You can’t win them all if you don’t win the first one.

The Chesterton girls basketball team opened the 2012-2013 season with a 61-46 victory over Munster on Friday night.

The Mustangs jumped out to a 5-4 lead, but the Trojans answered with an 8-0 run that included back-to-back 3-pointer’s from Jocelyn Lipscomb for a 12-5 advantage and never trailed again.

Lipscomb and Kelsey Conway led the way for Chesterton with 17 points, while Caroline Puntillo added 14 in the victory.

“Jocelyn and Caroline are just good basketball players,” Chesterton coach Jack Campbell said. “Kelsey is just a very bright player. She reads the defense well.”

The Trojans would hit 3-of-8 from behind the arc in the first quarter and build a 21-14 advantage.

“(Munster’s) base defense was a 1-3-1 and it was everybody’s first game so you have to move the defense and try to penetrate,” Campbell said. “You just have to play basketball.”

Chesterton would go without a field goal the final 5:40 of the second quarter, but escaped to halftime with a 30-28 lead.

Baskets to start the third period from Puntillo and Lipscomb started a 10-4 run that pushed the lead to 40-32. CHS point guard Sarah Richards would dish out three of her team-best six assists during the stanza.

“The first half we settled for moving the ball on the perimeter,” Campbell said. “In the second half, Sarah (Richards) was able to dribble and split them and get us layups. She has really outstanding speed and she’s starting to evolve as a basketball player.

“She’s a very unselfish player.”

Another 6-0 run to end the quarter included baskets by Richards, Kelly Braun and Conway to push the lead to 48-37.

“We were able to run some special plays and if you can get a couple of them everybody calms down and relaxes a little more,” Campbell said.

Munster would get back to within 50-43, but six straight points from Puntillo put the game away.

On the night, the Trojans hit on 27-of-41 shots (66 percent) from the field, while holding Munster to 17-of-50 (34 percent).

“You can’t shoot that kind of percentage without sharing the ball,” Campbell said. “We did a good job of making the extra pass or finding the open shooter.”

Jennifer Allen 0-3 0-0 0, Jordan Cole 0-4 3-4 3, Bernadette Grabowski 5-8 3-7 15, Alyssa Wojcik 2-5 0-0 4, Anika Gasich 7-21 2-3 16, Sammi Buvala 1-1 0-2 2, Juliann Watson 0-0 0-0 0, Natalie Vellutini 2-8 2-2 6, Megan Zabrecky 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-50 10-18 46.

Sarah Richards 3-6 0-1 6, Kelsey Conway 8-13 0-0 17, Hannah McCafferty 0-0 0-0 0, Caroline Puntillo 7-10 0-1 14, Jocelyn Lipscomb 6-8 2-2 17, McKenzie Sullivan 0-0 0-0 0, Kassidy Scott 1-3 1-2 3, Haley Sekula 1-2 0-0 2, Kelly Braun 1-1 0-0 2, Kayla Malackowski 0-0 0-0 0, Mary Mochen 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Wadding 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-41 3-6 61.

3-point field goals: Munster 2-14 (Cole 0-1, Grabowski 2-3, Gasich 0-6, Vellutini 0-4); Chesterton 4-12 (Richards 0-3, Conway 1-3, Lipscomb 3-5, Scott 0-1). Rebounds: Munster 28 (Grabowski 7); Chesterton 28 (Puntillo 5, Lipcomb 5, Bruan 5). Steals: Munster 10 (Cole 4); Chesterton 7 (Richards 2, Lipscomb 2, Scott 2). Assists: Munster 4 (Cole 2); Chesterton 14 (Richards 6).

The Chesterton junior varsity opened the season with a 40-22 victory over Munster on Friday night.

McKenzie Sullivan led the way for the Trojans with nine points, while Hailee Norton added eight points. Lauren Kusbel added five points with Jordan Wadding scoring four.

Kayla Malackowski and Xaundra Rodriguez tallied three points each as Tara Schnadenberg, Megan Kerkes, Raven Bach and Abby Brown all scored two points apiece.

Posted 11/12/2012