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This City girls team is really good. It would be awesome if this town started to get behind them a bit. They have one hurdle to clear, and if they do, sky's the limit.

Don't miss it: Michigan City at Merrillville, Dec. 12. The establishment meets the would-be successor to the throne. The Wolves have not beaten the Pirates in recent memory, coming close (59-57) late last season, so they know they're going to have to get past them if they want to get where they plan to go.

Wolves topple Pirates

30 transition points lead to M.C.'s victory

BY BOB MOULESONG
Times Correspondent

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 1:05 AM CST

MERRILLVILLE | It seemed the wolf was always at the door.

Michigan City combined a tenacious defense with a high-energy transition game to defeat Times No. 2 Merrillville 75-60 in a Duneland battle for first place Tuesday night.

It was the first time that the Pirates (5-3, 3-2) had lost to the Wolves (7-0, 5-0) this decade. It was also the first back-to-back losses for Merrillville in more than a year.

"We could not make the proper adjustments to get back on defense," Merrillville coach Amy Govert said. "We knew what to expect, and we practiced for it. But during the game we gave up easy lay-ups, one after another."

Govert was referring to the Wolves' transition game, which accounted for 30 points. Rebounds were quickly passed down court, where one or sometimes two Wolves already would be waiting.

Michigan City used a 14-2 run in the first quarter to go up 20-9. Eight of those points were off of lay-ups.

"Every team has a height advantage over us," Govert said. "But we know how to position and box out. But tonight we didn't play a fundamentally sound game, and it hurt us on both ends of the court."

The Pirates were able to cut the lead to single digits by halftime, trailing 33-25 entering the third.

But the Wolves turned it up another notch after the break, scoring 23 points in the third quarter to lead 61-41 enter the final period.

"We had a lot of miscommunication in the backcourt tonight," said senior Chrissy Lobodinski, who led the Pirates with 13 points and nine rebounds. "We knew the type of plays they would run, but I think we were caught off guard by their quickness."

Ta'Kenya Nixon led the Wolves with a game-high 21 points. Bianca McGee had 17, and Emma Tucker had 13 to go along with her 11 rebounds.

But it was the M.C. defense that had coach Gary Collins smiling about his first win over the Pirates in his six seasons.

"Our defense played well tonight," Collins said. "We forced them outside to play a perimeter game, which was our plan. By controlling the paint and the rebounds, we were able to set up our fast break and get a good lead."