Girls basketball: Merrillville ends drought at Lake Central

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Updated: January 22, 2012 12:00AM

ST. JOHN — Raveen Murray couldn’t wait to play at Lake Central.

After three straight losses and six in the last seven years at LC, who could blame her?

Merrillville’s standout guard was actually looking forward to playing against the Indians on Friday night — not Saturday afternoon.

Since the senior was fired up about this Duneland Athletic Conference game, imagine how disappointed she was when she learned the game was postponed by the snow storm until Saturday.

“I was really ready to play,’’ Murray said. “I got some nice sleep. I wanted to come in here and put a good game together and help us win — then it gets (postponed).’’

Murray ended up having to recharge her batteries again.

There was no problem there, that’s for sure.

Murray scored a game-high 25 points, made six steals, and illustrated why she’s the area’s best player in leading the Pirates (17-0, 11-0 DAC) to a 78-55 win over the outmanned Indians (8-9, 4-7) on Senior Day.

“I’m very happy,’’ Merrillville coach Amy Govert said. “I’d give a 10 for effort. They’ve always had our number here. The girls all knew about it (losing streak). We’ve been on them since Wednesday. I was very happy with the way they played.’’

The Pirates placed two others in double figures as Dariyan Morris scored 21 and Victoria Gaines added 15.

“Dariyan really attacked the basket — especially after halftime,’’ Govert said. “She was all over the place. It’s huge for us. She’s been playing extremely well. Teams can’t really key on just Raveen and Victoria. We have people who can score.’’

Lake Central coach Leslie Iwema said her team played hard, but fell victim to the Pirates’ speed and quickness.

“I saw some things I really liked we’ll take to practice and try to improve on,’’ she said. “There’s some other things we’ll continue to work on. It’s still a big learning curve with these kids.’’

Senior forward Nikki Adams led LC with 17 points and 11 rebounds in her last home game, while junior Jessica Bell scored 13 points and a team-high 12 rebounds.