The Crown Point Lady Bulldogs continued their dominance on Friday, taking a 54-21 win over the Lake Central Indians, putting their season record at 13-0. Aside from the fact that the victory marked a critical conference win as the Dogs search for DAC crown, it was also their first victory over Lake Central in the better part of nearly a decade.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve beat LC, I think about seven or eight years,” noted Lady Bulldogs Head Coach Chris Seibert. “We know how great their program is, how well coached they are. To be able to come out here and get a win on our home court, I just couldn’t be prouder of the girls and how they really brought it again on the defensive end which was the start of everything.”
Certainly, the Dogs have been absolutely overwhelming on defense this year, shutting down schools like Hobart and Valparaiso 86-11 and 61-18 respectively. The team also has another big story developing in their explosive young talent such as Jessica Carrothers, a freshman guard who puts up double-digit point totals with the ease of a veteran. Carrothers strives not to let the media and scout attention get into her head and follows Coach Seibert’s philosophy of taking things one game at a time.
“I’m pretty much focused on getting everyone involved and being a team player while contributing where I can,” she said. “Coach makes every team look very good so that we don’t go into games too confident, we just take it game by game.”
Developing the Bulldog’s young stars and building on their already immense talent is always on Seibert’s mind, and for their part, the girls are not content to sit back and coast to the playoffs. “The real good players are the ones that are hardest on themselves,” Seibert said. “And these players are not complacent, they’re not satisfied by any means. They know that we’ve still got to continue to get better. We’ve had a great start and we’re appreciative and excited about that, but we know we’ve got a long way to go.”
For Lake Central, the loss makes them 4-9 on the season, but with a lot of basketball still to play – they are eager to improve their record and learn everything they can from each game.
“I just hope the kids come away with this knowing that we might get another chance with [Crown Point] in Sectionals,” said Jeanette Gray, member of LC’s coaching staff and JV head coach. “You’ve just got to keep perspective, we’ve played some really good teams and the schedule was tough at the start of the year. You’ve just got to continually get better every single day, and those small increments will eventually pay off down the road.”