A win should be more fun

Tonight we traveled to the Courts of Northwest Indiana (some even traveled there directly ;-)) to play the Portage Christian School JV boys team and varsity girls. The tone was set for the evening when some of our parents and players arrived and found Portage's boys leaving. They had just played a varsity game and someone forgot to tell them they had a JV game. Thankfully they were able to keep the players there that hadn't left and got some others to come back. Since some of the players were varsity players, we're going to consider this game a varsity one. Next there was the problem of warm-up time arriving before most of our players. People, read your emails! Anyway, the team had all arrived by 5, and the game got started at 5:15.

I'm going to guess their point guard is their varsity point guard. Number 11 was quick, could handle the ball and could shoot. Number 15 was quite good as well, playing down low. The first quarter saw 11 get things going with a drive to the basket right off the tip. They then played strong defense, harassing our ball handlers and causing eight turnovers while only allowing us to take four shots. Meanwhile Portage was getting points both inside and outside. Score at the end of one was 11-2, Portage.

Our guys started holding on to the ball a little better in the second, committing only six turnovers. They also crashed the boards harder, getting eleven in the quarter.  And they got off more shots. Twelve to be exact. Three went in. Luke Dorn, Dustin and Justin each got a basket off of rebounds. Portage also made three field goals, but one was a three. They had just as many attempts as the first quarter, but our defense was a little more active. Score at half was Portage, 18-8.

In the third, Number 15 ("Woody") started muscling in shots underneath. He scored eight of their thirteen on three of five field goals and two free throws. They also cranked up the defense. They didn't cause our guys to turn it over much, but we couldn't get many open shots. Luke D. popped in a three for the Patriots' only points in the quarter. Six other shots went awry. So now Portage led by twenty going into the fourth quarter, 31-11.

Stanley found his shot just in time for the fourth quarter. He made a couple from the corner and another from the field and only missed two. Justin got another one. Portage had a hard time hitting shots in the quarter, so the Patriots had the satisfaction of "winning" the quarter, 8-7. Final score: 38-19, Portage. Justin and Stanley finished with six points each, while Luke D. had five and Dustin had a basket. Luke L. once again led with fourteen rebounds while Justin had ten. The quarter was an encouragement to the team, as the offense started clicking. Hopefully they can use this to build on for the future. The Portage coaches came over and were very encouraging to our guys. Quite a contrast to the girls' game.

We played Portage last year and led most of the game, but Portage caught and passed us and won by five. We knew that one of their tall girls graduated and with our improvement, we felt we could win this one. But the way the girls shot in the first quarter, they weren't going to beat anyone. Twelve shots went up and a total of one went in. Portage was flinging it up even more than HSRC, and got two to fall to go with a free throw. Hmmm, a free throw. We didn't get many of those this game. More on that later. After one it was 5-2, Portage.

The Patriots scored the first six points in the second to lead by three. After a basket exchange, HSRC got another one and led by five. During this stretch, the Portage coach started getting agitated, complaining a lot about calls and noncalls. Meanwhile, Portage went to the line again. Free throw count to this point: Portage 4, HSRC 0. Foul calls at the half: HSRC 3, Portage 0. Team playing aggressively on defense: Portage. Not exactly sure what the problem was. Portage made one of the two free throws to pull within four at the half, 12-8.

In the third, the Patriots continued the pattern they started in the second. Portage was playing a box-and-one, where they play a square zone with four of their players and the fifth played man-to-man against Kara. Because of this, HSRC had begun to work it inside in the second, resulting in Becca and Rachel scoring six of the team's ten. In the third, Becca hit a couple of nice ten-footers from the baseline, and she and Rachel scored all of the teams' points. On the other end of the court, the defense was decent, not great, but held Portage to six. All this time, Portage's coach kept up the haranguing of the refs. I don't have the foul count for the quarter, but I do know that Portage got two more free throws and HSRC got none. Anyway, we went into the fourth quarter leading 20-14.

The fourth quarter began with some misses on both sides, but the Portage coach thought that there were fouls against his players that weren't being called. He got more and more upset, and after the refs asked him to stop complaining, they finally had enough and called a technical on the coach. Becca was sent to the line to take them. She missed the first, and as she took the second, one of their players yelled, which I believe demonstrated a lack of sportmanship. After this, an assistant coach took up the role of ref baiter. The ref explained that he had to sit down, that after a technical no coaches were allowed to stand. He told the coach that three times. The coach did not sit dow. Technical #2. Becca again went to the line. While she was shooting, the bench players started cheering to distract her. More poor sportsmanship. The coach then substituted his entire starting team out. The starters sat on the bench and cheered derisively the rest of the game. I believe some of the Portage parent joined in as well. While all this was going on, HSRC cranked up the defense. The shooting cooled off, however, so the Patriots only scored six in the quarter. When Coach Boss cleared the bench, the lead was ten. Portage scored one more basket to make the final 26-18.

Final foul tally: HSRC 9, Portage 7. Final non-technical free throw count: Portage 8, HSRC 1. After further poor sportsmanship in comments from the Portage players in the post-game handshakes, it was finally over. Kind of a miserable win.

Anyway, the numbers. Becca had ten points, Rachel six, Kara and Lee four and Alyssa had two. Becca also had fourteen rebounds, three steals and a block, Kara had six steals, three assists and a block, Alyssa had three steals and three assists, and Rachel had ten rebounds. The team shot 12 of 47 from the field and had 36 rebounds.

Now a long Christmas break. Hopefully we can get some gym time between the holidays to keep the skills sharp. Next games are both boys and girls at Crossroads. Watch your emails very closely for the location. Also, practice next Monday is at Crete Reformed Church, on exchange just west of 394. We will also send out an email. Look for it. Don't forget. Don't go to Balmoral School. Just don't. Crete Reformed. Girls at 5 and boys at 7. Not at Balmoral. ;-)