The Merrillville High School Pirates shut down the Hammond Morton High School Governors for a 56-14 victory in Girls’ Basketball Sectional play. The win sets them up to duel the Gary West Side Cougars in the Sectional Semi-final on Friday.
Both the Pirates and the Governors struggled to find the basket from the outset, tallying just a 7-0 total by the end of the first quarter.
“We didn’t do very well offensively today, lots of missed shots, lots of turnovers,” said Amy Govert, Pirates Head Coach. “I don’t know if we can chalk that up to nerves or whatever else, but the one thing you can always count on is how hard we play. Even if we don’t play well on the offensive end, we’ll always give the effort and that’s why we love this group.”
That effort resulted in a standout defensive performance – the Governors did not score their first point until nearly 3 minutes into the third quarter.
“You can always play well defensively, and our guard are the ones that really get after it,” Govert said. “I can’t say enough about Torri Miller and Cailynn Dilosa, they’re the fastest kids in this half of the state. We call them pests because they’re always in there getting steals, getting their hands on the ball, and getting us going. Torri got us going tonight when we were struggling.”
Miller, a senior, led all scorers with 12 points, while Heaven Clopton led the Govenors with 6.
Friday, the Pirates will play the Gary West Side Cougars on their home court 5:30 p.m. The winner of that matchup will advance to face the Lake Central Indians for the Sectional Championship.