‘Total team effort’ with McGuffey, Boyanski and Dilbeck scoring in double figures leads Chesterton girls basketball to win season opener at Highland 62-39

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The Chesterton High School girls basketball team demonstrated so many midseason traits in its season opener Friday night at Highland.
It wasn’t so much the score, Chesterton 62, Highland 39, as the poise and depth the winners showed in getting to the end result that was most encouraging.
Effort, teamwork and hot shooting ruled the night for veteran coach Candy Wilson’s second Chesterton team on a night in which 43 points were scored by members of the freshman and sophomore classes.
Sophomore Lindsi McGuffey buried three 3-pointers in the opening three-and-a-half minutes, hit another in the second quarter and in the second half hunted a victory instead of an individual point total. She scored 12 of her 14 points in the first half to go with five rebounds and four assists.
Ella Boyanski, a 5-foot-9, highly skilled freshman equally comfortable posting up and feathering 3-pointers through the net, made her Chesterton debut a memorable one, scoring a team-high 17 points, and picking up six rebounds and three steals.
“Very savvy, very savvy,” Wilson said of Boyanski. “She’s one who might break some records for us at some point. She’s got a long way to go. She’s just a freshman.”
When Highland made runs, 5-8 junior Novea Brandon (eighth points, four assists, three steals, a blocked shot) had a way of settling the team and pushing the right pace for the moment to regain control of the game. An athlete in control of her emotions beyond her years, Brandon spread her arms and punched the air when she swished a 30-footer that beat the third-quarter buzzer.
And nobody did more to influence the victory than 5-9 sophomore Reese Dilbeck, who started the game at center and is every bit as smooth a fit at guard and forward. Dilbeck (10 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, four steals) did it all without forcing a thing.
Senior Allison Van Kley stood out defensively by prowling the passing lanes, skillfully partaking in effective traps, and finished with nine points, three rebounds and two assists.
Sophomores Addison Pack and Taylor Kisic came off the bench to energize the team with defensive hustle, and senior Addison Glossinger scored a bucket in transition.
The visitors totaled 12 steals, and with the guards keeping their heads up and pitching ahead in transition, Chesterton turned Highland’s 18 turnovers into 18 points.
Moving the ball rapidly resulted in open 3-pointers for the winning team, which made 8 of 17 from beyond the arc.
“Complete team effort,” Wilson said. “All the kids gave us a lot of really good minutes. I can’t pick out just one who won the game for us. Everybody played well, and that’s what you want.”
Known more as a shooter playing varsity as a freshman, McGuffey used her summer on basketball courts and in strength and conditioning coach Matt Wagner’s weight room to expand her game in a big way.
“Over the summer I’m playing all these AAU games and travelling to play four, five games, has really helped a lot,” McGuffey said. “And playing AAU with Novea has built our chemistry, getting the ball to each other, getting open and shooting it.”
All the guards were mindful of looking ahead and firing accurate passes downcourt.
“At practice we do a lot of transition work, so it’s good to see that it’s translating into the game because we work on it a lot in practice,” McGuffey said.
Her hot start seemed to have the effect of making all the first-game jitters melt away as Chesterton took an 18-12 lead at the end of the first quarter, which expanded to 33-13 until the team’s worst stretch arrived, and Highland scored the final 10 points of the half to cut the lead in half, 33-23, at the half.
When Highland’s best player, senior Jordan Steele hit a 3-pointer early in the second half, she cut her team’s deficit to six points, but Chesterton quickly regained control. The girls played in a way that showed winning the opener meant a lot to them.
“I think it shows a lot,” McGuffey said. “It shows our culture right now, how we work hard together, we play as one unit. It’s not just individual people playing for themselves. Winning this game just shows people what kind of team we are.”
Chesterton faces a much more difficult opponent Saturday night, travelling to Northridge, but regardless of how that game goes, Wilson believes in her team’s potential.
“I think we’re off the radar with a lot of people, but we’re going to be on the radar soon here because this is a good group,” Wilson said.