Madison girls will face  toughest challenge yet in Alter

Tonight’s nonleague game takes on a tournament feel.

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By Rick Cassano, Staff Writer 12:20 AM Monday, January 9, 2012

MADISON TWP. — It’s an intriguing nonleague contest.

Madison High School’s  12-0 girls basketball team will host Kettering Alter tonight in a first-time matchup that figures to be the Mohawks’ biggest test of the season.

Madison’s average margin of victory is 32 points. In the Southwestern Buckeye League Buckeye Division, where the Mohawks have a 30-game winning streak, this year’s average margin is 41.3.

“With our program the way it’s established right now, we’ve got to find quality teams like this,” Madison coach John Rossi said. “It’s going to be a tournament-type setting, one of the better teams that’s been on our schedule.”

The SWBL is rarely on Alter coach Chris Hart’s radar. The Knights play a brutal Girls Greater Cincinnati League slate and don’t shy away from nonleague powers either.

Some might think this SWBL-GGCL affair is a no-win situation for Alter. Hart thinks otherwise.

“We don’t have a lot of what we call off nights,” she said. “We both needed a game late last spring, and we felt they fit right in with our other opponents.”

The Mohawks have scrimmaged Alter in recent years. Rossi is eager to face the Knights in a real game.

“She needed a game and we really needed a good game, so it was an easy yes,” he said.

Madison, which has a two-year contract with Alter, also added Clayton Northmont and Indian Hill this season. The Mohawks drilled Northmont 83-64 on Nov. 28 and will host Indian Hill on Jan. 17.

Madison is moving forward without senior point guard Abby Jerger, who suffered a season-ending knee injury Dec. 30. Rossi said the plan is to have junior Meghan Miller and sophomore Olivia Philpot share the point-guard role, with junior Michelle Brunswick replacing Jerger in the starting lineup.

Jerger is set to have surgery Friday.

“You don’t replace an Abby,” Rossi said. “We’re just asking everybody to get a little bit more done on a daily basis.”

Madison and Alter both have good height. The Knights, 8-2 with losses to Dayton Carroll and Centerville, are more of a halfcourt team this year.

“We’re very young,” Hart said. “There have been times this year when we’ve started two freshmen and two sophomores and a senior. We think it’ll pay dividends come tournament time.”

Senior forward Allison Bockrath, headed for Cornell University in the fall, leads Alter. She’s averaging about 14 points a game.

Today’s game

Who: Kettering Alter (8-2) vs. Madison (12-0)

When: 7:30 p.m.

Where: Madison High School, 5797 West Alexandria Road, Madison Twp.

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