Clearly defined roles in HCT

Taylor, Western headline Howard County girls tournament

By CHRIS GARNER Tribune sportswriter

The stage is set for the 2006 edition of the annual Howard County girls basketball tournament, and all of the roles have been filled — that of the Favorite, the Contender, the Dark Horse and the Long Shot.

And while the four-act drama unfolds this evening at Center Court, the cast has had its lines down pat for some time.

Host Taylor (11-1) is on a roll, winning 10 games in a row, including victories over all three county schools this season. The Class 2A No. 6-ranked Titans meet Eastern (2-9) at 6 p.m.

Taylor warmed up for the county tourney by whipping Hammond Noll 75-31 and host Mishawaka 85-40 over the Christmas break at the Mishawaka Classic.

“Hopefully we’re not peaking at the wrong time, but we’re playing pretty well,” said coach Dennis Bentzler. “Right now we’re playing about as well as we can play.”

In the nightcap, defending champ Western (11-2) faces Northwestern (7-5). The Panthers are coming off a huge tournament win at Twin Lakes, where they defeated Class 3A No. 3-ranked Evansville Memorial and Class 4A Mooresville in the finale.

One of Western’s two losses this season was a 53-48 setback to the Titans on Dec. 3.

“We haven’t even mentioned Taylor because we try to take one game at a time,” coach Kyle Barrentine said. “It’s one of our goals to win the Howard County Tournament. Favorite or not a favorite, we’re going to approach it the exact same way.”

Play resumes Saturday with the consolation and championship games beginning at 6 p.m.

The Titans boast one of the best offensive vs. defensive averages in the state. They’re 10th in scoring with 68.9 points per contest and fourth overall in average winning margin at 28.5.

Taylor defeated Eastern 64-46 on Nov. 26.

“Taylor is a very good basketball team, and we’re looking forward to the challenge,” Eastern coach Mike Springer said. “Hopefully we can have a better outcome than the first time we met them.

“Any time you play Taylor you have to be able to handle their pressure. They do a good job making you do things you really don’t want to do with the basketball.”

The Titans won the tourney two years ago and thought they had a shot last year. But after beating the Tigers by 10 points earlier that season, Taylor suffered a 1-point loss to Northwestern in the semifinals. Bentzler doesn’t want to see a repeat of that this year.

“Our kids are guarded [against a letdown],” Bentzler said. “You can’t look forward to Northwestern-Western because Eastern is right there. They are a dangerous team, and Leslie Kingseed always plays well against us. I’ve not found a way to stop her in the last two years.”

Kingseed leads the Comets with 11.5 points and 6.5 rebounds a game. The Titans counter with a balanced attack, led by Morgan McWhorter’s 16.1 scoring average, followed by Jamie Dunlap (11.6 ppg). Brianne Christophel hauls down 5.2 rebounds per game.

“I like the way we’re playing right now, but it’s going to be a dogfight,” Bentzler said.

Likewise for Barrentine, whose team beat Northwestern by six, 54-48, back in November after the Tigers led late in the game. He said his team must negate Northwestern’s height advantage to pull out a win.

“[Northwestern] gave us a lot of problems last time driving the ball to the basket,” Barrentine said. “Audrey Gaither shot 18 free throws against us all by herself, so we need to make sure we control the defensive [rebounding].

“We know that in order for us to advance to Saturday’s championship game, we’re going to have to play a complete game at both ends of the court.”

Gaither stands out for Northwestern with team-highs of 10.1 points and 7.6 rebounds a game. She also dishes out 2.4 assists, second on the team to Annelise Tarkington (2.6 apg).

Coach Mike McCroskey is concerned with how his team played at the Frankfort Holiday Tournament. His girls turned the ball over 42 times in two losses, not a good trend when preparing for the Panthers.

“Western puts pressure on, so we cannot let them score off of our offense,” he said. “If we’re making turnovers and letting them score off the offense, we’re in trouble.”

Western is led by Hannah Thieke, who has team-highs of 18.5 points and 3.9 assists per contest. Chrystal Campbell is the leading rebounder with 8.8 per game.

“The girls are playing hard, and our approach to practice is better now than what it was earlier in the [season], said Barrentine. “Our focus is on Northwestern, and if we continue to progress like we’ve progressed so far, I really like our chances.”