LC runs Lowell out of state tourney

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Lake Central's Angela Perez beats Lowell's MacKenzie Kreutz and Kalyne Godbot to the basket in the third quarter Friday night at Munster High School. | Jeffrey D. Nicholls~Sun-Times Media

CLASS 4A @ MUNSTER Sectional

Quarterfinals

Gary West Side 48, Morton 26

LOWELL 45, Highland 32

Lake Central 47, Munster 38

Semifinals

East Chicago 69, Gary West 65

Lake Central 66, LOWELL 40

Championship

East Chicago 68, Lake Central 59 (title)

EC’s 9th sectional title

Class 4A @ PORTAGE

Quarterfinals

CROWN POINT 53, Portage 47

LaPorte 38, Chesterton 31

Michigan City 57, Hobart 49

MERRILLVILLE 59, Valparaiso 36

Semifinals

CROWN POINT 44, LaPorte 33

Michigan City 70, MERRILLVILLE 56

Championship

Michigan City 63, CROWN POINT 44

Michigan City’s 4th sectional ttile

Class 4A Regional

2-18-12 @ VALPARAISO

Penn [23-1] vs. Michigan City [18-6]

Elkhart Memorial [20-5] vs. East Chicago [17-6]

Class 4A Regional

2-18-12 @ KOKOMO

(FW) Snider [20-3] vs. (FW) South [22-1]

McCutcheon [20-3] vs. North Central [19-5]

Class 4A Regional

2-18-12 @ DECATUR CENTRAL

Ben Davis [19-6] vs. Lawrence North [18-4]

Mooresville [13-9] vs. Anderson [19-5]

Class 4A Regional

2-18-12 @ BEDFORD NORTH LAWRENCE

Castle [11-11] vs. Bedford North Lawrence [22-2]

Columbus North [20-3] vs. Greenwood [20-2]

Article Extras

MUNSTER — Sometimes it’s not so bad to go up and talk to the losing coach after the game.

Last Friday’s Class 4A Sectional semifinal at Munster was not one of those times.

Lowell, which had won 18 of 21 games, led 14-2 and lost 66-40 to Lake Central in a Friday night season ender. There’s no way to put a happy face on that. The Northwest Crossroads Conference champs looked bad against the fourth place team from the Duneland Athletic Conference and it wasn’t all LC.

“Bad is being very generous,” said Lowell coach Katie Antcliff, who saw the Red Devils’ best-ever girls basketball season go up in smoke in the second half.

“Lake Central beat us at our own game tonight. They ran with us and got us tired. We did everything; we tried to adjust but we missed a lot of bunnies (easy shots) on the inside. We knew what their game plan was. We knew what ours was and we couldn’t execute it.”

What hurts about this game is that Lowell jumped to that 14-2 lead in the first six minutes of the game and led 17-8 after one quarter. But LC’s full court pressure forced Lowell to either turn the ball over or convert press break opportunities, something the Devils to do.

The quick pace of the game became a nightmare as LC (12-9) grabbed loose balls, tipped passes and sank free throws in what turned into a second half runaway.

Lowell had some breakdowns defensively but when you only score 22 points in the final three quarters, you could not solve the opposition’s defense.

But nobody saw this coming when Lowell led by 12.

“We told our kids to expect them to start with a lot of emotion,” said LC coach Leslie Iwema, the center of LC’s 1994 state champions. “We had to be able to withstand the run. I told them, if they start with a 6-2 run, don’t panic. Then I looked up and it was an 8-2 run.”

LC, which was 7-9 in mid-January, did not react negatively to being 10 points behind. A 12-0 run game them an 20-17 lead in the second quarter and the game turned towards the LC girls.

“We just kept telling them to know the emotion’s going to come,” said Iwema. “The run’s going to come. Survive it and then just put together one of your own. And I told them the same thing at halftime. They’re going to put together a run. Answer with one of your own.”

Lowell was within 29-24 in the third quarter and even 42-32 with 6:33 left in the game, but Lake Central then scored nine in a row and it was all down hill from there.

Lowell seemed totally unaccustomed to being behind significantly in a game. The Devils won 17 games by 10 points or more and they trailed significantly only against Merrillville in a 63-42 loss on Jan. 10.

Lowell panicked, took some wild shots and rushed some easy shots.

LC’s Lizzie Seymour was 1-of-13 in LC’s win over Munster in the quarterfinals, scoring just two points. But the 5-foot-9 sophomore cored 16 against Lowell including nine in the third quarter.

“I told her that I was impressed by her change of speed and her explosion,” said Iwema. “She was phenomenal and she went to the hoop with a lot of confidence. That part of her game changed today. She knows I have confidence with her with the ball in my hands.”

The front court combination of 5-foot-10 junior Jessica Bell and 6-foot senior Nikki Adams neutralized Lowell’s front court duo of Katie Bobos and Mackenzie Kreutz, but it’s misleading to suggest that decided the game.

Lowell was just 9-of-17 from the foul line. They lost more battles for the ball as the game went on.

“My guards did a great job getting up into the passing lanes,” Iwema said. “My posts did a great job of coming to help. We knew that Bobos was going to try to take the game over and attack the basket. She attacks the basket. I thought Bell did a good job of taking her.

“Our kids and I have a lot of respect for her but when one kid tries to make every thing happen, the other kids just try to block out and get the rebound. That works to our advantage.”

The schedule LC has played may be an issue here. For the last 10 years, LC has begun the season with suburban Indianapolis superpowers Carmel or Hamilton Southeastern (or both) in the first week. This year LC played HSE (20-1) and Penn (23-1). Iwema knows they’ll probably lose.

“Our kids know the beginning of the season is rough,” she said. “It’s a confidence shaker. It’s rough. But it helps us at tournament time. At one time, we played the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 10 team in a two-week span. At times we hung in. We have some young players.

“But being thrown into the fire helps. You realize that you won’t die. The worst thing that can happen is that you lose. The goal is to get to the postseason. That’s what we’ve been preaching all year. You take your lumps against Merrillville, Michigan City. Hamilton Southeastern.

“Even Crown Point (which beat LC twice) was ranked at one time. We survived and we learned from our mistakes which makes us better.”

Lowell point guard Kalyne Godbolt, who injured her left hand in the quarterfinal win over Highland, played with a lot of tape on the hand. LC used a full court press most of the game and, when double teamed, Godbolt, who is just 5-foot-3, had trouble moving the ball quickly and dribbling through pressure.

LC, which topped Lowell 57-53 in January, had the Devils well-scouted.

“I think she was a little more tentative than she was in practice,” said Antcliff. “But obviously, she was sore. Catching passes and making passes affected her but she did weverything she poiissbly could.

“You got to give her credit for taping it up and giving us her best effort.”

LC wanted to take the ball out of Godbolt’s hands and the strategy was and Lowell expected that.

“We told the kids they’d have to help Kalyne out so we had Wietbrock back with her and maybe Katie (Bobos). We wanted Katie to turn and attack the defense from the middle of the floor. She was agressive for the first four or five dribbles and then she slowed down because of defenders. That’s something we have to work on.”

“If you are going to attack, you have to attack. Defenders flock to the middle of the floor.”

It’s easy to fix a bad team. Lowell started five juniors in the sectional and, with good health, they’ll all be back for one more try at the scetional next year.

The hard part is figuring out how a team that’s 31-12 the last two seasons was beaten by 26 points.