HILLARY SMITH: Merrillville's undefeated season ends without roar

PORTAGE | Victoria Gaines hit a screen by a Michigan City player and crumpled to the floor.

Five seconds later, when the offensive play finally stopped, Gaines couldn't roll over. Merrillville needed a pair of tall assistants to take the 6-foot freshman post player to the bench.

The crowd at the Portage Sectional gasped as it learned collectively that she couldn't put pressure on her left knee.

At the time, Gaines was the Pirates leading scorer, with 13 points.

The injury summed up Merrillville's loss to Michigan City, the collective gasp that comes when the region's only undefeated team falls 70-56 in the sectional semifinal.

After the injury to the first-year varsity player, Merrillville found the intensity that helped it to the regular-season unbeaten record.

"It was too little too late, we needed that intensity to begin with," Merrillville coach Amy Govert said.

Down by 14 after the first quarter, Merrillville tried to claw back, feeding the ball inside to Gaines.

By the second half, the Pirates tried to take advantage of Michigan City fouls. By the end of the third quarter, the

Wolves had two starters with four fouls and another with three. A bench player had another four fouls.

When Gaines was lost to her injury, senior Raveen Murray wiped her eyes with her uniform, then scored a quick bucket and a 3-pointer. To that point, the Pirates' leading scorer this season had just six points. Murray, who is Gaines' cousin, finished with 14 points.

Michigan City led by as many as 24 points and despite short runs, Merrillville couldn't find the defensive stops or the offensive power to make a substantial dent. The closest the Pirates pulled was 14 in the second half.

"Michigan City played better tonight," Govert said. "They were ready to play, we weren't."

Through the second half of the regular season, Govert was concerned about her team's ability to pull together two clean halves. A stellar first half would end with a sloppy second half, as shown in the second game of the regular season against Michigan City, when the Wolves closed a double-digit first-half gap to as close to six in the second half.

In the end, the Pirates found their reason to fight, but found it too late.

"They fought at the end and I love this team," Govert said. "I'm proud of them. Obviously this is not what we wanted, how we wanted this season to end. But that's why you play the games."

This column solely represents the writer's opinion. Reach her at hillary.smith@nwi.com.