Junior Novea Brandon leads Chesterton girls basketball to a 32-24 victory over Lake Central in a DAC opener at home to improve to 5-2

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

Down two injured starters and at a huge size disadvantage, the Chesterton girls basketball team knew what needed to be done to defeat visiting Lake Central in a DAC opener for both schools Wednesday night.
Knowing and doing can be miles apart, but on this night, the Trojans got it done by following the gameplan to overcome an early deficit, then building a big lead, and finally working the clock late to score a 32-24 victory.
LC had a pair of strong 6-foot-2 starters. The Trojans don’t have a single 6-footer on the roster and the five starters Wednesday night had an average height of 5-6.
Compounding matters, the Trojans fell behind 7-1, before freshman Ella Boyansky and junior Novea Brandon heated up, and an extremely active 1-3-1 zone rattled LC into committing turnovers.
Chesterton, which ran its record to 5-2 playing without injured starters Reese Dilbeck and Allison Van Kley, went on a 12-2 run to take a 13-9 lead at the end of a first quarter in which Boyansky
scored seven of her nine points. They led 20-13 at the half.
Starting the second half the way they finished it, the Trojans pushed their lead to 28-13 when Brandon (11 points) set up Taylor Kisic for a layup with a nifty interior pass and then buried her third 3-pointer of the night.
Brandon weighed in on how the Trojans scored the big win.
“We really had to use our speed to our advantage because they outsized us by a lot,” she said. “So, really just running fast and then being good at defensive transition because we know we can outrun them and get stops against them, that was really the key to the game.”
Another key: All five Chesterton defenders remained so active in the 1-3-1 zone.
“We needed to make sure everyone was rotating together to cover the big girls in the paint so that they didn't get a wide open layup,” Brandon said. “So, we had to make sure that everyone moved fast, we got our deflections, and everyone rotated together was very important. Everybody did that.”
Kisic earned the first start of her career and played the top of the 1-3-1 zone, a role normally performed so well by Van Kley, who missed the game with a shoulder injury sustained in a loss to Penn.
Sophomore Addison Pack, normally a reserve, also got the start and used her quickness and leaping ability to create havoc defensively and pick up rebounds.
Freshmen Chloe Murzyn and Macie Pack played key minutes off the bench. Senior Addison Glossinger was the only other player to appear in the game.
Chesterton second-year coach Candy Wilson used Murzyn to try to slow down LC’s two 6-2 players, sophomore Jillian Bearstadt (13 points) and senior Emma Szany (seven points), who combined to score all but four of LC’s points.
Bearstadt (game-high 13 points) scored a pair of consecutive baskets to pull her team within 30-21 midway through the fourth quarter, but Brandon hit a pair of free throws with 2:01 left to make the lead too big for Lake Central to overcome as the clock dwindled.
“We were just trying to chew out the clock. We were up by a significant amount of points, so we just had to make sure that we don't make stupid passes and go up for dumb shots that could put us behind and put them up,” Brandon said. “I think we executed pretty well. Obviously, we need to work on some stuff like jump-stopping. There were a couple of travels, but outside of that, I think we chewed out the clock pretty well.”
Playing on the wing on the 1-3-1, Brandon used her quick feet and long arms to poison the passing lanes.
“Novea had a great game, picked up her defense,” Wilson said. “That was huge for us. Huge. And Taylor playing the top of the 1-3-1 for Allison was big-time.”
Wilson also praised the work that Glossinger and especially Murzyn did defensively and on the boards in combating LC’s size.
“They both did a great job,” Wilson said.
Kisic and Lindsi McGuffey scored six points apiece for the Trojans on a night just four players scored and all eight played well defensively.
Kisic confessed to being a “little nervous, but I was ready,” in making her first start.
Building the big lead was the difficult part, but that doesn’t mean protecting the lead was easy.
“You want to take care of the ball,” Kisic said. “You don’t want to just throw it away fast. You want to wait for a good pass. It was stressful, for me at least.”
The absence of a shot-clock made the strategy an option and the young Trojans – three freshmen, three sophomores, one junior and one senior –
made it work.
“You only have to win by one,” Wilson said.
Of the eight players Chesterton used Wednesday, only Brandon and McGuffey earned meaningful varsity minutes last season. LC, which lost its starting point guard to a knee injury, has very little experience returning from last season and has a 3-4 record.
Chesterton next plays Tuesday night at Rensselaer Central (5-1) on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m.