In Northwest Indiana girls high school basketball circles, Crown Point and guards go together like bees and honey or the Chicago Cubs and disappointment.

Over coach Tom May's long tenure with the Bulldogs -- 25 years and 420 victories, to be exact -- his teams have been known for their talented guards.

But it's not just one or two here and there. Like the animals on Noah's Ark, Crown Point guards always come in pairs to provide plenty of matchup headaches for the opposition.

The excellence stems from the days of Anne Kvachkoff and Nancy Cowan in the mid-1980s, when the Bulldogs captured back-to-back state titles, to the late 1980s with Tracy Roller and Dina Hadrick.

And don't forget 1999-2001 when Alex Webster and Sarah Zondor wore Bulldogs colors. No matter what decade, May has found a way to cultivate backcourt mates who are among the best in the area.

"It goes in cycles and I'm guard-oriented here because that's what I played," said May, whose short stature gives away his favorite position.

"Greg Kirby (head coach) at Valpo is known for big people. Well, Greg's 6-foot-7. It's what you're comfortable with. We play to our strengths. We do things with our offense that's guard-oriented. He does a lot that's big-people oriented."

This year is no exception at Crown Point as Kaitlyn Sertich has risen to the level of her fellow guard Cassie Pruzin to help put the Bulldogs back into the elite.

Sertich has been gradually improving every season. Last year, with Pruzin taking on a bigger role in the offense, Sertich averaged about 10 points per game. Pruzin raised her output to 17 points and almost six steals per game.

Their stats have gotten closer this season with Sertich near 12 points per game while Pruzin has increased her assists (from 4.8 to 5.9) and steals (5.9 to 7.0).

"Kaitlyn had a good year last year, but I knew she would be a bigger scorer this year and take a little pressure off me," Pruzin said.

May always knew they would be a special pair. But then again, that's his job -- to find the talented guards throughout the Crown Point system.

"It's only natural that the first thing I look at is people who want the ball in their hands and I start looking at that at very early ages," he said.

May then sounded like a basketball professor by explaining the requirements that guards need to be part of the elite Crown Point alumni.

"Guards should be an extension of the coach and their entire philosophy on the floor. It takes a lot more than just playing hard," he said.

"Anytime a kid is on the court in a wrong position or does something wrong, it's directly the fault of the guards. It's their job to get everyone where they're supposed to be on the court at all times. Guards don't like that accountability, but they like the ball in their hands and those two go together."

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In addition to their output on the court mirroring each other perfectly as point and shooting guard, the pair are very close off the court, with some saying they're closer to sisters than just best friends.

"We've been best friends since we were 7-years old," Sertich said. "The only time we weren't playing together on the court was our freshman year when she was on varsity and I was on JV."

The close relationship between Sertich and Pruzin is unique for a Crown Point guard tandem. In fact, May's other three memorable backcourt combos were nowhere near being as close as these two seniors.

"Webster and Zondor went their separate ways. Cowan and Kvachkoff hung, but they were in different classes. Hadrick and Roller were also in a different class," May said. "(Sertich and Pruzin) have been in the same class all the way. That can be good and bad."

The bad aspect mainly refers to May's unenviable task of replacing two guards at the same time next season.

With the other backcourt mates, one would graduate before the other with a carry over to the next combo. Pruzin got to play a year with Webster, who had played three years with Zondor.

The good is that they know each other so well. It's just the same game they have played together for 10 years.

"It's awesome to have someone next to me that I've been friends with long before we were teammates," Pruzin said. "We can read each other so well, and do things out there that maybe players who don't get along so well can't do."

As for the pair knowing about the history at their position, it's definitely on their mind with Kvachkoff (her married name is now Equihua) helping out at practice.

"We've heard for a long time how awesome they were and how they won championships," Sertich said. "It makes it a little more competitive knowing that there were so many good guards in the past that we want to follow in their footsteps."

Besides their exploits on the basketball court, Pruzin and Sertich carry their friendship into the spring sports schedule as the Bulldogs' No. 1 doubles team in tennis.

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The future of this current guard tandem is still cloudy, with neither deciding on a college yet. But a glance at the destinations of their predecessors shows that being a talented guard at Crown Point has led to success after graduation.

Kvachkoff went to Purdue, while her teammate Cowan went to Kentucky and then transferred to Indiana.

Hadrick went on to Harvard with her backcourt mate, Roller, attending Eastern Illinois. She is now the head coach at Ball State.

Webster earned a scholarship to Southern Mississippi before transferring to Wisconsin-Green Bay while Zondor is a senior at DePauw.

Despite having very good guards to think about in his own program, the historian in May couldn't help but think about other Northwest Indiana tandems that caused him headaches over the years.

"Sheila Baron and Amy Beckham at Calumet gave us the most fits," said May of the talented combo that played against Kvachkoff and Cowan. "Anne and Nancy always had their hands full with them. They were two hard-nosed kids that were great players."

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