Crown Point, Portage advance to semifinal

Updated: March 23, 2011 9:28AM

For the opening round of the Portage girls basketball sectional, it would've been a good idea to put all your chips on red, as Crown Point and host Portage advanced to Friday night's semifinal.

The Indians started off the night with a 40-32 win over LaPorte. Nicki Monahan's 24 points led all scorers.

"We knew they were going to try and take away Tori (Bliss); she really hurt them the last two times we played them," said Portage coach Chris Seibert. "When they do that, someone else is going to be open, and Nicki stepped up and made some big shots for us."

Said LaPorte coach Skeeter Heath: "We've been struggling to score points all year. We just don't have enough weapons on offense. And when you have that, you can't have the defensive breakdowns that we did."

Trailing by 10 in the third quarter, LaPorte got back-to-back 3-pointers from freshman Jaclyn Heath, moving the score to 30-26 in favor of Portage. But LaPorte got no closer, as the Indians hit 8 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

In the nightcap, the Crown Point-Valparaiso matchup unfolded just like the two previous contests, as the Bulldogs raced to a double-digit lead in the first half.

And just like the previous two games, the Vikings' second-half surge wasn't enough, as Crown Point defeated Valparaiso 58-54 - its third win over the Vikings this season.

"All three times, we had at least an 18-point lead on them in the first half," CP coach Mike Cronkhite said. "But they never quit; we knew they were going to make a run. Fortunately for us, it didn't get any closer than six or seven in the final minute, like they did in the past. During this time of year, it's all about survival, and that's what we did."

Valparaiso coach Jeanette Gray said her team couldn't get enough shots to fall in the opening two quarters.

"We didn't shoot very well in the first half and that's what really got us behind," she said. "We took way too many 3-pointers in the first half. In the second half, we did a better job with our post players. It opened up some easier opportunities for us."

Crown Point's Courtney Kvachoff and Valparaiso's Ariana Paul scored 20 points each.

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