Lindsi McGuffey shoots Chesterton to 53-34 victory with 20 points vs. Tri-Township as 7-3 Trojans continue to battle injuries

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The Chesterton girls basketball team had little trouble defeating Tri-Township, 53-34, Tuesday night, but the Trojans just can’t seem to slay one pesky opponent: injuries.
Their two leading rebounders, sophomore Reese Dilbeck and senior Allison Van Kley, quickly knocked off any rust from competing in fall sports, Reese volleyball, and Van Kley cross country, to get off to quick starts to the season.
Then Dilbeck was sidelined three games after taking an elbow to the eye and suffering a concussion. She returned to have a big game against Michigan City, then turned an ankle in practice Monday. She aggravated the injury in Tuesday’s game vs. Tri-Township.
Van Kley returned after a three-game shoulder injury Tuesday and will need to make an adjustment period learning to shoot with a brace on. She came out of the game to adjust it at one point because it was too tight.
“It’s hard right now because we’re young and we’re having to have people step into different spots because of injuries and we don’t have a flow yet,” second-year Chesterton coach Candy Wilson said. “We’re struggling with that. We were starting to get a flow and then we had the two injuries. We take two steps forward and one step back.”
Fortunately, guards Lindis McGuffey, a sophomore, and junior Novea Brandon, have avoided injuries and done a nice job of taking turns running the offense.
McGuffey caught fire Tuesday and never cooled off, making 4 of 8 3-pointers. She scored a game-high 20 points and added eight rebounds, two assists, three steals and a blocked shot. Brandon tallied 11 points, five assists and four rebounds.
Van Kley, the team’s lone senior starter and a key to a team adept at forcing turnovers and playing speedily in transition, ranks fourth on the team in scoring (7.4) and second in rebounds (5.0) and steals (3.3). She used her quickness to snag seven rebounds in the win over Tri-Township.
Dilbeck, the team’s strongest player underneath, is comfortable playing any position.
“Reese is our best finisher underneath,” Wilson said. “She played so well at Michigan City (12 points, five rebounds, six steals). She can play post for us, she can play point guard, she can play wing.”
Chesterton faces Portage at home Friday and doesn’t play again until visiting Valparaiso on Friday, Dec. 19.
“The idea is we can get her back for the Valpo game,” Wilson said of Dilbeck.
Freshmen have gained valuable experience to fill in for injured players. Macie Pack, who plays taller than 5-foot-2, averages 1.8 rebounds in limited playing time. Chloe Murzyn, a 5-10 post player who also played varsity volleyball, already contributes on the boards.
Ella Boyanski, who had a team-high eight rebounds and a long, accurate outlet pass that turned heads vs. Tri-Township, has started all season and is the team’s second-leading scorer (9.8).
“She’s in a hard position because to be a freshman on varsity, it’s rough,” Wilson said of the skilled Boyanski. “And you’ve gone from playing in middle school to being on varsity at the 4A level. The big thing with the varsity level is your defense. When you get onto the varsity level you have to play good defense, especially with me because I’m a defensive coach. And we’re going to get better at it.”
Defensive improvement was top of mind for McGuffey as well after her big scoring night.
“Our offensive flow was pretty good. We did well with that,” McGuffey said. “We had a few good inside-outs. We were passing the ball well for the most part. We definitely need to pick up our defense for Valpo next week. It was a little ugly on the defensive side, but we’ll get it cleaned up.”
Chesterton improved to 7-3 overall and is 2-0 headed into Friday’s Teacher Appreciation Night.