News thru Thursday, December 31 |
No. 4 Ben Davis raised its state ranking stock
on Tuesday after soundly beating No. 2 Kokomo in the Hall of Fame Classic
in the first game of the day at the Chrysler Fieldhouse in New Castle.
That ranking worth looked to be in jeapordy in the evening championship
game, when the Giants were behind 48-37 going into the final quarter of
their game with No. 9 Terre Haute South. But a 29-point fourth quarter
explosion gave Ben Davis the opportunity to save the game with a final
2-second possession and a tied score. Amazingly, the Giants pulled it out
on a buzzer-beater by soph Shyra Ely to win
the game. That finish was impressive enough to raise the national ranking
of Ben Davis from No. 21 to No. 19 just minutes later when the USA
Today rankings were posted that evening. Sophomore Ashley
Allen, who scored 27 points in the qualifying game, was named Tournament
MVP, and Ely, Sarah Strahm (Ben Davis), Amy
Zercher (Northwood), Cara Stuckey (TH
South) and Dorcus Lawson (TH South) were all
named to the HOF All-Tournament Team by the media.
Attendance at the Hall of Fame Classic was down this year
after the format was changed to combine both the boys and girls games into
a one-day weekday event. In the past, the girls played on a Friday, while
the boys played the next day. By going to the one-day format and the resulting
time restrictions, the evening consolation games for both girls and boys
were eliminated, leaving the losing morning teams with nothing to do but
watch the championship game in the evening. This displeased many fans,
who drove quite a distance to see their teams play only one game. Hopefully
this situation will be corrected in the future. The Indy
Star is carrying an article about the disappointing HOF format
on it's Indiana's Game on-line web site.
The
Crown Point Shootout will be featuring a very competitive field on Saturday,
with No. 1 New Albany, No. 10 Logansport, No. 5 Rushville (3A) and Crown
Point. If the weather holds, a good crowd is expected to come out and see
what should be four very good games. The action begins with Rushville (6-1)
and Crown Point (6-4) at 11:00 a.m. (CST) and then New Albany (8-0) and
Logansport (7-1) square off at 1:00 p.m. (CST). Last year Logansport (3-year
Shootout participants) and New Albany (2-year Shootout participants) met
in the championship final (picture), and New Albany walked off with the
tournament hardware. This year Logansport will be looking to challenge
the No. 1 team in the state to get a second chance at a Shootout championship.
Stopping Miss Basketball candidate Kennitra Johnson
will be the goal of the Logansport defense, and capitalizing on the play
of Logansport center Kristen Lowry will be
key to any chance for a win by the Berries. Rushville, whose only loss
of the season so far has been to Connersville, will be looking to get a
shot at the No. 1 team by getting through Crown Point in the first game
of the tournament. Senior standout and Miss Basketball candidate Elizabeth
English will be key to Rushville's game plan. Crown Point runs a
balanced attack, but sophomore Sarah Zondor
will most likely be the target of Rushville's defense. The evening action
begins with the 6:30 p.m. consolation game, immediately followed by the
8:00 p.m. championship game. We will hopefully be bringing you results
from the tournament throughout the day. Check our Game
Results Posting Board on Saturday for the latest Shootout updates.
For complete Shootout information and maps to the Crown Point High School
gym, go to the CP
Lady
Bulldogs web site.
There have been a great number of holiday tournaments taking
place over the past week or so and we've been trying to keep you updated
with the latest scores as best we can. Many of the tournament games are
linked to news articles wherever we can find them. We usually try to update
game coverage links twice a day, so check back later in the day to get
the most complete coverage on games. An especially interesting Connersville
Examiner article covering the Connersville v. Center Grove game where
Miss Basketball candidate April McDivitt was
pitted against Center Grove's Emily Butler
in the Columbia City Classic, is definitely worth a read. We urge you to
pass on any information you might have regarding game results, or just
post them on our Game Reporting Board.
News thru Tuesday, December 29 |
The updated list of state scoring leaders is now available via the IHSAA web site. You can reach it any time from our State and Region Rankings & Statistics page, or directly from here today. Frosh Shanna Zolman of 3A Wawasee is still in the lead with a 30.7 ppg average. However, Lindsay Secrest of 1A Bloomfield is closing in with 29.9 ppg. Locally, Erica Martin of 1A Kouts is now the Region-area scoring leader at 24.9 ppg (No. 11 statewide), surpassing previous Region leader Tracie Mezera of 2A River Forest, who is now averaging 24.1 ppg (No. 15 statewide).
News thru Monday, December 28 |
Former Highland center standout, Jennifer
Kaczka, made a crucial closing-seconds free throw and had 11 points
and 11 rebounds for Wichita State in her team's 58-55 upset victory over
No. 24 Southwest Missouri State yesterday. Southwest Missouri State features
Jackie Stiles, who averaged an astounding 46 ppg in high school and scored
over 3,000 points during her prep career. She was "held" to 24
points in yesterday's game. Area fans were fortunate to be treated yesterday
with an opportunity to watch Kaczka on the Fox Sports Network. You can
read a short recap of the game on the ESPN
women's basketball web site.
The Ft. Wayne News Sentinel is giving a heads-up
on junior Homestead workhorse Julie Johnson
in it's Hardwood
Harey column. The 5'6 guard plays a supporting role to Homestead standout
Anna Waugh, but is expected to be the scoring
focus for the Spartans after Waugh moves on to college next year. Johnson,
who is averaging 16 ppg, had a breakout game against Columbia City in which
she scored 26 points. However, she is presently most valued by her coaches
and team as a defensive catalyst and coach on the floor.
News thru Saturday, December 26 |
For those of you planning to venture out to the Hall of Fame Classic on Tuesday, December 29, we remind you that you can access the information for this outstanding event at the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame web site. Included at that site are directions to the Hall of Fame (which is nearly adjacent to the tournament venue, New Castle Fieldhouse--occupancy 9,325), as well as information about the girls and boys teams that will be competing in the 16th edition of the tournament. According to information we found there, the following teams will play in the morning, with subsequent games taking place ten minutes after the final buzzer of each preceding game:
Beginning at 9:30 a.m. (EST):
Girls - Ben Davis (4A) vs. Kokomo (4A)
Girls - NorthWood (3A) vs. Terre Haute South (4A)
Boys - Benton Central (3A) vs. Bloomington South(4A)
Boys - Blue River Valley (1A) vs. Terre Haute North (4A)
Evening events are as follows:
6:00 p.m. (EST) - Girls Championship
8:00 p.m. (EST) - Boys Championship
The first girls game should be a tough one for both teams and exciting for fans. Kokomo (10-0) is currently ranked No. 2 and features an outstanding senior duo in Tia Davis (5'11 G) and Heather Cusick (5'9 G/F). The Kats also have an oustanding opening lineup and a very strong bench to be the favorite in that contest. No. 4 Ben Davis (9-1) features highly-touted sophomore Shyra Ely (6'1 F/C), who is considered a top prospect nationally. Combined with 3-point specialist sophomore Ashley Allen (5'9 G) and experienced junior Sarah Strahm (5'11 G/F), the Giants will be looking to topple the Kats superior ranking. Ben Davis is ranked by USA Today as the No. 21 team nationally.
The second game features two teams that are looking to get some respect for their programs statewide. No. 7 NorthWood (5-1), who is trying to climb back to the top of the 3A poll after losing their season opener, will be welcoming back senior standout Amy Zercher (5'9 G/F) to the lineup after a broken hand injury she sustained before the first game of the season. Paired with senior partner Natalie Will (5'9 G), the Panthers will be trying to impress with a victory over favored Terre Haute South. South (9-1) features three senior standouts in Cara Stuckey (5'6 G), Dorcas Lawson (5'8 F) and Joileen Brewer (5'10 F). These three are 4-year starters and are the base of a team that has had a great deal of success so far this season. The Braves would like to get a crack at either Kokomo or Ben Davis in the evening final to improve their status statewide.
Admission to the HOF Classic is $8.00 for a
all-day ticket and $5.00 for the evening events.
The South
Bend Tribune is carrying a preview of scheduled basketball events
for South Bend girls teams over the holiday break, including the South
Bend Holiday Tournament (field includes SB St. Joe's, New Prairie, SB Adams,
SB LaSalle), SB Washington at the Lafayette Jeff tourney and NorthWood
at the Hall of Fame Classic. As we posted earlier, NorthWood standout Amy
Zercher is expected to back in the lineup for Tuesday's premier
HOF event after an injury to her hand earlier in the season.
There are a number of holiday tournaments in which NWI
teams are participating. As far as we could gather, here are some of the
tournaments you might want to take in over the holiday break to see how
Region-area teams fare locally and against some of the best competition
from around the state:
Event | Date | Start Time |
Location | Field |
Momence Holiday Tourney | 12/26/98 & 12/28/98 | 12:00 | Momence, IL | Momence, Evergreen Park, Paxton-BL, TF North, Hanover Central, Peotone, Kankakee McNamara, South Newton |
Kankakee Valley Tourney | 12/28/98 & 12/29/98 | N/A | Kankakee Valley | Bishop Noll, Calumet, Kankakee Valley, Mishawaka, Hammond Noll |
South Bend Tournament | 12/28/98 & 12/29/98 | 6:00 pm | SB LaSalle | St. Josephs, LaSalle, Adams, New Prairie |
Hammond Holiday Tourney | 12/29/98 & 12/30/98 | N/A | Hammond Gavit | Clark, Gavit, Hammond, Morton |
South County Tourney | 12/29/98 & 12/30/98 | 6:00 pm | Boone Grove | Boone Grove, Morgan Township, Kouts, Hebron |
LaPorte Classic | 12/29/98 & 12/30/98 | 10:00 am | LaPorte | East Chicago Central, LaPorte, North Judson, Michigan City |
McCutcheon Elite Eight Shootout | 12/29/98 & 12/30/98 | 11:00 am | McCutcheon | Merrillville, McCutcheon, Chesterton, Madison, Benton Central, Homestead, Lake Central, West Side |
Twin Lakes Tourney | 12/29/98 & 12/30/98 | N/A | Twin Lakes | Griffith, Hobart, Portage, Twin Lakes, Western, South Bend Riley, Elkhart Central |
Columbia City Classic | 12/30/98 | N/A | Columbia City | Columbia City, Center Grove, Gary Mann, Connersville |
Lady Bulldog Holiday Shootout | 1/2/99 | 11:00 am | Crown Point | Crown Point, New Albany, Rushville, Logansport
Complete info & map available at the CPHS Lady Bulldogs web site |
Warsaw Holiday Tournament | 1/2/99 | 10:00 am | Warsaw | Valparaiso, Warsaw, Perry Meridian, Mt. Vernon |
Lafayette Jeff Tournament | 1/1/99 & 1/2/99 | N/A | Lafayette Jeff | Lafayette Jeff, Clinton Prairie, Frankfort, Lebanon, North Newton, Plymouth, SB Washington |
News thru Thursday, December 24 |
Today's late news additions are at the bottom of today's news
Details
about the upcoming Crown Point Lady Bulldogs Holiday Shootout on Saturday,
January 2, are now available at the Crown Point team's web site. This tournament
should be one of the best of the holiday season, with No. 1 New Albany,
No. 5 Rushville (3A), No. 10 Logansport and an up and coming Crown Point
team. Three All-Star candidates will be playing in the tournament -- Kennitra
Johnson of New Albany, Elizabeth English
of Rushville and Kristen Lowry of Logansport.
Johnson, who has signed with the University of Connecticut, and English,
who has signed with Colorado State, are both considered top candidates
for Miss Basketball honors this season. The action begins with Rushville
and Crown Point at 11:00 a.m., then New Albany and Logansport at 1:00 p.m..
The consolation game will be at 6:30 p.m., followed by the championship
game at 8:00 p.m. (All times listed are CST.) Info at the CP
Lady
Bulldogs web site includes all of the tournament details, a map to
Crown Point High School and a list of restaurants and hotels in the area.
Don't miss what is sure to be a great day of competition!
The Shelbyville News is reporting
that the IHSAA has pulled the plug on the annual IHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance
3-Point/Slam Dunk Shootout that accompanied the state basketball tournaments
in recent years. According to IHSAA commissioner (and Shelbyville resident)
Bob Gardner, "...the support from the member schools was not strong
enough to continue with the shootouts." No great loss, as it always
seemed like that competition was difficult for hosting schools to run and
was merely an afterthought in the scheme of running a successful tournament.
Portage senior Erin Jedlikowski
(6'1 F) is expecting to be back in playing shape soon after a scare at
the Merrillville game last Friday. Jedlikowski came down in an awkward
position in the first half of that game, and heard a bone pop in her foot
that put visions of a long recuperation in her head. However, after getting
released by the family doctor Tuesday, Jedlikowski was back at practice
to get ready for the Twin Lakes Holiday Tournament next week. That is when
the Indians will take on Elkhart Central in a 3:00 p.m. first round game
on Tuesday. You can read about Jedlikowski's injury and the comments of
coach Renee Turpa
in The
Times.
News thru Wednesday, December 23 |
Munster missed the services of junior starting
point guard Kiley Wallace last night in its
first-round battle against Andrean in the Highland Holiday Tournament.
It seems that Wallace is yet another Region victim of a season-hampering
knee injury, the nature of which, at this point, has not yet been disclosed.
Filling in for the injured Wallace was freshman sub Stephanie Schrage,
who did a respectable job with 9 points and 4 assists in the losing effort.
It is unclear at this time when or if Wallace will return to the Munster
lineup.
The IHSAA has released State
Scoring Leaders and Individual
Bests as of those reported through December 19. Shanna
Zolman of Wawasee still leads in state scoring,
hovering in at the 30.7 ppg mark. (If you've never seen the frosh phenom,
you can get a look in the Goshen
News On-Line, where her picture is featured on the front page of
the sports section.) Again locally, junior Tracie
Mazera of River Forest is the highest ranking
Region area scorer at 24.1 ppg in the 14th state scoring leaders spot.
The national rankings for girls basketball in USA
Today are out, and Ben Davis (7-1) still hangs in there at the No.
21 spot nationally, and the No. 7 spot in the Midwest. Much of Ben Davis's
national reputation is based upon the play of super sophomore Shyra
Ely, who is averaging 21.8 ppg so far this
season.
The IHSAA has made note of several milestones reached by
certain players around the state as follows:
"Tricia Armour, a junior guard at Jimtown, broke the school record for three-pointers in a game as she hit five in a 61-47 loss to South Bend Riley on Dec. 19. The Jimmies also broke the team record for treys in a game with six overall."
"Sommer Hadley, a senior forward at Danville, became the school's career scoring leader in girls basketball Dec. 15 when she scored 13 points to lead the Warriors past Speedway 67-25. Hadley left the game with 879 points, passing Christy Buckley, who tallied 876 points from 1985-88."
"Kami
Vaal, a senior forward at Northeast Dubois,
became the school's career scoring leader in girls basketball Dec. 15 when
she moved her career total to 877 points with a 25-point effort as the
Jeeps fell to South Knox 67-66. Vaal surpassed Jill
Schroering, who had scored 860 points."
The IHSAA is thinking about summer already with some
guidelines for the newly sanctioned school-sponsored summer team camps.
The IHSAA provides the following guidelines (and please note that they
use the word "guidelines" and not "rules" here):
News thru Tuesday, December 22 |
The Coaches' Poll is out for the week, and there are very few changes for this holiday break. In all classes, the No. 1 teams remain the same with New Albany in 4A, Evansville Memorial in 3A, Triton Central in 2A and North Vermillion in 1A.
In 4A, all teams remain intact, except that Hobart falls out of the No. 10 spot to the 11th position after losing to Chesterton on Saturday, and Logansport moves on up to No. 10. Chesterton also receives some respect with 1 vote in the 4A poll to log into the 15th position.
In 3A, very minor changes are all that is seen with some change in positioning, although South Bend Adams steals the No. 10 spot from Corydon by 1 vote.
In 2A, Ft. Wayne Luers moves up two spots to No. 7, while Forest Park overpowers Frankton with a margin of 16 votes to take the No. 10 spot.
Finally in 1A, Bloomfield falls from No. 5 to No. 9 and Rising Sun takes the No. 2 spot from New Washington despite receiving no first place votes.
As always, you can reach the Coaches' Poll
at any time from our State
& Area Rankings page.
The Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette and the Ft. Wayne
News-Sentinel are showing their top teams in the Ft. Wayne area for
the week. You can get to the Journal
Gazette Top 5 and the News-Sentinal
Girls Power Poll at the links provided here in the news today,
or from our State
& Area Rankings page at any time.
Houston's WNBA star Sheryl Swoopes
will address the audience just prior to the IU-Ohio State women's basketball
game from 6-7 p.m. on January 15 at Indiana University in Assembly Hall.
You can read about Swoopes' intended address, which is in conjunction with
IU activities honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., in the Hoosier
Times.
News thru Friday, December 18 |
The local papers are providing us with a lot
of on-line material today. The Times out of Munster has listed its
girls Top 10 in the Region for the week. You can view their picks on the
Times
Top 10 Rankings page. They also are featuring some interesting
behind-the-scenes stories and comments about players and teams in area
girls basketball. You can view those in The
Times Prep Zone 2-Minute Drill.
The Post-Tribune
is offering up info and coaches' comments about some of the more promising
underclassmen in the Region today. Featured in the article are Highland
soph Jenny DeMuth (5'9 G/F), Crown Point soph
Sarah Zondor (5'7 G), Crown Point frosh Alex
Webster (5'8 G), Gary West Side soph Kim Smith
(5'10 F), Wheeler soph Andrea Walker (5'5
G), Kouts soph Erica Martin (5'7 G) and Chesterton
soph Christy Poparad (5'9 G). Also mentioned
are Andrean frosh Jamie Gutowski (5'6 G),
Hammond Gavit soph Joann Smith (5'5 G), Gary
West Side frosh Michelle Jones (5'7 G) and
Gary West Side soph Arianne Robinson (5'4
G).
This is Sarah Zondor media
day, as the 5'7 Crown Point sophomore guard is also featured in an article
in The Times today. Zondor is the leading scorer for the Bulldogs
and is second in NWI free-throw percentage at .889. She has quietly and
consistently contributed in a big way to her team. She leads a strong sophomore
class that will be key to anticipated success for the Bulldog program in
the future. Two other sophomores, Amanda Bernard
(5'7 G) and Nikki Borys (6'0 C) are contributing
valuable minutes on varsity at present. The remaining 9 sophomores are
the reason why the Lady Bulldogs JV team is currently 6-1. Their only loss
so far was to a very fine Plymouth JV team.
Another underclassman who is making a contribution to her
team is a big way is Hanover Central's Julie Moniak.
Moniak, a 5'11 freshman guard/forward, scored 17 points for the Wildcats
in her team's resounding 81-63 win over sectional foe River Forest yesterday
evening. She will play a big part in Hanover Central's bid to upset 2A
No. 5 North Judson to get out of the Boone Grove sectional in February.
Moniak is versatile, with post height and guard skills. She has the potential
to be one of the best ever to come out of the Hanover Central girls basketball
program.
The Courier-Journal
out of Louisville, Kentucky, is carrying team previews on a number of southern
Indiana girls basketball teams, including No. 1 4A New Albany. There's
even a neat video
clip ("The Big Game") of highlights from the New Albany v.
Scottsburg game from December 10, including some moves by Miss Basketball
candidate Kennitra Johnson.
The clip is a little rough, but it's a fun to watch regardless. You need
the RealPlayer to view the video clips, but it is available for downloading
right at the Courier-Journal site.
Scoring |
2-Point Percentage |
||
T. Mezera (River Forest) E. Martin (Kouts) J. Gray (Valparaiso) |
24.1 ppg 23.7 ppg 21.4 ppg |
C. Bilinski (Hanover Central) N. Yudt (Portage) J. Felton (Valparaiso) |
.714 .642 .636 |
3-Point Percentage |
Free Throw Percentage |
||
M. Cooper (N. Judson) K. Wallace (Munster) T. Smith (West Side) |
.500 ..500 .500 |
S. Glass (N. Judson) S. Zondor (Crown Point) J. Campbell (Chesterton) |
.957 .889 .870 |
Assists |
Rebounds |
||
E. Sampsel (Valpo) J. Campbell (Chesterton) T. Sweezer (West Side) |
7.6 apg 6.4 apg 5.3 apg |
K. Law (Morton) L. Mitchell (Calumet) I. Kirksey (Wirt) |
12.8 rpg 12.7 rpg 11.2 rpg |
Steals |
Blocks |
||
T. Humphrey (Hammond) C. Koby (Hanover Central) J. Smith (Gavit) |
6.8 spg 5.9 spg 5.8 spg |
M. Yancey (West Side) E. Jedlikowski (Portage) M. Brumbaugh (Hanover Central) |
3.0 bpg 2.6 bpg 2.3 bpg |
News thru Thursday, December 17 |
The latest update of the IHSAA Scoring
Leaders as of December 12 includes three Region-area players that are averaging
over 20 points a game. Tracie Mezera of 2A
River Forest is averaging 24.1 ppg (13th place), Erica
Martin of 1A Kouts is averaging 23.6 ppg (15th place), and Jackie
Campbell of 4A Chesterton is averaging 21.1 ppg (30th place). The
scoring leader for the state is still Shanna Zolman
of 3A Wawasee, who is now averaging 31.0 ppg. To see a complete listing
of state scoring leaders, go
to the IHSAA Scoring Leaders page.
Tonight host Hanover Central will be trying to put the
skids on the scoring of River Forest's Tracie Mezera
(24.1 ppg) in a matchup between the two 2A Lake County powers. This game
could be a preview to a possible sectional battle, as both teams will be
trying to get out of the tough Boone Grove Sectional that also includes
North Newton and Wheeler. Hanover Central is coming into the game after
a convincing and punishing 63-27 win over 4A Hammond Morton, holding Morton
standouts Cathy Herring to 8 points and Kim
Law to 2 points. River Forest just recently took a beating by sectional
foe 2A North Newton in a 73-54 loss, where Mezera was held to 14 points.
Hanover Central will be looking to it's anchor duo of junior Christy
Koby and senior Melanie Brumbaugh to
carry most of the offense for the Wildcats. However, they sport well-rounded
offensive help from junior Christy Haduch
and freshman Julie Moniak.
2A Fountain Central's freshman Candace
Dark is making an impact in and around the
Lafayette area. So much so that she rated a feature piece in the Lafayette
Journal and Courier. Dark is currently averaging 18.7 points, 4.0
assist, and 5.4 rebounds per game. She is also the Lafayette area steal
leader, averaging 6.1 steals per game.
News thru Wednesday, December 16 |
Today's late additions are at the bottom of today's news
The Indiana State Coaches' Poll is out for the week of December 15. There have been few changes in 4A, but the other three classes have seen some major realignments.
The top 8 teams in 4A retain their rankings, although Kokomo has taken 2 of New Albany's 11 first place votes from last week's poll. Perry Meridian breaks into the Top 10 after giving Ben Davis all it could handle over the weekend in a 4-OT marathon in the Marion County Tournament. Logansport dropped out of the Top 10, while Hobart retains its No. 10 spot. Locally, Gary West Side and Portage tied with Homested to hold the 12th position, each with 8 votes.
In 3A, the top 3 remain the same with Evansville Memorial at No. 1, while Cathedral climbed 4 steps to the No. 4 spot with an 8-0 record. Franklin took the biggest drop in that poll giving up 4 spots to drop to No. 8. Locally, S. Bend Washington brought in 11 votes for the 13th position and Andrean mustered 3 votes to tie for the 16th position after its loss to Merrillville on Friday.
In 2A, North Knox dropped from the No. 1 position to No. 3 after a one-point loss to Forest Park over the weekend. That puts North Judson now at the No. 2 spot. The remaining teams in 2A all played musical chairs and switched positions, except for Eastern Howard, which stayed put at No. 7.
In 1A, North Vermillion retains the top spot,
although it lost 2 first place votes to New Washington, now in the No.
2 spot. Lakeview Christian moved up two notches to No. 7. Locally, Morgan
Twp. received 3 votes and MC Marquette received 1 vote to hold the 12 and
13th positions, respectively.
Despite being at 7-1 and dropping
to No. 4 in the 4A Indiana State Coaches Poll, the Ben Davis Giants find
themselves raising a notch from No. 22 to No. 21 in the latest USA
Today Super 25 Girls Basketball national rankings. Ben Davis lifted
its record to 7-1 last night with a second win over Perry Meridian. The
first matchup between these two was just 4 days ago in the qualifying round
of the Marion County Tournament when the game went to 4 OT periods before
the winner was decided with Ben Davis coming out on top 76-72. The No.
1 team in the country is still Butler in Huntsville, Ala. with a 12-0 record.
So far they are averaging an incredible 100.3 ppg as a team, while holding
their opponents to an average 38.9 ppg.
Former Boone Grove standout Jenn
Sliwa will be finishing up her career at Villanova State after this
year. You can read about her experience in a feature article in The
Times on-line.
Former Andrean player and Crown Point resident Keaton
Brumm (5'7" G) is making a name for herself at 3A West Lafayette.
While overshadowed by teammate Lello Gebisa
(6'4" C), who is averaging 19.1 ppg and 9.4 rpg, Brumm has been quietly
contributing with 14.4 ppg, 4.4 apg, 5.0 spg and 3.7 rpg. You can read
about Brumm's efforts in the Lafayette
Journal and Courier.
The IHSAA continues to update it's
1998-99 Individual
Bests listings in scoring, rebounding, three-pointers based upon submissions
that are being made to the IHSAA on a continuing basis. We have added links
for the IHSAA Individual Bests and State Scoring Leaders on our State
& Region Rankings page. We suggest that you check these often, as they
change continually.
News thru Tuesday, December 15 |
About the scariest thing that can happen to any female basketball player these days is the dreaded knee injury. As soon as a player goes down in a game with a leg injury of any kind, the first thought on everyone's mind is a tear to the ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament. NWI has seen its share of ACL injuries already this season. Highland's Corrie Kaczmarek went down in her team's game against Griffith. Griffith's Sam Quintero suffered the same fate just last week and now word out of Lowell may have guard Katie Porento on the injured list as well. Players around the state are suffering similar season-ending injuries that are taking months out of the competitive season. The Ft. Wayne News Sentinal is featuring an excellent article about ACL injuries. "Knee-deep in injuries" is an in-depth look at the ACL injury and theories behind its high occurrence for girls. Interesting reading for coaches and all of us with daughters, sisters or friends in basketball.
News thru Saturday, December 12 |
Late addition:
For all of you who love the girls game
as of late, there is a great article in the Bloomington Hoosier
Times about how women's college basketball has toughened up over
the past decade. There are some insights there from premier college coaches
Jim Izard (IU),
Jennifer Jacoby
(IU), Cheryl Reeve
(ISU) and Carolyn Peck
(Purdue). According to these coaches, hustle and toughness are things that
college coaches are looking for in high school players today, and they
are not impressed with the stationary play of some high-scoring prep stars
who put up the numbers, but do not do the other things that would identify
them as being able to compete at the collegiate level. This article contains
some interesting insights for you players out there who are trying to attract
the attention of college coaches. Definitely worth a read.
Late addition:
It was with great sadness that we read
this morning on the Indy Star forum that McCutcheon boys basketball
center Jeremy Doyle was killed in an auto accident last night after his
basketball game. According the forum post, the team had gone to a pizza
place after their win last night over North Montgomery. On Jeremy's way
home, a truck pulled out and broadsided his car. Our many condolences are
with the Doyle family, his teammates and classmates. Our thoughts and prayers
are also with the McCutcheon community today.
One of the local papers is confirming a report that Griffith
junior guard Sam Quintero
(5'6") suffered an ACL injury that will most likely remove her from
the Panther lineup for some time to come. Griffith was optimistic coming
into the season after their huge upset over Andrean in the 3A sectional
last February. Quintero plays a critical role in the Griffith offense and
her absence could be hard for the Panthers to overcome. Coach Tim
Powers will be looking to other team members
to step up their play to make up for the loss of points in the lineup.
Tennessee head coach Pat Summit
had a few words to say about Indiana girls high school basketball after
her visit to Connersville to watch Tennessee signee, April
McDivitt, in her team's win over New Castle.
Her words appear in an article in the Connersville News-Examiner.
While inputting the data for the statistical leaders yesterday
(below), it occurred to me that some of the figures there did not ring
true. I should have waited for the other morning paper to come, because
their figures were probably a truer representation in several categories.
Therefore, the stats below have been changed to reflect what we feel was
the more accurate accounting.
The
Times Girls Top 10 has been published. You can view their rankings
at the link provided.
News thru Friday, December 11 |
The statistical leaders for NWI are out this morning and the top 3 leaders in each category are being shown as follows:
Scoring |
2-Point Percentage |
||
T. Mezera (River Forest) E. Martin (Kouts) J. Campbell (Chesterton) |
25.3 ppg (203/8) 23.3 ppg (117/5) 22.4 ppg (123/6) |
C. Bilinski (Hanover Central) K. Cheairs (West Side) M. Brumbaugh (Hanover Central) |
.714 (15/21) .619 (26/42) .616 (37/60) |
3-Point Percentage |
Free Throw Percentage |
||
K. Wallace (Munster) J. Campbell (Chesterton) M. Smith (Chesterton) M. Gonzales (Kouts) |
.462 (6/13) .444 (8/18) .400 (4/10) .400 (4/10) |
S. Zondor (Crown Point) J. Campbell (Chesterton) S. Hay (Munster) |
.920 (23/25) .857 (30/35) .813 (13/16) |
Assists |
Rebounds |
||
E. Sampsel (Valpo) J. Campbell (Chesterton) D. McNeil (Hammond) |
7.0 apg (42) 6.8 apg (34) 5.3 apg (32) |
Mitchell (Calumet) K. Law (Morton) L. Taylor (Wirt) |
14.5 rpg (58) 12.8 rpg (51) 10.5 rpg (21) |
Steals |
Blocks |
||
T. Humphrey (Hammond) C. Koby (Hanover Central) J. Smith (Gavit) |
6.6 spg (46) 5.9 spg (41) 5.8 spg (29) |
M. Yancey (West Side) M. Brumbaugh (Hanover Central) R. Merkell (Munster) |
3.3 bpg (13) 2.3 bpg (16) 2.0 bpg (10) |
News thru Thursday, December 10 |
Northwestern received some bad news this week when it was decided that former Lake Central standout Kristina Divjak will undergo surgery on her left knee in December and, as a result, will be sidelined for the remainder of the season. It was not stated if Divyak will be red-shirted for another season of eligibility, although Wildcats coach Don Perrelli stated that their goal at this point is to "make sure that she is able to come back and play the type of basketball that we're used to seeing from her." A preseason All-Big Ten selection, Divjak averaged 22.1 ppg last season.
News thru Wednesday, December 9 |
The scoring leaders for
the state have been released by the IHSAA and 3A Wawasee standout freshman,
Shanna Zolman,
tops the list averaging 30.3 ppg. (This has got to make her dad, Wawasee
head coach Kem Zolman, pretty darn happy!) The top 5 also includes another
freshman from 2A Southwestern, Brianna Howard,
who is pouring in 25.5 ppg. Also, freshman Candace
Dark of 2A Fountain Central made the list
in the No. 31 spot with 20.0 ppg. Looks like this freshman class is making
their mark early. Region area players who are on the list include junior
Tracie Mezera
of River Forest (No. 7 with 25.3 ppg), senior Erin
Miller of South Bend Riley (No. 23 with 21.0
ppg), and senior Jeanette Gray
of Valparaiso (No. 29 with 20.9 ppg). To see a complete listing of the
girls scoring leaders, you can link to the IHSAA
report showing the same.
The IHSAA is also reporting several milestones as follows:
"Brianna Howard, a freshman at Southwestern (Hanover), broke the school's single-game scoring record Nov. 28 when she tallied 38 points against Madison Shawe."
"Lori McCracken, a senior forward at Washington, broke the school's single-game scoring record in girls basketball Dec. 5 when she poured in 46 points as the Hatchets defeated North Daviess 98-30. McCracken hit 22 of 32 shots from the field, including one three-pointer. The previous school record was 42 points by Julie Helm in 1995. The single-game Washington scoring record for boys basketball also is 46, set by McCracken's brother, Rob McCracken, in 1995."
"Stephanie
Owens, a senior at West Central, broke the
school's single-game scoring record with 46 points and tied the three-point
record with six as the Trojans defeated Washington Township 68-31 on Dec.
5."
We would remind everyone that we are listing scores daily
on our Region
& Area Game Scores page. (You can always access the scores page
from the home page, site index, or top of this news page.) Many of the
game scores are linked to articles from on-line newspapers around the state.
If you enjoy reading the news stories, we suggest that you check the scores
page on a regular basis, as many of the news links expire daily.
News thru Tuesday, December 8 |
The IHSAA has posted a list of personal
best performances on its Girls Basketball page. The leader in the scoring
category (35+ points minimum) was Amy Gearlds of
Beech Grove, who scored a whopping 51 points against Indian Creek on November
15. In the rebounding category (20+ rebound minimum), Lindsay
Secrest of Bloomfield pulled down 24 against Linton-Stockton on
November 17. No one was listed in the 3-point category (7+ minimum). You
can view the entire list at the IHSAA
Personal Best Page.
The Ft.
Wayne Journal Gazette has released its Top 5 girls teams for the
Ft. Wayne area. They rank these teams with the accompanying comments as
follows:
1. Snider
(3-0): Sophomore Suzie Hayden rapidly
developing into more than complementary player. 2. DeKalb (6-0): Good week, as Bridget Horwitz and Molly McAfee had confidence-building games. 3. Bishop Luers (5-0): Knights make case for top seed in SAC Tourney pairings due out Wednesday. 4. Homestead (5-1): Six three-pointers and 25 points against North Side. Four threes and 26 against East Noble. Five threes and 26 against South Side. Amy Waugh should change name to Amy Wow. 5. Bishop Dwenger (4-0): It's been couple of years since Saints faced game as big as one Thursday with Snider. |
News thru Monday, December 7 |
Highland may be without the services of its
starting point guard, Corrie Kaczmarek, after
the sophomore went down with a knee injury last week. It has not yet been
determined if the injury is an ACL tear, but unfortunately, that is what
the diagnosis is expected to be. This would be a setback for Highland,
as Kaczmarek is a workhorse that can handle the ball and expertly dish
it off to top-scoring teammate Jenny DeMuth.
She is also a defensive specialist that will be missed on the Trojan press.
The point guard duties may now go to DeMuth, who is probably the best remaining
ball handler and passer the Trojans have on the roster. This position change
could challenge DeMuth physically in close games, where she will be required
to do it all for four full quarters of play.
Miss Indiana Basketball 1997 Lisa
Shepherd (Richmond) came off the bench for
her Penn State Lady Lions and scored 21 points, grabbed 4 rebounds and
delivered 2 assists to upset No. 6 Alabama by a score of 77-73 in the finals
of the Wachovia Women's Invitational in Richmond, Virginia. Usually known
for her 3-point attacks, Shepherd displayed a new weapon in the Alabama
game with penetrating moves to the bucket. For her outstanding performance,
Shepherd garnered All-Tournament honors. You can read about Shepherd's
game winning efforts in the Centre
Daily Times out of Pennsylvania.
Former Lake Central star Kelly
Komara is becoming a favorite of Purdue fans
in Lafayette. During last Friday's win over Northern Illinois at Mackey
Arena, a group of fans displayed a banner with "Komara's Korner"
on it. Komara didn't disappoint the banner-holding fan section, as she
scored 16 points off the bench to help the Boilermakers in an 83-55 win
over the Huskies.
News thru Saturday, December 5 |
The Valparaiso edition of The Times was carrying a feature article about Valparaiso junior point guard Erin Sampsel in yesterday's news. (We get the Crown Point edition so we missed it yesterday.) This outstanding point guard on Valparaiso's 6-0 Vikings will be key to Valparaiso's anticipated success this season. Sampsel's height of nearly 6 feet at the point guard position provides a lot of options for the Vikings offensive and defensively.
Shanie Smith, a senior at Tri-Central, became the first girl in school history to score 1,000 career points. She topped the mark Nov. 20 with 24 points in a season-opening victory over Taylor.
Kristen Whitton,
a junior guard at Marion Lakeview Christian, broke the school record with
six three-pointers in a game Nov. 21 in a 72-65 triumph over Whitko. Whitton
also finished with a career-high 40 points.
The IHSAA will begin its annual service of compiling a
list of the Top 25 Scoring Leaders in girls basketball from around the
state, the first of which will be released next week. They will also be
compiling the Season's Bests for outstanding one-game performances in three
categories: scoring, rebounding and 3-point shooting. Minimum requirements
for submission are averages of 20 points or better for the Top 25 Scoring
Leaders category, and one-time performances of 35+ points, 20+ rebounds
or 6+ three-point shots for the Season's Best categories. The IHSAA urges
that media members send this information to the IHSAA at the earliest opportunity
following the player's performance (and at the end of the week for scoring
averages). They also ask that the player's name, school, date of game and
opponent be submitted as well. Submissions should be sent to Jim Russell
via FAX at 317-575-4244 or by e-mail to jrussell@ihsaa.org.
For those of you interested, the Terre
Haute Tribune-Star is carrying an interesting preview article
about the Big Four Classic based upon a one-on-one interview with Purdue's
Stephanie White-McCarty (Seeger) and some
of her thoughts on a basketball career after college.
News thru Friday, December 4 |
The Griffith/Highland game will be broadcast
on station WJOB-AM (1230) tonight. Varisty begins at 7:30 p.m.
The latest Indiana Internet Basketball
Writers Association (IIBWA) poll is out, and there are some interesting
alignments there. You can reach the IIBWA poll from our State
& Area Team Rankings page. Also, we have added a new Region-area
poll to our listings on that page. It is the Crown Point Star Girls
Renegade Poll, put together by sports writer Mark Smith at that publication.
For all of you who are interested in seeing some outstanding
Indiana womens college basketball teams this season, Sunday is a perfect
opportunity to see four of them at one time and place when Purdue, Ball
State and Indiana University are hosted by the Indiana State University
Sycamores in the 7th Annual Big Four Classic at the Hulman Center in Terre
Haute. Purdue takes on Ball State at 1:00 p.m. and Indiana State will challenge
Indiana at 3:00 p.m. Those in attendance will get to see an extraordinary
number of Hoosier high school natives, including pre-season All American
Stephanie White-McCarty
(Seeger) of Purdue. To see the complete rosters of each of these teams
(including players' home towns) follow the links immediately below.
Purdue
Ball
State
Indiana
Indiana
State
The Indiana State Lady Sycamores
are off to the best start that program has seen since the 1976-77 season.
Already at 4-0, ISU is becoming a feared opponent for many teams that have
ISU on their schedule. ISU's last victim was Dayton, who saw the Sycamores
come from behind to steal the game by a score of 56-54 on Wednesday. (You
can read about that game in the Tribune-Star
out of Terre Haute, where former Mt. Vernon standout April
Kirby was key to the win.) The Sycamores could
raise their record to 5-0 on Sunday against Indiana. The Hoosiers are ripe
for picking, as evidenced by a near upset by Evansville last night. Long
term, the future looks bright for ISU as Head Coach Cheryl Reeve is
getting the job done in the recruiting department. She has nabbed three
of this year's best Hoosier high school seniors in Kourtney
Mennen (Clinton Prairie), Kristy
Thomann (North Vermillion) and Erin
Rhodes (Oak Hill).
News thru Wednesday, December 2 |
The Indiana
Coaches of Girls Sports Association Top 10 basketball team rankings
have been released, and as expected, there have been some major realignments
throughout.
In 4A, last week's No. 1 Ben Davis loss to 3A No. 8 Roncalli moved New
Albany to the the top spot. Valpo moves to No. 2 and Kokomo rings in at
No. 3. Center Grove made a leap from the No. 10 spot to No. 6 after breaking
Martinsville's 55-game winning streak over the weekend, and Martinsville
dropped from No. 4 to No. 9 with the loss to Center Grove. Two Region-area
teams, Hobart and Portage, moved into the runner-up slots at the No. 11
and 12 positions, respectively, and Gary West Side received just 2 votes
to tie for the No. 15 position after it's loss to Hobart.
In 3A, Roncalli catapulted five spots to No. 3 after upsetting 4A No. 1
Ben Davis. Locally, Andrean logs in at the No. 11 position in the runners-up
category with 7 votes, and S. Bend Washington received 5 votes to tie for
position No. 13. Evansville Memorial retains the No. 1 spot in 3A, with
Northwood following at No. 2. Northwood played its season opener last night,
which was delayed due to their school's football team playing in the state
finals. They lost to Penn. (See next news item.)
In 2A, its the stronghold of the "North" schools, as North Knox,
North Judson and North Newton hold on to the top 3 spots in that order.
Surprisingly, Ft. Wayne Luers, who recently upset last week's 4A No. 11
Homestead, did not break into the Top 10. However, they are knocking on
the Top 10 door with 21 votes, just 2 behind No. 10 Leo, and 3 behind No.
9 Eastern.
In 1A, North Vermillion takes over the No. 1 spot from now No. 2 Rising
Sun. Locally, Morgan Township drops from No. 6 to the runners-up category
with just 10 votes compared to last week's 84 votes, and Michigan City
Marquette remains in the runners-up category as well, however dropping
13 votes from last week's poll.
The Northwood Panthers, ranked No.
2 in 3A this week, are feeling the pain this morning after their season-
and home-opener loss to Mishawaka Penn last night by a score of 43-35.
This loss broke a 67-game homecourt winning streak for Northwood, which
began in 1992. The loss to Penn might be attributed to the recent injury
of one of Northwood's key seniors and leading scorer, Amy
Zercher (5'10" G, 15.6 ppg). The Panthers
are without the services of their senior standout and Ball State signee,
who broke her finger on an errant pass from teammate Natalie
Will at practice last week. Although the feeling
was that Northwood could hold things together and compete without Zercher
until her return in 3-5 weeks, the team did not respond well without her
on the floor. You can read Northwood Coach Steve Neff's game day comments
on how he plans to deal with the loss of his standout senior in the Goshen
News.
Martinsville suffered its second loss of the season last
night to an up and coming Mooresville team by a score of 61-59. Senior
Courtney Cooper
scored 27 points in that losing effort. The Artesians, who have a young
team with three sophomore starters, are dealing with some internal turmoil
from parents. According to Leigh Evans at the Hickory
Husker's web site, a post-game radio interview with Coach Jan
Conner after the Center Grove loss last weekend
revealed that Conner was surprised to get playing time complaints from
Artie parents after Martinsville's first two wins of the season, in which,
ironically, every Artie player made it onto the floor. As Evans reports,
Conner said that, "This kind of stuff can wipe out even the best teams.
We've got to end it."
News thru Tuesday, December 1 |
The Indiana State Coaches Association Poll
was expected to be available today. However, we have been unable to find
it anywhere. As soon as we are able to determine the results of that poll,
we will bring them to you. Many changes are expected, as several top-ranked
teams lost games over the past week.
The Ft. Wayne Journal-Gazette has come out with
its Top 5 teams in the Ft. Wayne area. They rank these teams as follows:
1. Snider (1-0)
2. DeKalb (4-0)
3. Bishop Luers (3-0)
4. Homestead (2-1)
5. Bishop Dwenger (3-0)