Basketball Preview:
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PCC Girls
Tournament
Jan. 14-19, 2013
Quarterfinals (at Morgan Township)
Jan. 14 Game-1: Washington Twp. 56, .
LaCrosse 40
Jan. 14 Game-2: Morgan Township 59, South Central 45
Jan. 15 Game-3: Kouts (7-8) vs. Hebron (8-7)
Jan. 15 Game-4: Hanover Central (9-5) vs. Boone Grove (10-5)
Semifinals (at Morgan Township) 6 p.m.
Jan. 18 (Fri.) Wash. Township (7-9) vs. Morgan Township (8-8)
Jan. 18 (Fri.) Kouts or Hebron vs. Boone Grove or HANOVER
Jan. 19 (Fri.) 41st PCC Girls championship - 6 p.m.
MORGAN TOWNSHIP (01-15-2013) The PCC Tournament was set up for the Boone-Hanover winner to meet South Central for the league championship early Saturday night. But this league never seems to act right. South Central (11-3) had the pole position and they had to be the favorite led by 5-foot-10 senior Jill Rosenbaum (12.2 ppg.) and 6-foot freshman Riley Popplewell (11.9 ppg.). But the PCC tourney is traditionally volatile and Morgan Township (8-8) upset South Central 59-45 Monday night leaving no clear cut favorite at all.
Boone Grove won eight of their last 10 games coming into the PCC tourney and they are the league's tallest team with 6-foot-2 junior Nicole Malhous (9.4 ppg.), 5-foot-11 senior Claudia Cooper (7.0) and 5-foot-10 forward Paige Aguilera (14.3).
Hanover is short two players in
injured guard Rylie Singleton and Tiphani Ward. Singleton is out for the season,
while Ward was questionable for this weekend. The Lady Cats and senior guard
Blayr Poston (21 ppg.) will rely on 5-foot-7 junior center Kristin Roper and
5-10 sophomore forward Hannah Blue against the league's bigger players. If they
are in the semifinals Friday, they'll call up some JV help for the final two
games.
Morgan (8-8) lost by 17 points to Hanover on Jan. 5, but 5-foot-7 guard Trina
Coleman (13.2 ppg.) scored 27 points in the upset of South Central Monday.
Hebron and 5-foot-7 guard Bre Lewin (13.3 ppg.) is 4-7 since a 4-0 start and
Kouts, which is led by 5-foot-8 sophomore Kayla Crump (12.9), is 6-4 since a 1-4
start.
Hanover Central entered the tournament with 'the Kup,' the PCC's traveling trophy and they will keep it as long as they can defend it. This is Hanover's final PCC tourney as Westville replaces them in the league in 2014. HC has six seniors and they have not won the PCC girls title since 2004.
PCC BOYS
Tournament
Quarterfinals at Boone Grove
Jan. 16 (late Wed.) LaCrosse (1-9) at Boone Grove (7-3)
Jan. 16 (late Wed.) Kouts (11-1) vs. Morgan Twp. (3-8)
Jan. 17 (Thurs.) Washington Twp. (7-5) vs. South Central (2-8)
Jan. 17 (Thurs.) Hebron (7-4) vs. Hanover Central (6-6)
Semifinals at Boone Grove
Jan. 19 (Sat.) Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 11 a.m.
Jan. 19 (Sat.) Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 12:30 pm
Championship - 8 p.m.
Jan. 19 (Sat.) 90th PCC championship game
PORTER TOWNSHIP (01-15-2013) Hanover is 5-0 in PCC play, but they are 1-6 everyplace else and a 93-29 loss on the road at powerhouse South Bend Adams (10-1) was all too real. There's nobody like Adams in the PCC, but Hanover has to recover from a 64-point defeat and that's easier said than done against a Hebron team that's won five in a row after a 2-4 start.
Hebron, led by senior shooter Kyle
Joyce (11.1 ppg.), is the defending champion and just two miles from home in the
Boone gym.
Kouts is the clear favorite led by a high scoring junior guards Max Everaert
(19.4 ppg.), Cody Nelson (10.3 ppg.) and 6-foot-8 center Matt Stewart (13.1 ppg.).
Andrew Birky (13.8), a 6-foot-3 forward is the leader for the Mustangs who are
two-time defending PCC champs and 49-8 in the last three seasons.
Hebron, which was 23-2 last season, is the defending PCC champ. Kouts was the 2011 PCC champion. Hanover, which presently also owns 'The Keg,' the league's boys traveling trophy, defeated South Central 62-60 in the 2010 PCC championship game.