Boone Grove/Merrillville thriller (Girls Bball)

[jtjrmoney8]

I was up at Chesterton tonight and saw a crazy game between Boone Grove and Merrillville..came down to the wire and Merrillville escaped with a 2 point victory

Boone Grove lost alot of talent from last season but other players have picked up the slack..I was impressed with Paige Aguilera and Brittany Slicker..I had originally though Hanover would take over the top spot in the PCC, but I'm not so sure anymore..Boone might actually run the table in this conference again

Merrillville is still without Victoria Gaines, but they still should have had no problems in this game..they looked sloppy, took some horrible shots, missed layups, and just didn't execute well..I know they are better than this but for some reason players just didn't seem focused tonight

[apollo]

Maybe Boone should schedule some more DAC teams in the Regular Season, get out of the PCC, and move to the GSSC with Hanover Central. Beating up on Lacrosse proves nothing.

[jtjrmoney8]

I talked to Candy Wilson for a couple of minutes before the game..she said that they have already beaten Chesterton and Valpo during the summer..and they have added Whiting to the schedule for the regular season..Crown Point, Portage, and Valpo are all bad teams this year..so honestly, Whiting is a better addition than any of those teams would have been

[jtjrmoney8]

Here are the highlights from that game..not sure Merrillville expected this kind of battle


youtu.be/fycje0AAb1s

[apollo]

Maybe Coach could sell you a better line. Portage with Nikki Monahan bad, no one on Boone is in her class? And I saw Valpo play Hobart tough, they are young but they have real good AAU teams at the lower levels and a motivated good coach in Jeanette Gray. JT thanks for trying to keep it real though, beating Lacrosse and Wash Twp proves what? And now Westville coming in the PCC? Keeping a good record, for a possible future Big School job that's my opinion.

[jtjrmoney8]

Every conference has weak teams at the bottom..at least they got rid of the South County Tournament..Boone's sectional won't be as strong this year..Winamac and Rochester had some heavy graduation losses..North Judson should be decent..I will see Boone at least a couple more times in July..from watching them play one game, they showed some real toughness against a team they should have no business "playing" with

[richsapper]

Boonoe Grove always looks good in the summer and in the regular season, The problem is that they don't schedule very tough teams in the regular season. The never get far in the tournament. I am not a believer. I have picked Boone to win too many times after a great season only to see them fall.

[jtjrmoney8]

They just beat Hobart tonight..mowing down sectional 2 teams left and right..they have already defeated 3 teams in that sectional, and will most likely beat Crown Point when they play in July

The regular season schedule is weak..you are absolutely right..but in their summer league they play all 4A schools and have fared pretty well so far

[pccwolves]

This is an interesting board. Love the basketball talk. As for Boone Grove, I'm not sure what more people could ask for. Our conference is up and down every year. I think for the most part we play a good schedule. Unfortunately, the team is locked into certain games every year like the South County and PCC Tournament. Then of course playing everyone in the regular season. They discontinued the South County after last year so it frees up a couple of games. I know we picked up Whiting and will play Bowman Academy again. Scheduling isn't as easy as some people think. With the limited nonconference schedule of the DAC, it makes it difficult to schedule those teams because they do not want to "waste" a game on a small 2A school. Maybe after the double round robin goes away there will be more opportunities to play up.

[apollo]

With the South County Tny gone possibly play in a tough tournament like the one Hanover hosts or like Oregon- Davis does.

[Admin75]

pccwolves: do you think with the elimination of the South County and the coming elimination double round robin in the DAC that Boone Grove might look at scheduling more Duneland opponents during the season? I'm sure as you say, it is tougher than most people think. It's that a real possibility? Even if not, do you think not having to play in the South County hurts or helps?

[richsapper]

As far as Boone Grove goes, I don't want anyone to take my comments that they are not a good team. They have a great coach, have had some of the best players to come out of Porter County, and have an outstanding record every year. The girls work hard match up well and the coaching staff does a great job with adjustments.

pccwolves is right in that scheduling a bit of a tougher non-conference schedule is very difficult. My criticism is more of the long standing issue I have had with the DAC, PCC and any other conference that schedules team to play in conference more than once. Since Indiana is still in the dark ages, and allows fewer games and less travel then most other states, kids in these conferences have to play each other a lot. I am not sure if that makes them better though. Now to Boone Grove's credit they have had several GSSC and some NCC schools. Bowman and Whiting are great additions to the schedule. But lost is the Crown Point matchup, which is one that I think was great for both schools. I am sure there are reason behind why BG-CP is no longer happening, but it is too bad the game is no longer available. I hope that the DAC schools (when they open up some slots) will play Boone Grove. I would like nothing more than to see the Wolves win a state championship.

I know this is easier said than done, but matchups against Griffith, a South Bend school perhaps, Oregon-Davis maybe. Those would be some intriguing matchups that would help get used to another style of play. Again, in a perfect world.

I get that teams play in the summer, but it is very hard to gauge what a team is going to do in the summer. It does help players to get better and coaches to try new things, but the full complement of players may not be there, the new things the coaches may be trying may not carry over to the high school season because they may find that they don't work.

It just seems that , like Hanover, Boone may be outgrowing the PCC. There is no doubt there are some good teams and great players in conference, and most fans would probably like to see them stay in the conference but the reality as apollo said may be that the school may have to leave the PCC because of football.

[soccermomrogers]

The Merrillville girls lost? I thought that they didn't lose to anyone.

[apollo]

Is he speaking about the tournament to Michigan City.

[soccermomrogers]

Was that last year or recently?