Pirates hold off CP for 20-0
By Mark Smith msmith@post-trib.com February 7, 2012 2:44PM
Merrillville's Dariyan Morris puts up a shot over Crown Point's Michaela Prough during the second quarter on Thursday, February 2, 2012, in Crown Point. | Scott R. Brandush~Sun-Times Media
MERRILLVILE (20-0) 14 - 14 - 16 - 19 == 63
CROWN POINT (12-8) 9 - 12 - 17 - 17 == 55
2-2-12 @ Crown Point
MERRILLVILLE (63) Raveen Murray 7-3-18, Victoria Gaines 4-8-16, Dariyan Morris 3-0-7, AJ Downs 2-2-7, Darian Patton 4-0-10, Jasmyne Miller 1-0-2, Christina Brown 0-0-0, Brianna Thompson 0-0-0. TOTALS: 22 (13-15) 63.
CROWN POINT (55) Courtney Kvachkoff 5-9-19, Abby Kvachkoff 1-0-3, Morgan Frame 4-0-8, Michaela Prough 5-1-11, Alexis Joseph 2-2-6, Kendall Brown 3-1-7, Lauren O’Keefe 0-0-0, Katie Howarth 0-0-0, Katija Tarailo 0-1-1. TOTALS: 20 (13-21) 55.
FREE THROWS: M-VILLE (13-15, 86.7%) Gaines 8-10, Murray 3-3, Downs 2-2; CP (13-21, 61.9%) C. Kvachkoff 9-10, Joseph 2-2, Prough 1-5, Tarailo 1-2, Brown 0-2.
REBOUNDS: M-VILLE (26) Gaines 7, Patton, 4, Miller 4, Murray 4, Brown 3, Morris 2, Downs 2; CP (25) Prough 10, Joseph 5, Howarth 4, Frame 3, Tarailo 2, C. Kvachkoff.
ASSISTS: M-VILLE (6) Murray 2, Gaines 2, Miller, Downs; CP (12) Brown 7, Prough 2, C. Kvachkoff 2, Howarth.
FOULED OUT: M-VILLE (1) Jasmyne Miller (4th Q) :35 left; CP (4th Q) :28 left.
3-GOALS: M-VILLE (6) Darian Patton 2, Dariyan Morris, Raveen Murray, Brianna Thompson, AJ Downs; CP (2) Abby Kvachkoff, Kendall Brown.
CROWN POINT (12-7) 14 - 12 -21 - 20 = 67
MICHIGAN CITY (14-6) 13 - 15 - 11 - 15 = 54
1-31-12 in Michigan City
CROWN POINT (63) Courtney Kvachkoff 9-2-20, Michaela Prough 3-2-8, Morgan Frame 5-1-11, Abby Kvachkoff 3-0-6, Kendall Brown 4-3-12, Alexis Joseph 3-4-10, Katija Tarailo 0-0-0, Katie Howarth 0-0-0, Lauren O’Keefe 0-0-0. TOTALS: 27 (12-21) 67
MICHIGAN CITY (54) Toni Murphy 6-11-24, Cheyanne Gerron 0-2-2, Aubria Smith 2-1-5, Jameka Collins 7-1-16, Michal Miller 2-1-5, Dejania Evans 1-0-2, Raven Wood 0-0-0, Diamond Thompkins 0-0-0, Dakota Leslie 0-0-0. TOTALS: 18 (15-21) 54
FREE THROWS: CP 12-21, 57.1%) Brown 3-8, Joseph 4-7, Frame 1-2, Prough 2-2, Kvachkoff 2-2; MICHIGAN CITY (15-21, 71.4%) Murphy 11-13, Gerron 2-2, Collins 1-3, Miller 1-2, Wood 0-1.
REBOUNDS: CP (50) Joseph 18, Frame 11, Prough 9, Courthney Kvachkoff 8, Abby Kvachkoff 2, Brown 2; MICH CITY (24) Collins 9, Smith 5, Murphy 3, Evans 3, Gerron 2, Miller, Wood.
FOULED OUT: CP (1) Cortney Kvachkoff; MICH CITY (1) Dejania Evans.
3-GOALS: CP (1) Kendall Brown; MICH CITY (3) Aubria Smith, Jameka Collins, Toni Murphy.
Article Extras
Updated: February 7, 2012 2:44PM
CROWN POINT — Crown Point gave it all it had, but, for the 20th time in 20 games, the team that faced Merrillville didn’t have quite enough, and the Pirates have accomplished their second mission of the 2012 season.
Most school teams want to win their conference and sectional but few spend a lot of time thinking about winning all 20 regular season games.
So what Merrillville (20-0, 14-0 DAC) completed Thursday night was something rare. The Pirates are the first Northwest Indiana team since East Chicago (2003) to complete an undefeated regular season. They are the first Duneland Athletic Conference team to win all 20 games and the first team since Highland in 2001 to complete an undefeated regular season of 20 games or more.
“It’s a great feeling,” said Merrillville coach Amy Govert, a Highland and Valparaiso University graduate who had never been involved in an undefeated regular basketball season at any level.
“It’s a testament to those kids. Everything was against us tonight. I’m happy for them. More for them than I am for me. How many teams can say they ever been a part of this?”
Crown Point’s Courtney Kvachkoff, playing her final home game, sank two free throws to cut the lead to 57-55 with 1:07 to play, and Merrillville’s Raveen Murray was called for an offensive foul with 46 seconds left. But CP’s Michaela Prough, who had one of her best games with 11 points, 10 rebounds and no turnovers, missed two free throws and Merrillville’s 6-foot freshman Victoria Gaines was fouled, winking two free throws with 28 seconds left.
After a CP turnover, Gaines sank two more free throws with 10 seconds left to make it 61-55 and extend the Merrillville winning streak to 20 games.
Crown Point (12-8), which also lost by eight points, 64-56, to the Pirates on Dec. 28 at Merrillville, did almost everything it could in this game. CP really had just two guards on the varsity roster and both of them (Kendall Brown and Courtney Kvacahkoff) are truly wing players, who have been sharing the lead guard role all season..
“I was proud of them,” said CP coach Anne Equihua. “To be down two points with 30 seconds to play, I was very proud of them.”
This game was not so one-sided that you left it with no thought that CP could possible defeat Merrillville if the two meet again in sectional play this Saturday night at Portage.
Crown Point would have to win a semifinal game against LaPorte or Chesterton Friday night at 6 p.m.
CP jumped to a 7-3 lead but a 15-2 run gave the Pirates, who have won 16 games by 10 points or more, a 18-9 lead early in the second quarter.
Crown Point had won 67-54 at Michigan City on Tuseday night but both CP and Merrillville appeared tired in this rare Thusrday night game. The Pirates shot 11 of 30 in the first half while CP was just 7-of-22 in two quarters that ended with Merrillville leading 28-21.
“They did a good job of pressuring us,” said CP coach Anne Equihua. “They’re a very good pressure team. We made some silly turnovers but credit them to their defense. In the second half, we settled down and played at our pace instead of at their pace.”
Merrillville extended the lead to 36-23 late in the third quarter but CP stayed in the game with the help of 5-foot-11 senior Morgan Frame, who scored eight in the third quarter, and Courtney Kvachkoff who scored 11 in the fourth quarter.
Seniors Brown and Kvachkoff were able to get through Merrillville’s pressure defense in the late going and Kvachkoff, driving to the basket with the left hand, scoring or getting fouled.
But late in the fourth quarter, Merrillville’s Gaines got the ball at or near the foul and drove to the basket past whoever CP had try to guard her.
“We had a lot of confidence in her,” said Govert of Gaines. “She can really play all five positions. I haven’t seen any post player who can guard her one-on-one. We move her around. She can play all five positions.”
That gives Merrillville two players that nobody can guard man-to-man.
“They’re a very good team,” said Equihua. “And we were within two points of them with 34 seconds left. I thought we got better composure in the second half. Courtney and Kendall (Brown) both did a good job of penetrating, drawing the fouls.”
CP probably doesn’t want to dwell on this, but with the pre-season loss of guards Sarah Rivich and Haley Bordui plus the in-season loss of forward Taylor Equihua (knee) and guard Beth Ingram, it’s a surprise that the Lady Bulldogs finished with a winning record.
“I had three JV players out there at the end tonight,” said coach Equihua of the second half when CP was rallying. “Katie Howarth plays on the JV. Katija Tarailo is a JV player and Lauren O’Keefe. I was so proud of them. We were hanging with them. I can’t feel bad. I don’t feel bad. Merrillville is very good.”
Murray played all but 11 seconds of the game and was visibly tired in the late going, finishing with 18 points but just 7-of-9 shooting and six turnovers.
“She’s dynamite driving to the basket,” said coach Equihua. “We switched from a halfcourt trap to a zone but when Raveen is up top, it’s on her.”
Merrillville’s Govert and Murray both suggested that the undefeated regular season record wasn’t a goal but was an honor.
“It’s a compliment,” said Murray. “I’m glad to be a part of it Everybody wants to win every game but you don’t think, ‘Hey we’re going to win every game.’”
Murray wasn’t sure which of the Pirates rivals are the one she and her teammates want to beat the most. But she had no doubt about which team considers Merrillville their top rival.
“Everybody,” she said quickly. “Everybody wants to beat us.”
DOG NOTES: Crown Point defeated Michigan City two nights earlier on Feb. 1, the first CP win over Michigan City after 13 consecutive defeats.
Courtney Kvachkoff scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds as CP overcame a 28-26 MC halftime lead. Kendall Brown scored 12 with six assists and Morgan Frame scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
The Wolves played without 6-foot junior Keshyana Cooper (11.4 ppg), who is serving an indefinite suspension. It is expected that Cooper will be back for the Portage Sectional next week.
CP senior guard Beth Ingram, who had been playing 25 minutes a game, missed the last two games with an injury.
“Its not so much the rib,” said coach Anne Equihua, “We don’t think its a cracked rib, but the muscle and tissue around the rib. There might be a tear in the tissue.”
Merrillville, which was 25-2 two years ago, is not the first Northwest Indiana girls team to complete an undefeated regular season with 20 wins or more.
Highland was 22-0 on the regular season in 2001 after winning four times in the Lake Athletic Conference tournament. The Trojans went to 26-0 before losing to Kokomo 46-42 in the semistate.
For the record, Crown Point was undefeated in 1984, but the regular season was just 18 games back then. East Chicago was 19-0 and 21-1 in 2003.
Boone Grove started 20-0 in 2005 but had 21 regular season games (due to the Porter County Conference tournament) and they finished the regular season at 20-1 after a loss at North Judson in the regular season finale.
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