Kylie Wells didn’t treat Merrillville’s Class 4A Crown Point Sectional opener any differently from a regular-season game.
“I just do what I can,” she said. “My teammates always help me.”
Wells, a freshman guard, scored 19 points as the Pirates topped Chesterton 64-27 on Friday.
Wells came in leading balanced Merrillville (16-8) with 12.5 points per game.
Chesterton (11-12) actually led 7-2 within the game’s first three minutes. But Merrillville scored 15 straight points in less than two minutes to lead 17-7, taking control.
“We started out a little flat,” Merrillville coach Kelly Kratz said. “We haven’t played in 10 days. Our last game was canceled, and this was postponed. I wanted to get the pressure going and have our defense create our offense.”
Chesterton did struggle with the Pirates’ press. Highlighting the situation, sophomore guard Kennedie Burks scored eight straight points in 20 seconds in the middle of the 15-0 run. She hit a 3-pointer, made another 3 off a steal and added a layup off another steal.
“It was like a Reggie Miller kind of thing,” Kratz said. “That was fun.”
Merrillville had defeated Chesterton 65-44 in a Duneland Athletic Conference game on Jan. 19.
“It’s a tough matchup. … The games we’ve played well in and competed, we didn’t face that kind of pressure,” Chesterton coach Jack Campbell said.
“Kelly does a great job. They’re well-coached. Besides good athletes, they shot the ball lights out — 40 points in the first half.”
The game was special for Kratz, who is in her first season as Merrillville’s coach after joining the staff as an assistant in 2014. Kratz starred for the Trojans under Campbell and assistant Fred Mitchell, graduating in 2006 as the second-leading scorer in program history.
“I have so much love and respect for coach Campbell and coach Mitchell,” Kratz said. “It’s always great to see them. They still run some of the same stuff that’s ingrained in my brain. I have so much respect for what they’ve done.”
Leading 40-20, Merrillville reeled off the first 13 points of the third quarter before Chesterton senior forward Carley Balas scored with 2:47 left.
Balas, one of seven seniors on the roster and who Campbell described as “a warrior,” paced the Trojans with 12 points.
Senior guard/forward Davina Smith had 15 points for the Pirates, and Burks added 10, all in the first quarter.
Merrillville will play Valparaiso (19-4) in a sectional semifinal on Saturday. The Vikings defeated Hobart 62-42 in the other first-round game.
Valparaiso beat Merrillville 62-28 on Nov. 24.
“We played Valpo early, and we weren’t ready as far as our inexperience,” Kratz said. “You play Duneland teams, they’re not going to show mercy. We got our eyes opened to how hard they’re going to have to play to play with the best.
“They figured out their roles. They don’t play outside of what they can and cannot do, and they play hard.”