Flanigan's 17 leads Lady Wolves to 56-30 sectional semifinal win over Hanover Central

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
02-10-2007

Friday, February 9, 2007 - Class 2A Sectional 33 at Lake Station

BOONE GROVE (56)  Jessica Fauser 2-0-4, Jessica Dowdy 4-3-14, Emily Strilich 3-0-6, Kelly Dobson 2-0-4, Kristyn Kessler 1-1-3, Cortney Flanigan 6-3-17, Brittney Roach 2-0-4, Dani Diaz 1-0-2, Marcy Kieffer 1-0-2, Amanda Spears 0-0-0.  TOTALS: 22 (7-13) 56.

HANOVER (30)  Danielle Graham 2-1-7, Jordan Kramer 1-4-6, Anna Turturillo 2-2-6, Anna Plassman 1-2-4, Beth Flores 1-0-2, Chrissy Homolka 1-0-2, Lindsay Martinez 0-2-2, Tori Dahlin 0-1-1, Abby Schweitzer 0-0-0, Meghan Parks 0-0-0, Courtney Lindley 0-0-0, Brenda McQuade 0-0-0.   TOTALS: 8 (12-22) 30.

FREE THROWS:  BOONE (7-13, 53.8%) Dowdy 3-4, Kessler 1-3, Fauser 0-2, Flanigan 3-4;   HANOVER (12-22, 54.5%)  Graham 1-2, Kramer 4-5, Turturillo 2-5, Martinez 2-2, Plassman 2-4, Dahlin 1-2, McQuade 0-1, Homolka 0-1.

REBOUNDS:  BOONE (31) Roach 9, Flanigan 8, Dowdy 6, Dobson 4, Kessler 2, Strilich, Diaz;  HANOVER (30) Graham 7, Kramer 5, Plassman 4, Parks 3, Turturillo 2, Martinez 2, Flores 2, Dahlin 2, Homolka, Lindley, McQuade.

ASSISTS:  BOONE (14) Flanigan 9, Dowdy 3, Kessler, Dobson;  HANOVER (5) Kramer 2, Flores, Turturillo, McQuade.

FOULED OUT:  Chrissy Homolka (HC) 4th Q - 3:11 left; Danielle Graham (HC) 4th Q - 0:24 left.

3-GOALS:  BOONE (5) Jessica Dowdy 3, Cortney Flanigan 2;  HANOVER (2) Danielle Graham 2.

LAKE STATION (2-07-2007) - A lot of things had to go right for Hanover Central to stay with Porter County Conference (PCC) champion Boone Grove in the 2007 Lake Station Sectional semifinals.  Truthfully, only one thing had to go well for Boone Grove.  Senior guard Cortney Flanigan had to play well.  She did.

Flanigan scored 17 points with nine assists, eight rebounds and four steals and the rest was predictable.  Boone (18-4) pulled away from Hanover 56-30 to advance to face Wheeler (19-3) in the sectional title game.  Wheeler smoked out Bishop Noll 46-17.

In most playoff games, there's always a chance.  Trailing 9-3 early, Hanover produced a 7-2 run that cut the lead to 11-10 with 5:18 left in the first half in the dark and noisy Lake Station gym.  But Flanigan, who is certain to be the MVP of the Porter County Conference (PCC) for a second consecutive season, stepped up to the challenge.  Flanigan, a 5-foot-6 guard, set up junior teammate Jessica Dowdy for a three-point shot and then sank one herself for an 18-13 lead.  As HC (8-12) went five minutes without a field goal largely due to turnovers, the Wolves, who are defending sectional champs, built the lead to 22-13 before Danielle Graham's three-point shot in the final seconds pulled HC within 25-16 at the half.

Boone scored the first nine points of the second half and the game was over.

"There's a reason they've won the games they've won," said HC coach Doug Nelson.  "There's a reason they have done what they've done.  You can tell they're experienced.  That comes from playing together a lot."

Boone coach Candy Wilson said her girls appreciated Hanover Central as a semifinal game because they'd had a tough time with them just three weeks (a 51-36 win on Jan. 26) earlier.

"They remember that it wasn't easy," she said afterwards.  "We were a little shaky in the second quarter, but then we hit some shots and we were fine."

Coaches always try to practice mind control on their players when a tournament puts the two favorites in opposite brackets.  Everyone expected Wheeler and Boone to meet in the sectional championship game.

"I won't tell you that I haven't been watching a lot of tapes of Wheeler," Wilson smiled, "but the girls prepared for Hanover.  That's really the only way you can do it.  Anything can happen in one game."

Hanover Central saw things go south early as leading scorer Anna Turturillo drew two fouls in the first five minutes and wing shooter Chrissy Homolka drew three first half fouls.  The Lady Cats struck with their season-long strategy of using a lot of bench.  Ten Hanover players saw the floor in the first half.  But Boone's full court press bothered HC and when the Lady Cats did get the ball into scoring position, they rushed shots and missed badly.  Hanover could have led at halftime had they hit all their shots inside 10 feet.

Boone Grove was coming off their worst loss of the season, a 68-49 loss at North Judson (19-4) on Feb. 1.  Boone has lost the season-ending regular season game to North Judson for five consecutive years, but Wilson says that may help them.

"Four years ago," she recalled.  "We went there and they beat us bad (69-46) and we went to the semistate.  I told them that after the game.  It's been a rough game.  I think maybe it works for us.  I'd rather do that than play somebody weak and get a win."

While the future is now for Boone, Hanover Central can see the sun rising on the horizon.  Of the 13 players in uniform at Lake Station, Hanover had just one senior and six juniors.  Three sophomores, Kramer, Graham and Lindsay Martinez, are already regulars.  Folks who follow Hanover basketball are not known for having patience.  But the truth is, Hanover wasn't going to beat both Boone and Wheeler at the sectional this season.  Those two schools have all-state senior players.  So does regional favorite North Judson (19-4).  The window of opportunity is about to open and the Lady Cats need to gear up to jump through it.

"As our fundamentals improve, our confidence will improve," said Nelson.  "I enjoyed my first year.  I thought we improved from beginning to end.  I'm proud of the girls for their effort.  But we have a lot of work ahead of us."

SECTIONAL NOTES:  Boone Grove has now defeated Hanover Central seven times in a row since a 42-40 upset by HC in the 2004 PCC tournament.  HC coach Doug Nelson didn't have a chance to run a summer program because he was not hired until August.  He's eager to work with next year's returning players to try to improve their individual skills.  HC had 13 non-seniors on the playoff roster.

"We're going to have a meeting in a couple of weeks," he said after the playoff loss to Boone Grove.  "We'll meet with the parents, too.  We've got to find out who's going to be on board with us over the summer.  It's not mandatory, but there's going to be a distinct difference between the girls who do play with us and the ones who don't."

"Maybe the Griffith league and scrimmages all around.  There's a Butler league.  The thing is, when you get into a situation like we were in tonight against a good team in a noisy gym, the girls can look at each other and say, hey, we've been through this before.  That was the big difference between them (Boone) and us."

Boone Grove's playoff roster included all nine freshmen in the program along with six juniors and two seniors.  The Wolves have only one sophomore.  Freshman Mary Kieffer made her playoff debut and scored a third quarter basket.  Senior Brittney Roach had a season best nine rebounds.

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Revised: February 10, 2007 .