When Merrillville High School Head Basketball Coach Amy Govert watched her girls roll past Hammond Morton in the first round of Sectionals on Wednesday, she was happy to win, but not totally satisfied. She thought of the missed shots, missed opportunities on turnovers, and some general jitters – and knew there was more in the tank.
“It wasn’t great, my kids know that,” she said at the time. “But, the one thing you can always count on is how hard we play.”
On Friday, that effort resulted in a clean offensive performance – one that led the Pirates to a 68-27 victory over the Cougars in the sectional semi-final.
“It always helps when you hit your shots,” Govert said. “We played with more confidence and were more focused tonight. We made the right reads, made some nice inside-out kicks for threes and we finished inside. It was much better and the whole feel tonight was different.”
42 of the Pirates’ points came in the first half, with 13 of those coming from senior guard Torri Miller. She added two more in the third quarter for a total of 15 – but Govert took advantage of the point cushion to slow the pace and manage minutes for her starters to keep them fresh for tomorrow’s championship matchup with Lake Central. The Indians advanced to the final after Munster withdrew from the tournament after a positive COVID-19 test.
“We’ve got to take care of what we can control,” Govert said “We’ll bring in [the team] in the morning, walkthrough, shoot around, watch film, and be ready to go.”
