NOTRE DAME GIRLS SET FOR FINAL FOUR

COLUMBIA -- Notre Dame High girls basketball coach Jerry Grim says his team is similar to its Class 2A semifinal opponent Hartville.

"Overall, we're a lot alike," said Grim. "They like to press. They do a little bit of everything that we do."

But on paper, the two teams, which will play today at 8:05 p.m. at the Hearnes Center, don't look so comparable.

While Notre Dame (21-9) features about as balanced a starting five as possible, one Lady Eagle scores nearly half of her team's points.

Sophomore guard Randi Senciboy leads Notre Dame at 11 points per game. Junior guard Melissa Maurer, junior post player Rachael Schlosser and senior center Amanda Lange each average nine points a game and senior Tracy Blattel rounds out the starting lineup at eight points a night.

"We're not a team that has any superstars. We're just a good, solid team," said Grim. "On any one night any of our kids can step up and take over. And we have kids come off the bench and do a great job for us."

At the other extreme, Hartville (27-3), which is from a town of less than 500 about 50 miles east of Springfield, heavily relies on 5-foot-5 junior guard Mindy Cutbirth, who averages 20 points per game. The only other Lady Eagle who averages more than seven points a game is Nicole Jones, a 5-6 senior guard, who scores 12 points an outing.

"An individual with a high average is no big thing," Grim said. "We've played kids all year long with 20-point averages. A lot of teams with these kids with the high averages do not play teams like we do."

And Notre Dame has decent size and strength for a Class 2A school -- three Lady Bulldogs range from 5-9 to 6-0 -- while Hartville's tallest player is only 5-9.

Hartville coach Craig Harty said that his team likes to play an uptempo game due to its lack of size.

"We put a lot of pressure on the ball and if we can get into our transition game we take it," said Harty. "We like to push the ball and we're pretty quick."

Notre Dame will look to get the ball inside to post players Schlosser and Lange.

"We're going to try to stop their guards and make it an inside game," said junior Jennifer Glueck, the only Lady Bulldog who saw much playing time in Notre Dame's first Final Four appearance two seasons ago.

Said Schlosser: "Their inside people aren't very big, which is good for us . . . we're really strong, so I think we can dominate the inside."

Hartville, which finished third in the state last year but lost three starters off that team, will enter the game riding a 20-game win streak.

Notre Dame has won six in a row, but the last two were anything but easy. After rolling through its three district tournament games by nearly 40 points per contest, the Lady Bulldogs had to come back in the final minute against East Carter County in its sectional game and then had to overcome a 14-point halftime deficit to top Lutheran North in its quarterfinal contest.

"We were lucky in the sectional to win that game. You've got to have a little of both -- a little talent and a little luck," Grim said.

Win or lose, Notre Dame will be the underdog in Saturday's game, either for the championship at 9:45 p.m. or for third at 6:25 p.m. In today's late semifinal game, Palmyra, ranked No. 1 in the state by the Associated Press, plays Skyline, No. 2 in the state. Those two teams have a combined 58-1 record.

But Grim doesn't mind.

"We're always the underdog," he said. "Two years ago we played the No. 1-ranked team in the state (in the semifinals) and we ended up beating them. Three of our games this season have been against the No. 2 4A team in the state (Jackson), plus a lot of 4A teams that are as good or better than the team we're going to face up there."

Class 2A Final Four

(In Columbia)

Tonight's Semifinals

Notre Dame (21-9) vs. Hartville (27-3), 8:05

Urbana Skyline (29-1) vs. Palmyra (29-0), 9:45

Saturday's Games

Third place, 6:25 p.m.

Championship, 9:45 p.m.