LCA Girls Get Good Draw For 1A Sectional
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Beginning its Class 1A Sectional 52 journey at Hamilton High School Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., the Lakeland Christian Academy Lady Cougars will face Howe School, which the Sagarin ratings have ranked 410th out of 410 teams.
With a win over Howe, which LCA did 61-4 in its second game of the season on Nov. 16 in Howe, it would face the winner of Wednesday’s 6 p.m. game between Elkhart Christian Academy and Hamilton on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
Earlier this season, LCA defeated ECA 39-38 on Jan. 9 at home, but fell 54-23 at Hamilton on Dec. 7.
“Unless Howe has really changed things and re-adjusted their team, they shouldn't have a very strong showing,” second-year LCA coach Ty Propp said. “(Elkhart Christian) against Hamilton, Elkhart played marginally well (against us) at times. Will they give Hamilton a game? Hope so. I'd rather play Elkhart than Hamilton.”
The other half of the bracket pairs Lakewood Park Christian and Bethany Christian at 7 p.m. Tuesday night, with the winner facing Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian at 6 p.m. Friday night.
The championship game will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
In its half of the bracket, LCA may be able to look past Howe and will likely face Hamilton, a team it had problems with in the regular season.
“They have some bigs inside that took care of us pretty well last time,” Propp said of Hamilton. “We just have to play a better game against them. We did a good job at the beginning, but then we began to fall behind and lost our confidence.”
Maintaining confidence has been a key aspect of LCA’s season, because when it begins to fade, the deficit grows quickly.
“We get to a point, then all of a sudden we get down (on ourselves),” Propp said. “They'll turn a press on us. We'll handle the press well the first couple of times, but all of sudden we begin to think we can go outside the parameters that we have set up and we start throwing the ball away. Once that (doubt) begins to creep into our heads, we're just lost.
“That press really seems to be the deciding factor,” he added.
Along with the press being a negative to the Lady Cougars, they’ll also be without senior forward Hannah Remington for the second-round game.
“She’s going to be involved in a scholarship competition for college next year,” Propp said of Remington. “It just happens to be on Friday. Defensively, she’s really a spark plug for us. She’s the one that gets in there and battles and gets the boards.
“Not having her, I’m going to need some younger players to step up. I’ll still have two seniors in there, but they don’t carry the energy that Hannah carries when it comes to attacking things and making things happen.”
On the year, sophomore Hannah Delp has led the LCA offensive attack with 8.3 points per game, followed by sophomore Rachel Sand’s 7.6 and Remington’s 6.2.
Without Remington, LCA will definitely be short-handed, but Propp feels the lessons his team has learned over the course of the season should help in a potential semifinal game against Hamilton.
“I think we can give them a good game,” he said. “If we can stay close enough to give them a good game, then we have a shot. In any given game of the tournament, if a team can stay with another, then there's always a chance of pulling off a win.”
Before that potential matchup, LCA will have to deal with Howe, which is presenting an ethical dilemma for Propp.
“I would have rather have drawn a team that would have really forced us to be more attentive to how to play the game,” Propp said. “Going into it, I just hope it’s not anticlimactic. When it comes to the tournament, I tend to be too soft and don’t really want to beat a team up. But another part of me that says, ‘If we go in and score 100 points, then we score 100 points.’ We just have do what we do and execute well. If Howe is a casualty of that, then that’s just the way it happens. I can’t jeopardize the opportunity we have to play well in the second round by being soft in the first round.”[[In-content Ad]]
Beginning its Class 1A Sectional 52 journey at Hamilton High School Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., the Lakeland Christian Academy Lady Cougars will face Howe School, which the Sagarin ratings have ranked 410th out of 410 teams.
With a win over Howe, which LCA did 61-4 in its second game of the season on Nov. 16 in Howe, it would face the winner of Wednesday’s 6 p.m. game between Elkhart Christian Academy and Hamilton on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
Earlier this season, LCA defeated ECA 39-38 on Jan. 9 at home, but fell 54-23 at Hamilton on Dec. 7.
“Unless Howe has really changed things and re-adjusted their team, they shouldn't have a very strong showing,” second-year LCA coach Ty Propp said. “(Elkhart Christian) against Hamilton, Elkhart played marginally well (against us) at times. Will they give Hamilton a game? Hope so. I'd rather play Elkhart than Hamilton.”
The other half of the bracket pairs Lakewood Park Christian and Bethany Christian at 7 p.m. Tuesday night, with the winner facing Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian at 6 p.m. Friday night.
The championship game will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
In its half of the bracket, LCA may be able to look past Howe and will likely face Hamilton, a team it had problems with in the regular season.
“They have some bigs inside that took care of us pretty well last time,” Propp said of Hamilton. “We just have to play a better game against them. We did a good job at the beginning, but then we began to fall behind and lost our confidence.”
Maintaining confidence has been a key aspect of LCA’s season, because when it begins to fade, the deficit grows quickly.
“We get to a point, then all of a sudden we get down (on ourselves),” Propp said. “They'll turn a press on us. We'll handle the press well the first couple of times, but all of sudden we begin to think we can go outside the parameters that we have set up and we start throwing the ball away. Once that (doubt) begins to creep into our heads, we're just lost.
“That press really seems to be the deciding factor,” he added.
Along with the press being a negative to the Lady Cougars, they’ll also be without senior forward Hannah Remington for the second-round game.
“She’s going to be involved in a scholarship competition for college next year,” Propp said of Remington. “It just happens to be on Friday. Defensively, she’s really a spark plug for us. She’s the one that gets in there and battles and gets the boards.
“Not having her, I’m going to need some younger players to step up. I’ll still have two seniors in there, but they don’t carry the energy that Hannah carries when it comes to attacking things and making things happen.”
On the year, sophomore Hannah Delp has led the LCA offensive attack with 8.3 points per game, followed by sophomore Rachel Sand’s 7.6 and Remington’s 6.2.
Without Remington, LCA will definitely be short-handed, but Propp feels the lessons his team has learned over the course of the season should help in a potential semifinal game against Hamilton.
“I think we can give them a good game,” he said. “If we can stay close enough to give them a good game, then we have a shot. In any given game of the tournament, if a team can stay with another, then there's always a chance of pulling off a win.”
Before that potential matchup, LCA will have to deal with Howe, which is presenting an ethical dilemma for Propp.
“I would have rather have drawn a team that would have really forced us to be more attentive to how to play the game,” Propp said. “Going into it, I just hope it’s not anticlimactic. When it comes to the tournament, I tend to be too soft and don’t really want to beat a team up. But another part of me that says, ‘If we go in and score 100 points, then we score 100 points.’ We just have do what we do and execute well. If Howe is a casualty of that, then that’s just the way it happens. I can’t jeopardize the opportunity we have to play well in the second round by being soft in the first round.”[[In-content Ad]]
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