Mark Morrow's My View/Your View: Giants serve notice with regional championship win

The Ben Davis student body was chanting "Another One Bites The Dust'' midway through the fourth quarter Saturday night at the Southport Regional. No disrespect to defending Class 4A state basketball champion Carmel, but the overmatched Greyhounds were simply left in the dust. Literally. It was just another day at the office for the Ben Davis girls, who steamrolled Lawrence North 62-39 and added a 65-42 number on Carmel, moving to 28-0 and within two wins of a state championship. USA Today ranks coach Stan Benge and company No. 1 nationally. It's been that way for a while. Make that a long while. And considering what the Giants accomplished Saturday, especially against ninth-ranked Carmel (19-5), they certainly served noticed they just might be best in the land of girls basketball. The Giants staged a performance worthy of an Oscar in their high-octane victory that saw them hit Carmel with a decisive 16-3 third-quarter scoring assault. Some observers would call what transpired simply as some good old-fashion up-close-and-personal-in-your-face defense that brought pressure and forced turnovers. Whatever you want to call it, it simply sucked the life out of Carmel, which sidelined the top-ranked Giants in last year's regional. "It all starts with defense,'' said 5-10 sophomore guard Bria Goss, who was nothing short of sensational at both ends of the court against Carmel. When asked what she thought was the best part of her game, she didn't hesitate. She smiled and said "defense,'' while glancing over her shoulder at a couple of teammates who were approaching to give her a big hug. Benge said he wasn't even sure his fast-rising star, injured in the sectional, would be able to play in the regional. Good thing for Ben Davis that she got the go-ahead to play. All Goss did was score 17 points (which included a half-court buzzer-beater to give Ben Davis a 31-23 halftime edge), grab 15 rebounds and dish out six assists. Oh yes, she also had three steals and forced a handful of turnovers, helping senior Alex Bentley (15 points) and Dorothy Williams (11 points) apply constant pressure on the Carmel guards in the second half. "Bria is quite a player. She's just very good . . . not much more you can say,'' Benge said, matter-of-factly. And how good is this team? How does it stack up with your state championship teams in 2000 and 2001? "We had two or three really good players on each of those teams,'' he said. "This team, well, this is a total team.'' Plenty of contribution, in deed, from one end of the bench to the other. Morrow's All-Tournament Team Selections From the Southport Regional: F-Amanda Raker, Sophomore, Perry Meridian F-Darress McClung, Senior Lawrence North F-Lauren McRoberts, Senior, Carmel G-Bria Goss, Sophomore, Ben Davis G-Alex Bentley, Senior, Ben Davis G-Dorothy Williams, Junior, Ben Davis G-Chrissy Steffen, Senior, Carmel G-Torrie Thornton, Sophomore, Carmel Regional notes: FIVE AREA SCHOOLS REACH SEMISTATE Five Indianapolis-area schools earned semistate berths. Class 4A Pendleton Heights (23-2), which won its first regional, meets 2008 state runner-up South Bend Washington (25-0), and Ben Davis takes on No. 7 Mooresville (23-1) ... In Class 2A: Top-ranked and three-time defending state champion Heritage Christian (24-1) takes on No. 9 Austin (21-5), while No. 6 University (21-4) battles No. 1 Vincennes Rivet (22-1) in Class A . . . With sophomore sensation Torrie Thornton, a Purdue recruit, in foul trouble in Carmel's 59-55 afternoon win over Perry Meridian, Chrissy Steffen, who's headed to Bowling Green, took over the game. She scored 25 points, and certainly did all the things those in the running for an Indiana All-Stars jersey are expected to do. . . . Alex Bentley, who has made a verbal commitment to Penn State, also put on a show one would expect from a strong all-star candidate. She buried four long-range 3-point goals, including three in the championship game, bringing the Giants back from a 7-0 deficit.