CEDAR LAKE — It was fitting that Jill McElmurry was awarded the James W. Dold Mental Attitude Award after her Hanover Central squad captured a 53-52 overtime victory over Kouts in the Porter County Conference Tourney title game last Saturday.

Though she has led the team in points the last two seasons, scoring at a 15.3 clip so far this season, and shoots well over 50 percent from the field, the senior is one of the most quiet stars in the area.

But when she gets together with the rest of her teammates off the court, silence is far from the agenda.

“We’ve had two team parties — a Christmas party and a Jamaican theme party just to get together and have some fun,” said coach Chris York. “There are times they make each other laugh so much, they can’t finish a sentence without breaking out in laughter.”

It has come slow this season, according to the third-year coach, but the camaraderie and team chemistry on Hanover Central may be clicking at the right time as sectionals loom.

“This is the first time since I’ve been on varsity that all of us get along together,” said McElmurry, who drained a pair of free throws with five seconds left to send the championship into overtime.

“We’re all great friends and we have fun being together. I think it carries over onto the court.”

The Wildcats had a 9-9 record going into a rematch on Thursday with Boone Grove, whom they beat in the first round of the PCC Tourney. But the record doesn’t tell the whole story.

They’ve won four of their last five and have gotten past the early-season stigma of following up a really good game with a bad one.

A victory at Washington Township was nullified by a tough loss at South Central. Big victory at their biggest rival, Hebron.

“(Hebron’s) our main rival and it showed when we played them,” York said. “We were 0-3 and it was definitely our best game to that point.”

But Hanover followed with a real tough 2-point loss at Kouts the very next night to take away the temporary joy.

York attributes it to a great group of seniors who have had to overcome a lot and fight through some ups and downs — bad team chemistry, early exits in the last three conference tournaments, the loss of classmates in untimely tragedies.

“This group of seniors I’ve been with since I came here, has grown a lot,” said York, who coached most of them as the junior varsity coach three years ago. “In the past we maybe had somebody who would be a superstar with everyone around not fitting in. This year we don’t have that.”

The player who could be that superstar, but doesn’t create any chemistry problems, agreed with the only head coach she has known.

“We’ve gone through a lot of losses,” McElmurry said. “It just brings us closer together.”

Those losses are turning into victories down the stretch.

Steve T. Gorches can be reached at 648-3141 or at sgorches@post-trib.com.