Lady Bulldogs rout short-handed Andrean 59-ers 61-30

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
11-22-2009

ANDREAN (30) Kelly Dineen 1-1-3, Brittany Anderson 2-4-8, Kristina Kauffman 2-0-4, Kelsie Plesac 1-3-5, Diamond Rembert 3-1-7, Jessica Gray 1-0-3, Shelby Stickler 0-0-0, Colleen Daugherty 0-0-0, Emily Blane 0-0-0. TOTALS: 10 (10-23) 30.

CROWN POINT (61) Courtney Kvachkoff 3-2-8, Madeline Moore 1-3-5, Zarah Cecich 4-2-10, Hayley Bordui 2-3-8, Kendall Brown 7-0-14, Alexis Joseph 3-3-9, Lisa Kurth 1-0-2, Alle Geisen 1-0-2, Kelly Gross 1-0-2, Tori Connelly 0-1-1, Sarah Rivich 0-0-0, Taylor Equihua 0-0-0. TOTALS: 22 (15-24) 61.

FREE THROWS:  ANDREAN (10-23, 43.5%) Kristina Kauffman 0-2, Colleen Daugherty 0-2, Kelly Dineen 1-2, Emily Blane 0-4, Brittany Anderson 4-4, Kelsie Plesac 3-5, Diamond Rembert 1-2.

REBOUNDS:  ANDREAN (32) Dineen 7, Plesac 7, Daugherty 5, Anderson 4, Blane 4, Rembert 4, Kauffman; CROWN POINT (41) Cecich 9, Joseph 9, Kvachkoff 6, Moore 6, Bordui 4, Gross 3, Geisen 2, Equihua 2.

ASSISTS:  ANDREAN (6) Dineen 2, Anderson, Blane, Kauffman, Daugherty; CROWN POINT (13) Gross 4, Geisen 4, Equihua, Rivich, Connelly, Kurth, Kvachkoff.

STEALS:  ANDREAN (13) Daugherty 5, Rembert 2, Anderson 2, Kauffman, Blane, Plesac, Gray; CROWN POINT (13) Gross 3, Geisen 3, Moore 3, Bordui, Connelly, Kvachkoff, Brown.

BLOCKED SHOTS:  ANDREAN (4) Dineen 3, Anderson; CROWN POINT (3) Kvachkoff 2, Bordui.

3-GOALS:  ANDREAN (0); CROWN POINT (2) Kendall Brown 2.

FOULED OUT:  ANDREAN (1) Brittany Anderson (4th Q) 2:15.

CROWN POINT, IN (11-17-2009) The renewal of the natural neighborhood rivalry between Crown Point and Andrean in basketball was a major disappointment Tuesday night.  Not because of anything Crown Point did.  The Bulldogs raced to a 21-6 lead and the game was never close.  The 59ers didn't do anything wrong.  There just wasn't enough of them.  Short three varsity players, including experienced guards Jaclyn Gonzalez and Natasha Zurek, both out with worrisome injuries, Andrean was no match for CP and the game was as insignificant as the 61-30 final score might suggest.

"You want to play people at full strength," said CP coach Mike Cronkhite.  "And you know they (Andrean) wanted to come in here with a full team.  But they kept playing.  After the first quarter, it was a about a 10-point game."

Andrean coach Ken Markfull hopes his team can get back near full strength next month.  Zurek, a 5-foot-8, three-year regular has a wrist injury and she's likely to return in December. Gonzalez, another three-year varsity player, has a knee problem and her return is much more doubtful.  Add to that that 5-foot-9 junior forward Abby Quint was home sick Tuesday night and that expected starting center Ana Nicksic left the team days before the season began, and Andrean is in shock.

"We had three junior varsity players on the floor tonight," Markfull admitted.  "What we have to concentrate on is not to give up.  What I want to see is somebody step up and take the opportunity.  There's a lot of playing time to be had out there.  I want to see someone to step up and take it.  We had one or two who did that tonight, but there's a lot of opportunity right now."

Crown Point (3-0) completed half of their non-conference schedule with excellent results.  The Lady Bulldogs got 12 players into the game Tuesday night and all but freshman Taylor Equihua and Sarah Rivich, who made her CP debut after getting over lingering soccer injuries, did not score.  CP led 9-0, 19-2 and 46-17 so CP's third consecutive blowout win was over early.  You get the feeling that CP's full court pressure is still a work in progress, even though Andrean committed 25 turnovers.  That's why Cronkhite, who continued to shout instructions and teach when the game was out of reach, seemed happy with the evening as a whole.  Cronkhite wants his team to push the ball up the floor relentlessly for easier offensive opportunities.  He also wants the girls to be physical and dive on the floor for loose balls, something that has not been a strength for CP (or for many NW Indiana girls teams) in recent years.

"I just consider that all part of playing hard," he said.  "I thought we did a good job of that.  I challenged them to start fast and I think that obviously they did that.  Our next two games are against Duneland teams so we'll find out where we stand."

CP didn't attack the ball handler in the back court the way they will need to.  It is consistently recalled that the Lady Bulldogs were 9-0 last year and finished 12-10.  Even a good CP team was 8-0 in 2005 and finished 17-6.  It's not a coincidence.  Their schedule is back-loaded.  In a double round-robin schedule, CP does not even see league favorites Merrillville and Valparaiso and two-time defending DAC champ Michigan City for the first time until the second half of the season.  But you can't win games you haven't played yet.  So far, so good.

Especially for 5-foot-9 sophomore Kendall Brown who led CP in scoring for the third consecutive game in her rookie season.

"After Kendall scored 20 and 28 in the first two games, I would think that people would defend her.  And she still had 14.  We got everybody into the game and we had good balanced scoring.  I like that."

CPLB NOTES:  Crown Point sophomore center Alexis Joseph got her first extended play of the season collecting nine points and nine rebounds.  Joseph and Zarah Cecich are a key to CP when league play begins as Valpo, LC and Michigan City all have very tall teams.  Both Crown Point and Andrean were happy to renew the basketball series, discontinued after the 2003 season.  But neither side wants to play the Crown Point-Andrean game on a Tuesday night in the second week of the season.  Crown Point coach Mike Cronkhite's suggestion that the teams meet the night before Thanksgiving seemed agreeable to Andrean coach Ken Markfull, since his team originally had four games scheduled for the first eight days of the season.

"When I got here, this was the traditional opening game," said Markfull.  "It would always draw a good crowd and it started the season off.  It's such a natural game because we always have some girls from Crown Point."

Andrean senior Kristina Kauffman plus juniors Colleen Daugherty and Kelsie Plesac are all Crown Point natives.

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Revised: November 23, 2009 .