9-58.

0-25.

47-31.

The numbers don’t lie.

The Chesterton girls basketball team opened the 2009-2010 regular season with one solid 4:30 stretch, but it wasn’t enough in dropping a 47-31 decision at Munster on Saturday night.

“It’s disappointing to play like that on opening night,” Chesterton coach Jack Campbell said. “It’s a combination of things and it says that you have a lot of things to work on when you get back to practice.”

The Trojans scored 18 of their 31 points in the second quarter, but that couldn’t offset two four-point quarters and a five-point quarter.

“Some of our shots came after just one or two passes against their zone,” Campbell said. “Hopefully, it has to do with the first game. I got it. I shot it. If you’re impatient against a zone and just settle for the first shot, good or bad, this can happen.”

After falling behind 15-4 after one quarter of play, a pair of free throws from Lindsey Gorman and a steal and bucket by Brooke Gardner cut the lead to 15-8. Munster pushed the lead to 17-8 before a 13-3 Chesterton run.

Claire Holba scored five consecutive points on her way to a game-high 12 points and 11 rebounds to start the run. After cutting the lead to 19-15, Holba sandwiched a pair of baskets around a free throw from Gardner and a pair of free throws by Ryan Bozak.

“You tell the kids that the ball has to go into the lane, whether you dribble it in there or throw it in there to be successful,” Campbell said. “If you’re content with just chucking the ball from the outside, and it doesn’t go in, you’re in trouble. We played a little more man-to-man during the stretch. But, we kept fouling and making mistakes in where we were supposed to be on defense.”

After taking a 22-18 lead with 3:02 to play in the first half, the Mustangs finished the half on a 10-0 run that included one 3-point basket and a seven free throws.

On the night, Munster hit 18-of-34 foul shots while Chesterton hit on 13-of-23.

From the field, the Trojans connected on just 9-of-58 (16 percent) shot and were 0-of-25 from 3-point range.

“You can’t beat anybody with an 0-for-25, not from the three, and it wasn’t just one person missing 25 times,” Campbell said. “Everybody missed, every time.”

Chesterton returns to the court next Friday when they travel to LaPorte for the Duneland Athletic Conference opener for both teams. The junior varsity game is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Brooke Gardner 2-15 2-7 6, Alyssa White 1-8 0-0 2, Lindsey Gorman 0-9 5-7 5, Claire Holba 5-11 2-5 12, Riley Taubert 1-4 2-2 4, Ryan Bozak 0-8 2-2 2, Maddie Houpt 0-0 0-0 0, Reva Key 0-1 0-0 0, Sydney Kutz 0-1 0-0 0, Annette Frank 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 9-58 13-23 31.

Kristin Brajak 3-13 3-7 10, Jennifer Walton 3-6 3-6 9, Alex Fimbianti 2-4 3-6 7, Kara Curosh 1-6 7-11 9, Gabby Roque 2-4 2-4 6, Molly Scott 0-0 0-0 0, Kathryn Merritt 0-1 0-0 0, Alyssa Sheets 2-4 0-0 6, Aleks Obradovic 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-38 18-34 47.

3-point field goals: Chesterton 0-25 (Gardner 0-10, White 0-1, Gorman 0-7, Holba 0-1, Bozak 0-4, Kutz 0-1, Frank 0-1); Munster 3-8 (Brajak 1-4, Curosh 0-1, Sheets 2-3). Rebounds: Chesterton 39 (Holba 11); Munster 48 (Fimbianti 9, Roque 9). Assists: Chesterton 6 (Gardner 4); Munster 7 (Brajak 3). Steals: Chesterton 6 (Gardner 3); Munster 4 (Curosh 2).

The Chesterton junior varsity outscored Munster 8-4 in the fourth quarter and picked up a season-opening 22-20 victory on Saturday night.

Taylor Bissonette led the Trojans in scoring with five points and grabbed three rebounds. Ari Mahaffey, Megan Matheny, Sydney Kutz and Hannah McCafferty all scored three points in the victory.

Posted 11/16/2009