Novea Brandon, Ella Boyanski, Reese Dilbeck and Lindsi McGuffey combine for 64 points in 77-35 victory over visiting Hobart

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The disparity of talent is so extensive in most girls high school basketball matchups that the trick for the more talented team becomes maintaining focus and not playing down to the opponent’s level.
Chesterton did a terrific job of that in its 77-35 rout of Hobart on Tuesday night and has the numbers to prove it.
The score by quarters in the first three periods before the Trojans’ starters went to the bench: 22-8, 22-8, 22-9.
They didn’t play to the scoreboard, which is more difficult than it sounds.
“It’s hard,” Chesterton coach Candy Wilson said. “It’s really hard.”
Yet, the Trojans accomplished it, cutting hard to the hoop and doing it consistently as the gap widened. It resulted in a number of easy baskets and four players scoring at least 15 points in three quarters of action: Novea Brandon 17, Ella Boyanski and Reese Dilbeck 16, and Lindsi McGuffey 15. Reserve Taylor Kisic added seven points.
The Trojans (9-4) hit eight 3-pointers in the first three quarters, four from McGuffey, two apiece from Boyanski and Brandon.
The opportunities for open shots came from the players doing a good job of moving without the ball and moving the ball productively, well past when it was obvious which team would win.
Dilbeck explained the key to maintaining intensity when the outcome isn’t in doubt.
“Definitely working together and then keeping up our speed of the game,” she said. “Just because they’re not as good as us, or not at the same tempo doesn’t mean we have to slow down our tempo. Or we even speed things up so we can force turnovers, so definitely keeping up our tempo of the game is important.”
On a team stocked with post players and in need of another perimeter threat Dilbeck would be firing 3-pointers. Instead, she has attempted only three 3-pointers. Her last made 3s came in the Maroon & Gold scrimmage, when she got hot from the corner, fresh off volleyball season.
On this team, which lacks height and strength and has a surplus of guards, Dilbeck is needed inside and is strong enough to establish position and keep it. Her post footwork gets more polished by the minute and she’s the team’s leading rebounder.
“I think my post game is getting better, and my stamina too,” Dilbeck said.
She said she is enjoying playing center, sometimes from the high post, other times in the low post.
“You have so many different options when you catch the ball in the high post,” Dilbeck said. “I can pass. I can shoot, definitely a lot of options.”
In the three games Dilbeck missed with two different injuries, the Trojans weren’t the same team without her as with her.
“She makes a big, big, big difference,” Wilson said.
Dilbeck was one of many Trojans who made the sort of difference Wilson is looking for from her players on a night the team reached a season-high in scoring.
“We finally got hot dogs,” Wilson said of a George Gyro’s promotion triggered when Chesterton’s boys or girls varsity basketball team scores 67 points in a home game. “It was our first one.”
Spectators of the 67-point games are eligible for a free hot dog from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. the day after the high-scoring games.
After having Christmas Eve and Christmas day off, the Trojans are back in action Friday and Saturday in the DeKalb Tournament. On Friday they face Kokomo at 10:45 a.m. and Fort Wayne Carroll at 5:45. On Saturday they play Northwood at 2:15 p.m.