Saturday afternoon 1:30 p.m. semifinal on Dec. 30.  The title game, which would be against Momence (9-1), is scheduled for Dec. 30 at 8:00 p.m.  Momence, Illinois is on Central Standard time just like Cedar Lake.

"Momence is the best team in the field," said Nelson.  "If we can beat them, we'll win the tournament.  It's hard to find out a lot about the teams there, but we've seen Momence and they'll be tough."

Hanover has won two out of three games at Momence in each of the last three seasons.  In 2002, the Lady Cats drew Momence in the opening game and lost 53-39.  On Dec. 30, 2000, HC beat Momence 51-39 to complete a 3-game sweep for HC's last Momence Holiday title.   Hanover's final game of the 20th Century was a 47-42 victory over South Newton on Dec. 29 for the 1999 Momence Holiday Tournament title.  Hanover won three consecutive Momence Holiday titles from 1998 to 2000.

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