Lady Bulldogs defeat Castle and Columbus North at Lawrence North Classic

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
12-06-2019

When we talk about the big Indianapolis public schools, we're talking about Lawrence North, a member of the Metropolitan Conference. Lawrence North (2,648 students) is one of the smaller schools in the Metro Conference. Warren Central has 3,614 kids. 
(All photos by Mark Smith)
CP's Dash Shaw wants to move to Castle's Dervyn Barton. Shaw had 10 points and four steals against Castle.
CP's Jessica Carrothers (14) likes the looks of this shot against Castle. Crown Point won two games in one day for the second time this season.
CP's Lilly Stoddard (31) looks to find the open man as CP rallied from a 24-17 deficit to win 49-43.
Jessica Carrothers (14) gets a little help from Lilly Stoddard (31) to get loose against Castle at Lawrence North last week.
Castle defenders put the squeeze on CP's Alyna Santiago (22) as she goes to the basket in a morning game of the Lawrence North Classic.
The CP bench watches as senior Abby Stoddard (30) is fouled in the act of shooting.
Sophomore Lilly Stoddard (31) defends the basket at Lawrence North. Crown Point won twice on a full day in Indianapolis.
Kid fans were out early at Lawrence North. For the second week in arrow, the Lady Bulldogs played in a two game showcase on the road.
Castle's Josie Freemen (42) gets a shot away with the help of teammate Natalie Niehaus (32). Castle hit six three-pointers against CP.
Good seats are always available at early morning neutral site Saturday games. There was slightly less than a capacity crowd at Lawrence Central last week.
CP's Alyna Santiago (22) could put on a happy face after Crown Point defeated Castle and Columbus North last weekend in Indianapolis. (All photos by Mark Smith)
 

Copyright © 2019 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: December 06, 2019 .
Team /Record 1 2 3 4 Final
CASTLE (4-3) 10 14 6 13 43
CROWN POINT (8-0) 9 8 16 16 49

Saturday, November 30, 2019  - at Lawrence North High School in INDIANAPOLIS, IN

CASTLE (43): Carly Harpenau 3-0-6, Megan Kain 2-0-5, Natalie Niehaus 3-1-8, Allison Willis 1-1-3, Josie Freeman 7-0-18, Devin Barton 1-1-3, Mariah Martinez 0-0-0. TOTALS: 17 (3-7) 43.

CROWN POINT (49): Abby Stoddard 2-2-7, Jessica Carrothers 7-2-16, Alyna Santiago 3-1-8, Dash Shaw 3-2-10, Allie Govert 0-0-0, Lily Stoddard 4-0-8, Alyvia Santiago 0-0-0, Niki Gerodemos 1-0-2. TOTALS: 20 (7-11) 49.

FREE THROWS: CASTLE (3-7, 42.8%) Niehaus 1-3, Barton 1-2, Willis 1-2; CROWN POINT (7-11, 63.6) Dash 2-2, Carrothers 2-3, Abby Stoddard 2-4, Alyna Santiago 1-2.

ASSISTS: CASTLE (6) Harpenau 3, Freeman 2, Barton;
CROWN POINT (9) Jessica Carrothers 6, Abby Stoddard, Dash Shaw 2.

TURNOVERS: CASTLE (12) CROWN POINT (10)

3-GOALS: CASTLE (6) Josie Freeman 4, Megan Kain, Natalie Niehaus. CROWN POINT (2) Alyna Santiago, Abby Stoddard.

FOULED OUT: NONE.

INDIANAPOLIS (11-30-2019) The Crown Point Lady Bulldog outlaw tour continued last week and CP continued to travel through a 2019-20 schedule that listed 10 home games and 14 road games.

All the road games seem to have the same script. The Lady Bulldogs ride into town, shoot up the place, snatch a win from the home team or some innocent bystander and steal away in the night.

Sometimes they ravage the home standers. Sometimes they cheat the hangman.

That’s the way it was last weekend in the four-team Lawrence North Classic. Crown Point held off Castle 49-43 and Columbus North 62-54. Both games were closer than CP probably wanted them to be, but that’s the way it may go for Crown Point, which rides in the shadow of their 28-game winning streak last season and their No. 3 state ranking this year.

Castle almost brought the outlaw ladies to justice in the first game, leading 24-17 at the half before guards Jessica Carrothers and Dash Shaw scored 16 of their 26 points in the second half to turn back the feisty Knights (4-4) from southern Indiana.

The Lady Bulldogs surprisingly struggled against the man-to-man defense of Castle. CP figures to be at their best offensively against a man-to-man. Most teams will zone them.

In game two, CP survived 11 3-point baskets from Columbus North (2-5) to win for the eighth time in row. Carrothers, the 5-foot-7 junior guard, scored 24 and Abby Stoddard added 12. North was 11 of 20 on three point shots and that, too, was a surprise. CP’s full court defensive pressure didn't affect the shooting of North, which lost by just 42-36 to Lawrence North.

CP and Lawrence North, who would have met in the 2019 state Class 4A championship game had CP defeated eventual state champ Hamilton Southeastern at the Semistate level, didn't see each other at their best.

But the margin of victories notwithstanding, the Lady Bulldogs rode in, got the win and got out of town. It's going to be like that all season.

DOG NOTES: On Friday night (Nov. 29), CP pulled away from LaPorte 76-49 as Dash Shaw scored a season-high 25 and Jessica Carrothers added 22.

After nine games, Carrothers was averaging 22.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Shaw was averaging 13.4 points and 3.6 steals per game. Senior Abby Stoddard was averaging 11.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. CP was shooting (79 of 120) 66% from the free throw line and (40 of 150) 27% from three point range.

On Saturday, December 7, Crown Point will travel to Palatine, Illinois to play Fremd High School at 5:30 p.m. Fremd (5-0), was 29-5 last year and four starters from last year’s team returned.

Crown Point will play Salem in the elite Hall of Fame Classic on Friday, December 27. Brownsburg (6-2) will play Penn (7-0) in the other Hall of Fame semifinal and there will be a championship game that night.

If you’ve never heard of Salem high school, that’s okay. They’ve probably never heard of Crown Point. Salem is a small rural town in Washington County, about 30 miles from the Kentucky state line and approximately 250 miles from Crown Point.
 
The Lions (6-0) are rated No. 2 in Class 3A and they will probably be 10-0 when they take the floor against Crown Point.

Salem was 24-4 last season before losing the Class 3A Southern Semistate Championship 48-34 to Benton Central (26-5).
 
Just three girls graduated off that Salem team and the Lions' zone defense is led by 6-foot-1 center Letti Nice who blocked 71 shots last season.
LAWRENCE NORTH CLASSIC
DATE GM SCHEDULE (EASTERN TIME) SITE ROUND
Nov. 30 1 Lawrence North 42, Columbus North 36 Lawrence North  
Nov. 30 2 Crown Point 49, Castle 43 Lawrence North  
Nov. 30 3 Crown Point 62, Columbus North 54 Lawrence North  
Nov. 30 4 Lawrence North 68, Castle 37 Lawrence North  

CLASS SECTIONAL JOHNHARRELL.NET RECENT SEASONS
4A 2 COLORS: RED, WHITE MAP TO SCHOOL 10-0
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
CROWN POINT
BULLDOGS
Coach: Chris Seibert, 87-27 in 5th year at school, 146-104 in 11th year overall
DATE OPPONENT CENTRAL TIME OA 70.5, DA 32.9
Nov. 9   Gary West 4A W 76 16    
Nov. 16   Hammond Morton 4A W 84 17    
Nov. 19   Andrean 2A W 77 30    
Nov. 23 N Warsaw 4A W 55 43   tournament
Nov. 23 N Northridge 4A W 68 43   tournament
Nov. 26   East Chicago Central 4A W 88 16    
Nov. 29   LaPorte 4A © W 76 49    
Nov. 30 N Castle 4A W 49 43   tournament
Nov. 30 N Columbus North 4A W 62 54   tournament
Dec. 3 at Lowell 4A W 70 18    
Dec. 6 at Portage 4A © 7:00 pm    
Dec. 7 N Fremd (Ill.) 5:30 pm   TBA
Dec. 13   Valparaiso 4A © 7:00 pm    
Dec. 17 at Highland 4A 7:00 pm    
Dec. 20 at Lake Central 4A © 7:00 pm    
Dec. 27 N Salem 3A 11:45 am   tournament
Jan. 10 at Michigan City 4A © 5:30 pm    
Jan. 11   Lafayette Jeff 4A 7:00 pm    
Jan. 14   Munster 4A 7:00 pm    
Jan. 18   Merrillville 4A © 7:00 pm    
Jan. 21 at Kankakee Valley 3A 7:00 pm    
Jan. 24   Chesterton 4A © 5:30 pm    
Jan. 28 at Hammond Noll 2A 7:00 pm    
© DUNELAND CONFERENCE GAME

CLASS SECTIONAL JOHNHARRELL.NET RECENT SEASONS
4A 16 COLORS: BLUE, WHITE, GOLD MAP TO SCHOOL 5-5
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
CASTLE
KNIGHTS
Coach: Bob Meier, 51-11 in 3rd year at school
DATE OPPONENT CENTRAL TIME OA 55.7, DA 48.8
Nov. 9 at Jeffersonville 4A L 46 58    
Nov. 14 at Gibson Southern 3A L 48 50    
Nov. 16 at Terre Haute South 4A W 85 58    
Nov. 19   Evansville Central 4A © W 89 29    
Nov. 23 at Floyd Central 4A W 57 29    
Nov. 26 at Evansville North 4A © W 58 57 OT  
Nov. 30 N Crown Point 4A L 43 49   tournament
Nov. 30 at Lawrence North 4A L 37 68   tournament
Dec. 2   Owensboro Catholic (Ky.) L 49 57    
Dec. 5   Jasper 4A W 45 33    
Dec. 10   Henderson County (Ky.) 7:00 pm    
Dec. 12 at Evansville Mater Dei 2A © 7:00 pm    
Dec. 17 at Evansville Harrison 4A © 7:00 pm    
Dec. 21   Bloomington South 4A 11:30 am    
Jan. 3 at Evansville Memorial 3A © 7:00 pm    
Jan. 9   Evansville Reitz 4A © 7:00 pm    
Jan. 11   Bedford North Lawrence 4A 1:30 pm    
Jan. 14   Southern Indiana Conference Tournament 3A 5:30 pm   thru Jan. 18
Jan. 27 at Evansville Bosse 3A © 7:00 pm    
Jan. 30 at Boonville 3A 7:00 pm    
© SOUTHERN INDIANA CONFERENCE GAME

DUNELAND
ALL TIMES CENTRAL
  CONF AG OA DA AM Streak
Crown Point 1-  0 10-  0 70.5 32.9 37.6 Won 10
Chesterton 1-  0 6-  1 53.9 32.1 21.7 Won 5
Portage 1-  0 5-  1 63.8 46.0 17.8 Won 3
Valparaiso 1-  0 4-  3 43.3 45.6 -2.3 Lost 1
Merrillville 0-  1 4-  1 48.8 49.6 -0.8 Lost 1
LaPorte 0-  1 4-  3 57.9 45.4 12.4 Lost 1
Michigan City 0-  1 3-  4 50.6 46.7 3.9 Lost 1
Lake Central 0-  1 2-  6 40.9 51.1 -10.3 Lost 1
Tuesday, Nov. 26
Crown Point 88, EC Central 16
Wednesday, Nov. 27
Chesterton 57, Lake Central 53, 2OT ©
Portage 63, Michigan City 27 ©
Valparaiso 52, Merrillville 36 ©
Friday, Nov. 29
Crown Point 76, LaPorte 49 ©
Saturday, Nov. 30
Concordia 39, Valparaiso 33
Lake Central 50, Highland 40
Michigan City 63, Marquette 34
Portage 73, LaCrosse 36
Crown Point 49, Castle 43
Crown Point 62, Columbus North 54
Tuesday, Dec. 3
Chesterton 68, EC Central 29
Crown Point 70, Lowell 18
Kankakee Valley 58, Michigan City 49
Munster 43, Lake Central 33
Friday, Dec. 6
Chesterton at Michigan City © , 7 pm
Crown Point at Portage © , 7 pm
Merrillville at Lake Central © , 7 pm
Valparaiso at LaPorte © , 7 pm
Saturday, Dec. 7
Crown Point vs. Fremd (Ill.), 5:30 pm, TBA
Memorial at Merrillville, 6:30 pm
LaPorte at Concord, 6:30 pm
Valparaiso at Highland, 7 pm
Tuesday, Dec. 10
Lake Central at Andrean, 7 pm
Wednesday, Dec. 11
Chesterton at Plymouth, 7 pm
Friday, Dec. 13
Lake Central at Michigan City © , 7 pm
LaPorte at Merrillville © , 7 pm
Portage at Chesterton © , 7 pm
Valparaiso at Crown Point © , 7 pm
Saturday, Dec. 14
LaPorte at Mishawaka, 6:30 pm
Penn at Merrillville, 6:30 pm
Portage at Central, 2 pm
Valparaiso at Whiting, 7 pm
© Conference game