Lady Red Devils come up short at Griffith, 37-21

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
01-09-2007

Saturday, January 6, 2007 - Lake Athletic Conference at Griffith, IN

LOWELL (21)  Kelly Johnson 5-1-11, Gabi Goetz 2-0-4, Mallory Pratt 0-2-2, Megan Bolanowski 1-1-3, Casey Man is 0-1-1, Kara Lamb 0-0-0, Kim Bell 0-0-0, Katie Haberlin 0-0-0, Jessica Schiessle 0-0-0, Gretchen Barker 0-0-0, Megan Bolanowski 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  8 (5-10) 21.

GRIFFITH (37)  Molly Orzechowicz 2-0-4, Alana Massa 1-0-2, Annie Hernandez 2-3-9, Ashley Baker 4-1-9, Shanlynn Bias 3-2-8, Stephanie Negrete 1-2-4, Brittany Tinnin 0-0-0, Lauren Hansen 0-0-0, Amanda Crook 0-1-1, Amanda Stinnett 0-0-0, Megan Swanson 0-0-0, Keri Markut 0-0-0.  TOTALS:  13 (9-24) 37.

FREE THROWS:  LOWELL (5-10, 50%) Johnson 1-2, Pratt 2-2, Lamb 0-1, Bolanowski 1-2, Manis 1-2, Goetz 0-1.  GRIFFITH (9-24, 37.5%) Orzechowicz 0-4, Massa 0-1, Crook 1-2, Bias 2-5, Hernandez 3-4, Baker 1-2, Negrete 2-6.

REBOUNDS:  LOWELL (24) Goetz 6, Lamb 4, Johnson 4, Haberlin 3, Bell 2, Pratt 2, Manis 2, Schiessle;  GRIFFITH (27)   Bias 6, Massa 6, Tinnin 6, Negrete 5, Baker 3, Hansen.

STEALS:  LOWELL (12) Johnson 2, Schiessle 2, Pratt 2, Bolanowski 2, Manis 2, Goetz, Lamb;  GRIFFITH (15) Orzewchowicz 3, Bias 3, Baker 2, Hernandez 2, Hansen 2, Massa,  Tinnin, Markut.

3-GOALS:  LOWELL (0);  GRIFFITH (2) Annie Hernandez 2.

GRIFFITH (01-06-2007) - It was a winnable game for Lowell.  It truly was.  But Griffith did what they usually do and Lowell couldn't do much at all.  The Panthers were never threatened in a 37-21 home win over the Red Devils.

The Panthers (10-3) played a physical man-to-man defense all over the floor, contributing to 30 Red Devil turnovers.  Griffith scored 13 field goals in the game and it didn't matter.  Griffith was nine of 24 from the foul line, but it just didn't make any difference.  The lead was only 21-11 at the half but it wasn't an issue.  Lowell was never within 10 points at any time in the second half.

"At the half, we were still within range," McCormack said.  "I thought if we could get within five, we could put some pressure on them.  But we just didn't.  They (Griffith) did what they always do.  They bump you all over the floor and make it hard for you to advance the ball.  But we just couldn't score.  A lot of it is us."

No Griffith player scored in double figures, but the Panther backcourt of 5-4 battlers Molly Orzechowicz and Annie Hernandez led the way.  Hernandez hit two three point goals in the second quarter to spark an 11-4 'run' over 10 minutes.  The Panthers shot less than 25% from the field and failed repeatedly to capitalize on a seemingly unlimited amount of possessions.  But that's not unusual.  Griffith is one of the few prep basketball teams that truly win with defense.  The schedule hasn't been the toughest, but the Panthers have allowed less than 30 points a game.

Griffith displayed a good young player in 5-foot-8 freshman Shanlynn Bias, who had eight points, six rebounds and three steals and coach Tom Golumbek used a lot of his bench as it became obvious that Lowell couldn't score enough points to win.  The Devils lost 5-10 junior Kim Bell and 5-10 guard Kasey Manis to injury and illness and the game resembled a scrimmage in the final period with everyone getting playing time.

"I liked the way some of our young people played," McCormack said.  "They didn't back down and they anticipated some passes.  But we have to finish."

It was hard to find improvement on Lowell at the offensive end Saturday night, but 5-9 junior Gabi Goetz actually made some strong moves and got good shots.

"She just didn't finish," said McCormack.  "But at least she made the moves."

Lowell could move senior Kelly Johnson to lead guard, but she is the Devils' leading scorer and that would actually make her easier to defense.  Senior Kara Lamb is truly a wing player and freshman guard Jessica Schiessle is very inexperienced.  Instead of trapping the lead guard, Griffith simply played man-to-man all over the floor and worked Lowell into errors.  Four of Lowell's six varsity guards are freshmen or sophomores.

"I think that passing is the toughest skill to teach," said McCormack.  "There's a lot of people who can teach shooting.  But it's very hard to teach how to pass the ball in different situations.  It's very hard to break bad habits."

Lowell tends to make awkward passes, because dribbling skills aren't strong and they sometimes force shots because the passing skills aren't good.  If they could improve in one aspect, the others would follow because of increased confidence.  The Devils do have games with Whiting and North Newton remaining to build confidence before the sectional begins in four weeks.  The only saving grace is to look at the sectional where Munster (10-4) and Highland (10-5) are having good years, but Gary West Side is so-so while East Chicago and Lake Central have records much like Lowell's.  Saturday looked worse than it was with the loss of Manis and Bell during the game.  Lowell was using some four guard offense at the end of the game and that's something they may go to against quicker teams.  But to use four or five guards increases the need for crisp passing and ball-handling.  Defense is effort.  Offense is precision.

"We have never questioned the effort of the girls," said coach Patti McCormack.  "Our defense was pretty good.  We just can't run our offense.  Our problems often stem from the fact that we're trying too hard.  I don't know why after 12 games it's still so hard for us.  I keep thinking one day we're going to come out and it's all going to click."

DEVIL NOTES:  Lowell's Kasey Manis had an asthma attack that caused her to have to leave Saturday's game.  Kim Bell has a lingering foot problem which may sideline her for a while. Lowell isn't sure what's wrong.  The Devils were coming off a two week layoff Saturday and Bell could not go 100%.  She'll have her foot reexamined this week.

As painful as it may be, Lowell's games with Merrillville this week and against Hammond on Feb. 1 will be good preparation for a potential sectional game with Gary West Side.  The Devils also play Highland and Munster in the final 10 days of the season, so hopes of returning to the .500 mark this season have dimmed somewhat.  Lowell has a string of three consecutive winning seasons, the longest in the history of the girls basketball program.

The 31 points was a low for Lowell since they lost to Merrillville 54-17 on Feb. 3, 2004.  Griffith, which has had winning seasons four years in a row under coach Tom Golumbeck, won for the sixth consecutive game to improve to 10-3 on the season.  Griffith has only played four teams with winning records, but they have also held four teams under 20 points this season.

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Revised: January 09, 2007 .