Girls Basketball: Pirates hang on to beat Dogs

Updated: December 27, 2011 10:27PM

MERRILLVILLE — Blame it on the post-Christmas blues.

Blame it on poor free-throw shooting (13 of 27) and 15 turnovers.

Regardless of what was to blame, Merrillville coach Amy Govert wasn’t exactly pleased about the way her team performed in Tuesday’s Duneland Conference game against rival Crown Point.

In fact, Govert said she felt fortunate her No. 6 state-ranked Pirates (11-0, 7-0) were able to emerge with a not-so-impressive 64-56 victory over the Bulldogs (8-5, 5-3).

“We’re just happy to get out of here with a win,” Govert said. “This was the worst performance we’ve had in a long time. This was not Merrillville basketball. We were slow-moving and not thinking. We were an average team tonight. We’re better than what we showed.

“We were lucky tonight. Anyone could have easily knocked us off tonight. They (Bulldogs) out-hustled us all night. They got to every loose ball we didn’t — and that was something that was very disappointing to me.”

Govert said she could tell by the way the Pirates came in for practice Monday that Tuesday night’s game could be a struggle.

Pirates’ point guard Raveen Murray, who made 7 of 12 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, had a game-high 25 points, while Daryian Morris added 13.

When asked if she liked anything about the way her Pirates played, Murray shook her head.

“We didn’t come out as strong as we wanted to,” she said. “The way we played was good enough to win, but sometimes good enough isn’t good enough at all.”

The Pirates, who managed to shoot 54.8 percent from the floor, were clinging to a 45-42 lead early in the fourth period when Jasmyne Miller and A.J. Downs converted transition baskets.

Crown Point, though, managed to crawl back within 49-46, following a 3-point play by Courtney Kvachkoff, who led the Dogs with 20 points.

Alexis Joseph added 18 and grabbed nine rebounds.

The Bulldogs, who shot only 24.1 percent from the floor in the first half and 36.2 for the game, trailed 53-50 after Kvachkoff hit both ends in the bonus situation.

But a 3-point play by Murray with 3:53 left, gave Merrillville a 56-50 lead and CP never got closer.

“We should have won the game, but I’m so proud of our kids,” CP coach Anne Equihua said. “They gave us everything they had. They gave us their hearts. I really believe in these kids and I think they’re starting to believe in each other.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.