2006-2007 Girls Basketball  Week-6 Poll A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith (12-21-2006)

MICHIGAN CITY, IN - (12-21-2006)  - Although it doesn't feel like it, it's late in the girls basketball season with virtually everybody past the 10-game mark and many teams having played 60% of their games.  Quietly, a few of the traditionally strong teams have made moves outside the top-10.  After a 3-3 start, here comes Highland (9-5), with an upset win over Munster (10-2) last week.  I don't know where anyone got the impression that North Judson, 105-35 in the last six years, suddenly wasn't any good anymore.  But after a 3-3 start, the Jays (7-3) have returned to power at mid season with four wins in a row, including a 44-43 win Monday night (12-18-2006) over 3A Tippecanoe Valley (6-4) led by Kristen Bolen (17.7 ppg.) who has 29 three-point baskets at mid season.

There are very few holiday tournaments of note.  The Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) teams simply don't have space on their schedules after 14 league games.  I can see a future with four teams like Lowell, Hanover, North Judson and North Newton playing in a Holiday Tourney.  I always thought that Crown Point, Gary West Side, Andrean and East Chicago would be a solid four team playoff that would attract a lot of interest.  I don't know how basketball is going to sell on New Year's Day, but you can be there at Valparaiso University when Wheeler (8-1) takes on tiny Attica (4-1) in the first of three holiday games.  I'm thinking this may bomb especially with Jan. 1 falling on a Monday and most people returning to work or school the next day.  Whoever thought this idea up may end up as a bigger loser than Carmelo Anthony.

1.  (4A) Michigan City (8-0)
2006 (14-11),  2005 (6-15),  2004 (6-16)

MICHIGAN CITY:  Michigan City rolled over Crown Point 47-28 to stay unbeaten at the top of the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC), nearing mid season.  Guard TaKenya Nixon (17.8 ppg.) has been a dominating player so far this year and the key to stopping 'Wolf Pack East' is no longer dealing with 6-foot-3 center Emma Tucker (10.3 pg.), who is more of a defensive presence up front.  MC has to become even more dominating, because they know that South Bend Washington (10-1), which plays a significantly tougher schedule than MC, is looming at the sectional.  Teams that are new to success tend to talk about what they have done as opposed to what they have to do.  South Bend Washington and all-stater Skyler Diggins (22.8 ppg.) is what MC has yet to do.  The Wolves have won the last five games by 15 points or more, but they have to understand that they must get better or they will be history at sectional time.

2.  (3A) ANDREAN (9-2)
2006 (15-8),  2005 (9-13),  2004 (7-14)

MERRILLVILLE:  Andrean won at Kankakee Valley 54-38 last week in a game that matters, because KV is a sectional rival and the 59ers wouldn't mind a history of success on that floor.  The 59ers now go to a place where they have not had a history of success, the Wheeler Holiday Tournament.  In three previous years here, Andrean has not won the title.  They are now the best team here, although semifinal foe Hammond (8-5) is formidable.  Hammond is a potential regional foe of Andrean and they need to beat the Wildcats every time they see them.  It's got to all be about potential sectional and regional foes now for the 59ers and there are plenty of them (Griffith, Gary Roosevelt, Hammond) left on the schedule.

3.  (4A) Gary West Side (4-3)
2006 (16-7),  2005 (23-5),  2004 (22-3)

GARY:   How can West Side still be ahead of Munster when Munster beat 'The Side' by three points at Munster last week?  Something like 31 turnovers.  West Side should have won.  They were 26 of 72 (37.7%) from the field.  I still think West Side is the better team and I would suspect that both sides would agree.  West Side won at South Bend Riley 63-47 last week and they await rival Gary Roosevelt (6-4) in the Gary Holiday tournament on Dec. 26.  But the Cougars haven't really begun the season yet.  Just seven games in almost two months.  There has to be a different way to make up their schedule.  This has always been a team that thrives on heavy duty.  They have so many players on the varsity traditionally that when the games start coming in quick succession, so do the wins.  Does anybody else notice that West Side only played one home game so far, and that they have seven home games remaining?

4.  (4A) Munster (10-3)
2006 (19-5), 2005 (17-6), 2004 (6-15)

MUNSTER:  I still think Munster is coming on.  They did lose to rival Highland 46-37 last week after beating West Side 60-57 for the first time.  The win over West Side has to be a confidence builder as Lauren Meneghetti scored 30 and grabbed 10 rebounds.  But Highland is also a sectional rival and they obviously were able to slow the Lady ponies.  And if there is a Munster-West Side rematch, West Side can't get 72 shots from the field.  You can talk about how Munster is a one-girl (Meneghetti) team but so is Boone Grove.  So is North Judson. So is Wheeler.  So are a lot of girls teams.  Barring injury or fatigue, the teams with the two lead guards (Boone, Munster, MC) are the ones with the longest shelf life.

5.  (3A) Hammond (8-5)
2006 (15-8),  2005 (15-7),  2004 (8-12)

HAMMOND:   Hammond gets a chance to reverse a five-point loss to Andrean in the LAC tournament.  Those two meet in next week's Wheeler Holiday tournament.  We have the very odd possibility that Andrean and Hammond could meet four times this season and that devalues the first three games.  Hammond's perimeter players like 5-10 soph Sancheon White have to make sure they get the ball to 5-11 Denita Phelps early in every game.  Phelps had an outrageous 24 rebounds against Wheeler.  She's got to touch the ball early.  When you look at the 3A regional at Twin Lakes, you see St. Joseph's (8-1), West Lafayette (9-2), Andrean (9-2) and Hammond (sorry, Griffith) and Hammond has to get ready to win twice on that day in that company.

6.  (4A) LAKE CENTRAL (3-7)
2006 (11-10),  2005 (7-14),  2004 (11-10)

St. JOHN:  LC turned back Merrillville 69-58 in a game where they played very well offensively.  I'll say it every week.  Six of the losses are to Michigan City (8-0), LaPorte (6-4), Crown Point (7-4), Munster (9-2), Carmel (9-1) and Hamilton Southeastern (11-0).  Nobody in NW Indiana would have a winning record against those six teams.  LC is 2-2 in their last four games, with both losses by two points.  There is improvement here and it will begin to show.

7.  (4A) MERRILLVILLE (5-3)
2006 (19-3),  2005 (12-10),  2004 (12-8)

MERRILLVILLE:  The tough part of the schedule has been tough on Merrillville as they lost consecutive games to LaPorte, Michigan City and Lake Central.  Merrillville was 11 of 23 from the foul line and trailed all the way, losing 75-60 to Michigan City.  This team figures to have problems against taller teams and that includes Crown Point and Valparaiso, two teams they do not match up with.  The Pirates will 'stay the course' with their speedy full court pressure game because, at their best, they can disrupt the other five teams in their sectional.  That November win over Andrean (9-2) still looks good.

8.  (2A) BOONE GROVE (9-1)
2006  (14-11)   2005 (21-2)  2004 (17-5)

PORTER TOWNSHIP:   Boone edged out Morgan Township 56-55 and they'll go to 10-1 with a win at North Newton Thursday (12-21-2006) night.  'Wolf Pack West' gets a chance to reverse their loss to Kouts (9-1) on Dec. 28 in the South County Tournament at Boone.  Two close PCC games certainly have convinced Boone they are not invincible.  The Wolves trailed by seven before they came back to beat Morgan.  Still, with wins over CP (7-4) and Highland (8-5), the Wolves have earned a spot here.  They need to beat Kouts, though. Boone is better than Kouts.

9.  (2A) Wheeler (9-1)
2006 (14-7),  2005 (18-8),  2004 (19-4)

UNION TOWNSHIP:  Wheeler has a busy Holiday with two games in the Wheeler Bearcat tournament on Dec. 27 and a matchup with 1A Attica (4-1) at Valparaiso University on New Year's Day.  Here's a team that might need a little time off if the late part of the schedule (Lake Station, North Newton, Bishop Noll) wasn't so weak.  Wheeler needs to play Hammond because that's the team that is most similar to Boone Grove, their No. 1 sectional foe.  No one has scored as many as 40 points on this team.  The schedule isn't tough, but they have to be happy with how they've played.

10.  (4A) LaPorte (7-4)
2006  (8-14),  2005 (8-13),  2004 (4-17)

LaPORTE:  The Slicers just can't lose to Portage (5-5), like they did (41-34) last week and hope to last two minutes in the post-season.  Maybe they are mentally waiting for the 'big' games, but it's six weeks before the playoffs.  It might be time to get it going.  Senior 5-10 forward Sarah Dermody (17.8 ppg.) carries the scoring load and 5-8 wing Erin Justice (8.4 ppg.) has 24 three-point goals.  A 7-4 record isn't bad, but I thought they'd be 9-2 at this point.

ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN.....

11.  (4A) CROWN POINT (7-4)
2006  (11-11),  2005 (9-13),  2004 (7-14)

CROWN POINT:  The Lady Bulldogs' losses are to Michigan City (8-0), LaPorte (7-4), Portage (6-6) and Boone Grove (10-1) so it's hard to be too critical.  But they lack a lot of confidence on offense and that's why they lost winnable games at LaPorte and Portage.  The baseline of six-footers Courtney Perry and Anjelellica Rospond is strong once play gets into the front court.  Anybody can win the sectional with Portage, Merrillville, LC, Valpo, Portage and Chesterton.  The Lady Bulldogs do need a confidence-building streak of games.  They are a shaky 7-4.

12.  (2A) North Judson (7-3)
2006  (19-3),  2005 (22-4),  2004 (12-9)

NORTH JUDSON:  Judson is rolling with four wins in a row and a senior back court leader in Kristen Bolen (17.7 ppg.).  They have an inside scorer in Chelsea Howard (10.5 pg.) and a trusty wing shooter in Whitney Trusty (sorry, Whitney).  This team has eight good players, some size and the lead guard you need.  They have to control the pace of the game, but they've done that for years now.  They have a tough assignment at 2A sectional rival Rochester (7-4) this week.  There shouldn't be any big talking out here.  Benton Central (10-2), Knox (9-3) and Boone (10-1) are still on the schedule.  We'll see how good the Jays are.

13.  (4A) Highland (9-5)
2006  (19-3), 2005 (22-4), 2004 (12-9)

HIGHLAND:  The Trojans have rebounded from a slow start to win five of their last six, including a nine-point win over Munster (10-2).  A lot of it has to do with point guard Lizzie Stapke, a 5-foot-8 junior who missed most of last season.  This program finally ran out of 5-10 and 6-foot forwards, but 5-11 junior Jordan Bedella gives them a post player of note.  They have lost three games by 15 points or more, but to establish they could beat Munster gives them a shot at sectional time.

GAME OF THE WEEK:

(3A) Andrean (9-2) vs. 3A Hammond (8-5)
Friday, Dec. 27, 2006

UNION TOWNSHIP (12-27-2006)  -  The opening game of the Wheeler Holiday Tournament and the second of four possible meetings between these two Lake County rivals.  Hammond chokes up in the big games.  They average 52 points a game, but have been held under 40 in four of their five losses.  But with a new coach, they should be still improving.  Andrean has had a lot of down time and they didn't need it after a 9-2 start.  The girls probably secretly hate this mid Holiday vacation two-day slugfest, but they need to focus, because Andrean and  Hammond will be seeing a lot of each other.

In the previous match up in the LAC tournament, Andrean was able to counter attack against the sluggish Cats when Hammond started very slowly in the 12 noon semifinal.  Hammond needs to wake up and be ready to go.  They are quicker than the 59ers.  But Andrean did a strong job of defending 5-11 Hammond star Denita Phelps, and if they do it again, it's unlikely Hammond will beat them from the outside.  But when you lose the first meeting in a close one (43-38), the edge always goes to the defeated team when the two sides meet again.

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Revised: December 21, 2006 .