Crown Point vs. Highland

Crown Point 48, Munster 55
     
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This was a great game between two good teams. These two could see each other in February on the same floor.

A fairly even first quarter turned into a 5-point advantage for Highland with 7 consecutive Trojan points in the last 51 seconds of the quarter with buckets from Jenny DeMuth, Mary Sutliff, and a buzzer-beater trey from Jenn Cieslak for a 12-7 lead at the break. A technical foul was called on CP Coach Tom May at the end of the quarter when senior Sarah Zondor was literally way-layed into a near backward somersault on a pick in the paint before the three-pointer, but the contact went uncalled. Coach May had a few words for the officials, which drew the tech. At the start of the second, Highland's Corrie Kaczmarek hit the two technical freebies to extend the Highland lead 14-7.

Nikki Borys opened the scoring in the quarter for CP with a bucket off of an assist by Ashley Plumley, and picked up the extra point on the accompanying foul for a three-point play. Highland answered back with a Julie DeMuth bucket to make it 16-10. Highland then went on a 10-7 run. While CP was getting to the foul line, Highland was making their shots from the field, including 6 by DeMuth to close the quarter. At the half it was Highland 26, Crown Point 17.

In the third, Highland widened the gap and it looked like it might be a runaway win for the Trojans. A tough Highland defense held CP sharpshooter Sarah Zondor to just four points on free throws until late in the third quarter, when she was finally able to separate herself from the Trojan blanket defense to drop in a short jumper with 2:32 to go in the quarter. At that point, it was Highland 36, CP 23. From that point on, it was all Trojans as the DeMuth sisters combined for 4 points and Sutliff added another bucket to close out the quarter. CP's only response during that run was a Plumley free throw for a 42-27 Highland lead heading into the final quarter. And that's when things got interesting.
      

Senior Nikki Borys waits for the defense to drop and scores on the ensuing bucket.

Down 17 points after another Highland bucket to start the fourth, the 'Dogs slowly chipped away to come back from the dead. Zondor hit two free throws, followed by a trey from junior Alex Webster. On the following possession, Webster had a huge block on an outside Highland shot to keep the Trojans off the scoreboard on the possession. Zondor picked off a steal and went the distance for the score to close the gap to 10 with 6:22 left in the quarter. The 'Dogs were starting to see light at the end of the tunnel and on the next possession, CP senior Nikki Borys yanked down a rebound off of a Highland miss, passed off to Webster and after a few passes around the perimeter, Webster received the ball back in the left corner, going baseline to hit an underhanded loop between two Highland defenders to make it 44-36. A block by Borys on the next Highland possession ended up in the hands of Webster, who was fouled by Sutliff. She hit the first of a one-and-one, but missed the second and now the 'Dogs were down by only 7. Both teams were in bonus at this point, and over the next 1:30, both teams missed two freebies apiece. On the last Highland free throw, Borys pulled in the ball, handed off the Webster, who went coast-to-coast for a driving layup in Trojan traffic to make it 39-44 with 3:38 to go. Highland's Jenny DeMuth then took the air out of the CP comeback with two treys sandwiched around a Sutliff free-throw to make it a 12-point game again with 2:31 to go. But believe it or not, the 'Dogs weren't done. Senior Amanda Bernard popped off a trey when a Highland defender slacked off of the perimeter, and after a DeMuth double-dribble gave CP possession, Zondor hit another jumper to make it a 7-point game again, now with :55 to go. Highland then went into a spread, attempting to get to the foul line. Bernard had to foul DeMuth to stop the clock, now at :48, and DeMuth hit both her freebies. That foul sent Bernard to the bench with 5. On the next possession, Webster sent the ball low and hard from about half-court to Borys, who connected on a wide open layup to make it 53-46 with :36 to go. Webster grabbed the ensuing Highland inbounds pass and was fouled by Kazcmarek, sending Webster to the line for 2. She hit them both and it was now a 5-point game with :32 left. Highland again ran the spread and CP sent Kaczmarek to the line, where she hit one of two to make it 54-48. The 'Dogs were moving down the floor and unfortunately a bad pass from the perimeter to the paint gave possession to Highland. DeMuth was fouled again to stop the clock. She hit one of two with :11 to go. CP pulled down the rebound on the miss, but were unable to make anything happen in the last seconds and that was it. The Trojans won this one 55-48.
    

Junior Alex Webster fends off the sticky defense of Highland's Jenny DeMuth near the end of the game.

Crown Point started out this game fairly strong, but when Highland started hitting their shots, became timid and were not looking to score several times on open opportunities in the first three quarters. Highland kept coming at the 'Dogs and gained confidence as the game continued. DeMuth was very hard to contain in the first two quarters, was held to just 2 in the third, but hit two big treys off of screens in the fourth. Credit CP for making it an exciting finish. They outscored Highland 21-13 for the quarter on pure determination. Webster did an outstanding job in the fourth, scoring 10 of her 14 points on the night and creating havoc on defense, gaining some key possessions for that fourth quarter run.  Zondor was able to get loose for 6 of her 12 points in the fourth and also came up with some key steals in the final quarter.  Senior Nikki Borys was near a double-double with 9 points and 8 rebounds for the night, and Amanda Bernard had the tough job of defending DeMuth while scoring 10 points, including a huge trey in the fourth, and dished out 2 key assists.
     

Scoring by Quarters:
CP	7	10	10	21	48
High	12	14	16	13	55

CP - Webster 14 (5r 2a 1b), Zondor 12 (6r 2s), Bernard 10 (2a), Borys 9 (8r 1b), Triplett 2 (3b), Plumley 1

Highland - Je. DeMuth 23, Cieslak 9, Hamman 5, Kaczmarek 6, Sutliff 4, Arnold 3, Ju. DeMuth 4, Stirling 1