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They beat Crown Point by the score of 63-44, a night after upset undefeated 21-0 and #4 state rated Merrillville. City moves on to Regionals next weekend at Valpo. City will open with the top rated team in the state still playing basketball in #2 Penn who is 23-1 now after beating SB Washington 80-41.

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A lesson learned?

By Drew White
Unwritten No More
Published: Monday, February 13, 2012 10:01 AM CST
Back in November, I wrote a column that was headlined, “They can win it all.”

The subject of that column was the Michigan City girls basketball team – the same team you are reading about in the stories adjacent to today’s column.

In that column, I simply stated that I felt the team possessed the ability to win a state championship within the next two years.

In the weeks since it was published, I’ve received some teasing from various people. The most popular thing people felt it important to remind me is that the Wolves were coming off two straight seasons of being one-and-done in the IHSAA postseason – a fact I knew full well while making my proclamation.

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I wrote the column with the purpose of sending a message to many people – the team, the students and staff at Michigan City High School, and the community – that there is something special about this program, which I have covered extensively over the past two years.

I feared that the team wouldn’t collectively recognize the talent they possess and I feared that any number of obstacles that this program has had to weave its way through over the past few years would catch up with them.

Over the course of the year, in one way or another, the fears I harbored in regards to the team came true.

Yet, some way, some how – the Michigan City girls left me in a state of shock this weekend.

Unlike last year’s shock, which was the result of a nightmarish quarterfinal loss to Chesterton, this year’s jolt was of a positive current.

For the last several weeks, I’ve fielded e-mails asking what the term “disciplinary reasons” means in respect to the suspension of Wolves players.

I’ve gone to games, been asked who the starters will be by sportswriting contemporaries, and had nothing for them besides a shrug of the shoulders.

I watched a City team with all hands on deck go scoreless for an entire quarter of basketball.

I witnessed a team that came to the realization of just how much a season-ending knee injury to a starter can change things.

I saw a coaching staff doing everything they could to right a listing ship.

Quite frankly, I felt a team that had so much promise and potential was crumbling before my eyes.

I held my breath, hopeful that the Wolves could manage a victory over Hobart in the Wednesday night quarterfinal.

The Brickies made it interesting but the Wolves did what they needed to do. It was nothing spectacular, just the natural City talent running its course.

There was no evidence that Friday would come and the team I wrote the original column about would re-emerge from the shadows.

I gave City little chance of beating undefeated Duneland Conference champion Merrillville in the semifinals.

When the Wolves took the floor with the Pirates, everything came together. They jumped on Merrillville and never let up.

At halftime, when they led by 19, I looked for signs that indicated that I had indeed woken up that morning.

Sports Editor Adam Parkhouse, who had covered the earlier semifinal and watched the first half in the bleachers across the gymnasium, came and sat near me behind the scorers table. We both kind of looked at each other in bewilderment before discussing whether he should reconsider changing seats – as if the change would present some kind of jinx upon the Wolves.

It was all of no consequence.

The second half was more of the first.

Saturday’s final against Crown Point was more of Friday’s semifinal against Merrillville.

It was never in doubt who would win.

In about 27 hours, the Wolves played 64 minutes of the best basketball that could be played and have Michigan City High School’s 51st sectional trophy to show for it.

There were tremendous individual performances, but what propelled them into this coming weekend’s Valparaiso Regional was the team.

When I was writing the earlier column, I made it a point not to mention any individual players on the current team. I’m doing it again in today’s column.

The reason is simple.

This group of girls can win as a team or lose as individuals.

No one player is bigger than another.

We saw in four of the Wolves’ six losses what happens when players in this program miss games as the result of “disciplinary reasons.”

No matter how hard girls try to pick up the slack, this team needs everybody present and engaged mentally.

For the record, suspensions for “disciplinary reasons” are primarily the result of poor decisions. Maybe it is missing practice, maybe it is saying the wrong words to the wrong people.

We’ve all made poor decisions. All we can do is hope that we learn from those mistakes.

Based on what I saw Friday and Saturday night, this team has learned something.

That knowledge – provided the poor decisions are past us – is going to make the Michigan City girls an awfully tough team to beat this weekend.

We’ll see you in Valparaiso.





Contact sports writer Drew White at dwhite@thenewsdispatch.com or 874-7211, Ext. 447.

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Wolves win sectional title for Clifton

Michigan City's Aubria Clifton cuts down a part of the net after the Wolves beat Crown Point to earn the sectional championship on Saturday night in Portage. Photo by Bob Wellinski
By Adam Parkhouse
Staff Writer
Published: Monday, February 13, 2012 10:01 AM CST
PORTAGE — The buzzer sounded, players and coaches celebrated and before long, there was a girl dressed in a Wolves pullover that became the focus of the celebration.

Junior Aubria Clifton found herself surrounded by teammates in a huge embrace. When she took to the ladder to cut down a piece of net, she got the loudest ovation of anyone.

To understand why, you have to understand Clifton’s journey and how it impacted City’s season on the whole. It goes back to Dec. 13, the night when the landscape of Michigan City’s girls basketball season changed.

Going into that night, the Wolves were 6-0 on the young season, taking on an also-unbeaten Merrillville squad at the Wolves Den that was expected to be the Wolves’ biggest hurdle to win a sectional title.

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The game was slipping away from the Wolves when suddenly, Clifton went down. Immediately, it was clear something wasn’t right.

Soon it was revealed she had torn the ACL and sprained the MCL in her left knee. Surgery was on the horizon and her season was over.

In the moments following City’s win over Crown Point to win the Portage Sectional -- and just 24 hours after a romp over unbeaten No. 4 Merrillville -- Clifton was reflective.

“It’s just very emotional,” she said, seemingly holding back tears. “I want to be out there so bad. I feel like I don’t deserve any of this because I wasn’t a part of it.”

Clifton’s coach and teammates couldn’t disagree more.

“She’s a great kid,” City coach Mike Megyese said. “We won without her, but she’s a big part of what we do.”

Clifton was averaging just a shade under 10 points per game at the time of her injury, but that hardly tells the full tale of her impact.

A solid mid-range jumper and ability to be a shut-down defender describes her value on the court and in the box score, but she was a leader for the Wolves, both on and off the floor.

Junior Keshyana Cooper, who had 22 rebounds in City’s win over Crown Point, missed her long-time teammate.

“I know it’s hard for her because she’s always been there,” Cooper said. “It was weird not having her to my left. She’s been there since fourth grade.”

Cooper said the Wolves were definitely playing in Clifton’s honor.

“It’s something we feel,” Cooper said.

“She’s been very supportive. She really keeps the energy up in the gym.”

As Clifton stood in the middle of Portage’s gym with a piece of the championship net in her hand, she says she never doubted that moment would come.

“We’re a team,” Clifton said. “I felt that they could do it. I believed in our team.”

Clifton will have surgery on Feb. 23 to repair damage in that troublesome knee.

The recovery process will take around six months.

“I’ll be back,” she said. “I’ll come back better than ever.”