Girls basketball: It’s time for Boone Grove to win now

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Kout's Sarah Clemens makes a quick pass from the ground as Boone Grove's Julie Hogg (middle) pursues during the PCC girls tournament championship game held at Hebron High School on Saturday January 21, 2012. | Charles Mitchell~For Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 7, 2012 9:55AM

Over the last five years, the Boone Grove girls basketball team has been among the best in the region — from November through January.

Three straight South County Tournament titles as the four-team event ended this season.

Four straight Porter County Conference Tournament titles.

At least a share of four straight PCC round-robin crowns.

During the last two regular seasons, the Wolves have entered the postseason with just one loss. This year they only have two losses. But once February arrives, the great play and trophy collection in the previous three months disappears — at least in four of the last five years.

Only in 2008 has Boone Grove cut the nets down after sectional week, and the Wolves only have one other sectional titles (2006) since the magical semistate season of 2003.

Needless to say, coach Candy Wilson — in her 15th season at the helm — wants the streak to turn around.

“We gotta win a sectional,” she said. “We gotta step up to the plate and win a sectional.”

Senior Brittany Shaffer, who has started all four years for the Wolves, was right in tune with her coach.

“I agree — the way we ended the last few years has been frustrating,” Shaffer said. “We could have come out stronger in those games, I’m not gonna lie.”

To be totally fair, the games Boone lost weren’t to cupcakes. It lost to state-ranked (No. 2) Culver last season, and Winamac the previous two years. That Winamac team won 19 games both of those campaigns, reaching semistate in 2010.

“The teams we’ve lost to have gone on to win the regional the last couple years and that’s the frustrating part,” Wilson said.

And guess what? Sectional foes Winamac, Rochester and North Judson each have records of 13-7 or better and have been ranked in the top 20 of the coaches poll most of the season.

So what makes Wilson think this year could be different?

“They’re pretty hungry to win one this year,” she said. “If you look at the teams in our sectional, there are four with really good records. It’s not going to be easy.”

Seniors such as Shaffer aren’t the only ones who are frustrated. Wilson can only shake her head when thinking about recent postseasons and things that are difficult to control.

“We have a very good team as far as positions and kids. It’s just who’s putting the ball in the hole that night that really makes difference,” Wilson said. “There are so many different factors that play into this sport, unfortunately, that are uncontrollable. Are you hitting shots that night? Did (one of the girls) break up with their boyfriend? Are they sick this week? I think we have all the pieces to the puzzle, but can we put the run together? There just is no magic formula.”

A recent game has her feeling a little better about the Wolves’ chances. It was the final PCC regular season game in which Boone defeated Hanover Central after being down 15 points to start the fourth quarter.

“We have a lot of talent on this team and we saw the level of play in that fourth quarter — it was like a tornado,” Wilson said.

Shaffer and Julie Hogg also make Wilson confident. Shaffer has become a scorer this season, averaging more than 15 points per game, after being the lunch-pail, hard-working player.

“When I was a sophomore and we had (Kelly) Dobson and (Emily) Strlich, I was there for support,” she said. “As you get older you know your role and what you need to improve.”

Wilson describes Shaffer as one of her most coachable players.

“She’s very mature, even when she was a freshman I felt like I was talking to a 25-year-old,” Wilson said. “There are some kids you can’t yell at them. With her, I can challenge her and she’s going to rise to the occasion. She doesn’t need coddled very much.”

Hogg, on the other hand, might have welcomed plenty of coddling last year when the Indiana High School Athletic Association cost her a season on the basketball court.

Hogg and her brother Jon transferred from Hebron early in the school year when they moved into Porter Township. But the IHSAA inexplicably ruled that Julie couldn’t play athletics while Jon could.

“I had never seen anything like it,” Wilson said. “It was disturbing. There were a lot of text messages back and forth trying to keep her positive.”

Just to be back playing brings a smile to Hogg’s face. But to contribute to a possible sectional championship would be even more special.

“It feels great to play with a team on the court and get along,” Hogg said.

Making up a little for the lost season is that Hogg will be playing at Oakland City University. But the whole transfer experience has changed her outlook on life.

“It makes you second guess things and people more,” she said. “It’s made me a stronger person and I don’t sweat the small stuff and have an extra edge. I feel liberated.”

And so will the rest of the Wolves if they can place a sectional trophy in the case outside the gymnasium in addition to all those PCC and South County ones.