GIRLS BASKETBALL REGIONAL: Coach with region roots tries to bring same strength to regional championship team

Second-year South Bend St. Joseph's coach Eric Mauch is a Lake Central graduate, and he could be overheard during a timeout, urging his charges to play hard and be strong with the ball.

"These are region kids, they play hard," he told his team.

He said he tries to instill that toughness in his players.

"(Griffith) is always in their stance. They're always in the right defensive position, and that's why they're the fourth-best defense in the state," he said. "I grew in St. John-Schererville and went to Lake Central in the '80s. I got to go on a state trip in '84 with Jim Hammel, and I do what he did. I've got a lot of Lake County roots, and we try to be defensive. We're sticky, too."

Hope for mid-day help: After E.C. Central beat Elkhart Memorial 46-39 in the regional semifinal, Cardinals coach Eric Kundich said that he was hoping to find a doctor who could clear freshman Tiajaney Hawkins in time for his team's second game of the day.

"We told her this week that if the pain subsided, we wanted her to play," Kundich said. "We want to find a doctor who can take a look at her. She's a force underneath and another guard we can add to the lineup."

The freshman who averaged 9.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game suffered a shoulder injury in the sectional championship game against Lake Central. She didn't return to play in the regional title game against Penn.

The more things stay the same, the more they change: Morgan Township's roster next season will look very similar to the team that won 10 of its final 14 games and brought home the school's first sectional title since 2006.

Sammy Meschede is the only senior, while sophomore Trina Coleman, who averaged 14.7 points and 4.4 assists per game, and junior Courtney Osby, who scored 47 points in four postseason games, will return along with starters Katie Bachert and Courtney Maxwell.

Coach Kevin Krieger said that even though most of the team will be back, the players should be prepared for their roles to change.

"When we come back in the spring and summer, were going to have to work from square on again," Krieger said. "Next year's team is a whole different team than this year's. It's never going to be the same, and there will be girls who have bigger roles. There will be girls who maybe their roles will change a little bit and they're going to have to mesh together as a team as well as we did this year. I have no doubt that is going to happen with this group."

Home crowd: Griffith had a strong presence in Rensselaer's Joe Burvan Gymnasium on Saturday, out-numbering the South Bend St. Joe crowd nearly two to one.

"We travel well, and our fans are great," Griffith coach Tom Golumbeck said. "I love our student section, and our parents are very supportive. That helps with our kids, too. Our kids get motivated when they see that."

Three more years of heck: Michigan City gave state-ranked No. 2 and eventual regional champion Penn all it could handle in Saturday morning's Class 4A semifinal. Despite the highly-touted junior class, the brightest star for the Wolves was freshman Michal Miller. The 5-foot-7 guard nailed four 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 18 points. She was the spark that got City close, before it fell 59-55.

"Penn gives up 37 points a game," Michigan City coach Mike Megyese said. "We scored 55. We proved that we are one of the better teams in the state."

Michigan City (18-7) also has every player back and with this experience the Wolves should be awfully good again, if not better.

"Hopefully we can use this as a little fuel for next year," Megyese said.

Ready to return: Griffith will bring back four starters next season and will lose only Brooke Brinkley and Emily Witvoet to graduation.

"Hopefully, we‘ll be back here next year," junior guard Alyssa Gebo said.

"I'm excited," junior forward Taylor Austin said. "I think we can go far again like we did this year. Next year we're going to have the same girls; we're just going to lose two. I'm pretty confident about next year, but we'll see how it goes."

Eric Nostradamus: E.C. Central's Kundich was impressed by the play of No. 2 Penn in the regional final in Valpo. The 57-33 loss by the Cardinals was one thing. The Kingsmen's hands-around-the-throat defense was something else. Penn advanced to play Indianapolis North Central in Saturday's semistate. Kundich was already picking his winner on Saturday night.

"There the best team I've seen all season," Kundich said. "I believe they are going to go on and win the state."