HAMMOND — The
Crown Point girls know they were right there with the state’s
best player and the third-ranked team in Class 4A.
Just a few mistakes in the third quarter allowed Wawasee to
gain control in the 55-48 victory in the Region Roundball
Rumble on Saturday.
“It tells us Crown Point isn’t far from being a good team,”
Bulldogs coach Tom May said. “We played with a team that has
the state’s best player (Shanna Zolman) and five senior
starters.
“We made some mistakes we need to fix, but we were a tad
away from making it a game.”
Wawasee (7-0) led only 29-28 to start the third quarter,
but built a comfortable 43-34 lead with 1:21 left in the
quarter. In that stretch, the Bulldogs (5-2) made five
turnovers.
“You just can’t make mistakes like that against a team like
Wawasee,” Crown Point’s Alex Webster said. “You have to be the
team dictating control and they controlled us.”
And that let Wawasee’s experience came into play.
“You know a good team is going to make a run like that and
you have to respond,” May said. “We made some bad decisions
because of our inexperience. But it is only the sixth game of
the season.”
A lot was made of the matchup of Zolman, a leading Miss
Basketball candidate bound for Tennessee, and Webster, who has
verbally committed to Southern Mississippi.
Neither disappointed. Zolman had a game-high 27 points and
Webster scored 23. Zolman also hit 11-of-12 free throws.
“You have to enjoy a game like this with the atmosphere and
crowd,” Webster said.
“It really hurt us that we put her (Zolman) on the line so
much.”
Besides Webster, no one for Crown Point scored more than
eight points. Wawasee shut down the Bulldogs’ inside game,
though center Carissa Triplett still had eight.
“We made some poor passes in there and Carissa was not
looking to score much,” May said. “She became a little more
aggressive in the second half, but we will get better there.”
The Warriors had 24 points inside and they played physical
interior defense.
“They had three strong girls and they pounded on Carissa
the whole game,” May said.
Crown Point also lost guard Cassie Pruzin, who got into
early foul trouble and fouled out with four points.
Crown Point seems in good shape, however, having lost to
only state ranked teams (Wawasee, 4A No. 10 Warsaw).
“I hope the girls realize now we are there,” Webster said.
“I think it will spark us to keep working hard and
improving. We could taste how close we were tonight.”
Contact Annette VanDeCar at 648-3141 or e-mail avandecar@post-trib.com.
Bulldogs play well in loss to No. 4
Wawasee