March, 1999
News & Updates
Welcome to the news area of the Region Roundball Review. This page will be updated as information becomes available. Please note that not all links shown here will stay active indefinitely. Many links are to daily on-line publications that change or remove links from their sites on a daily basis. For your convenience, you can use the calendar at the right to access news for a particular day. If you have any news about girls basketball in the Region or around the State, please e-mail us with your information and we will include it here. Thanks. |
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News thru Wednesday March 31 |
The Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association (ICGSA) has released its entire roster of All-State First Team picks for the 1998-1999 season. They are as follows:
Jackie Campbell,
Chesterton
Jeanette Gray, Valparaiso
Emily Butler, Center Grove
Cortney Cooper, Martinsville
Tia Davis, Kokomo
Shyra Ely, Ben Davis
Elizabeth English, Rushville
Jill Hartman, Evansville Memorial
Jenna Hayes, Indianapolis Roncalli
Kennitra Johnson, New Albany
Kourtney Mennen, Clinton Prairie
Sara Nord, Jeffersonville
Kristy Thomann, North Vermillion
Amy Zercher, NorthWood
Connersville standout and 1999 Miss Basketball
April McDivitt is suspiciously missing from
this list, which we found in The Times, but we will try to confirm
her status with regard to the ICGSA picks. Most likely she is an MVP pick
for 1999 by the ICGSA, if such an award is made by that organization.
According to the Ft.
Wayne Journal Gazette, Homestead coach Dave
Rarick has resigned from his 2-year post as head girls basketball
coach, citing that he was frustrated by the external problems that developed
with the program. Although his team went 16-5 and won a conference championship
this season, the Spartans failed to win a sectional title in 1999. Homestead
will be looking for its fifth girls basketball coach in seven years.
With the end of the college season just a few days old,
the college coaching merry-go-round will be kicking into high rotation
as a number of coaching positions are expected to be filled and vacated
in the next few days and weeks. This will have a tremendous impact on the
recruiting of high school players, some of whom have been waiting for coaching
appointments to be made before committing to a particular college program.
Of course, the biggest question in the NCAA right now is who will fill the shoes of departing National Champion Purdue coach Carolyn Peck. Several names have been tossed out as solid contenders over the past few months and weeks, including Indiana State coach Cheryl Reeve, Evansville coach Kathi Bennett, Virginia Tech coach Bonnie Henrickson, Tulane coach Lisa Stockton and Colorado State coach Tom Collen, who is a former Boilermaker assistant. That appointment should be announced soon as Purdue would like to settle the status of interested recruits and start planning for next season. It is believed that Purdue already has lost several recruits due to the status of the coaching situation there, including Kennnitra Johnson of New Albany, who decided to go with Connecticut although she had hoped to stay closer to home at Purdue.
Also, Pat McKee of the Indy
Star is reporting that the appointment of Butler coach June
Olkowski as the new head coach at Northwestern will be officially
announced today. Northwestern's Kristina Divjak
(Lake Central) who red-shirted for the 1998-99 season with an injury, has
one year of eligibility left and will play her last year of college ball
under Olkowski. Also, NorthWood senior Natalie Will
and Emily Butler of Center Grove, who both
signed letters of intent last November with Northwestern, will play under
new coach Olkowski during their first year of college basketball. Olkowski's
change of assignment now creates another Division I coaching vacancy in
Indiana, making a total of three with the other two vacancies at Purdue
and Ball State.
The on-line articles continue to cover NCAA National Champ
Purdue. Again we pass on some of the best to you here:
Logansport Pharos Tribune | "Lady Boilers Lived Real-Life Fairy Tale" - Lots of great quotes from Stephanie White-McCarty, Kelly Komara (Lake Central) and Assistant Coach Kerry Cremeans about the conversations taking place on the sideline during White-McCarty's injury and Komara's part in the win. |
Indy Star | "Douglas a part of Purdue's second-half turnaround" - Describes the role Katie Douglas (Perry Meridian) played in bringing home the win in the second half of the championship game. |
Indy Star | "Boilermakers pause to savor dream season" - An overview of the final game and 1998-99 season, as well as a small look ahead at next season's Purdue team. |
News thru Monday, March 29 |
CONGRATULATIONS
PURDUE LADY
BOILERMAKERS!!!
Former Indiana high school girls basketball
players contributed big in the NCAA Championship win of Purdue over Duke
yesterday evening in San Jose. Stephanie White-McCarty
(Seeger) kept the Boilermakers in it in the first half, and Katie
Douglas (Perry Meridian) played strong throughout and scored big
when it counted to help secure the win. Candi Crawford
(Homestead) gave good sub minutes, and Kelly Komara
(Lake Central) stepped in during the last four minutes for injured White-McCarty
to score 1 point, make 1 assist, and strip the ball right out of the hands
of 6'6 former Purdue-player-turned-Blue-Devil Michele Van Gorp for an insult-to-injury
steal in the last minute of the game. Not to mention the ongoing contributions
other former Indiana high school players Connie Murdock
(S. Bend Clay), Mackenzie Curless (Martinsville),
Beth Lapaiche (LaPorte) and Mary
Jo Noon (Jeffersonville) made during practices and key game moments
throughout the NCAA Touranment and season. What a great statement for Hoosier
high school girls basketball!!!
Today, it's all Purdue, and rightly so. There's a great
deal of on-line coverage of Purdue's NCAA National Championship, but we
list below only those items we felt were the most interesting:
Mercury Center | Complete coverage of the championship and semi-final games of the NCAA Final Four in San Jose from top to bottom and from left to right. Lots of great articles, photos and audio. |
Mercury Center | "With go-to player down, Purdue reaches to another" - Ann Killion, Mercury News Sports Columnist, describes Stephanie White-McCarty's injury and how Ukari Figgs responded to that situation with her play. Also some quotes in there from Brent McCarty, Steph's husband. |
USA Today | "White-McCarty injured in her final game" - The drama behind the senior's injury with 4 minutes to go in the game is described. |
Post-Tribune | Purdue overcomes sluggish first half for title victory over Duke - Post-game interview with Kelly Komara, inlcuding quotes from Ukari Figgs and Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors. |
Ft. Wayne News Sentinel | "Purdue's together for game tonight" - An article from last week about how Carolyn Peck convinced all of her players to take on different roles to become a total team. Discusses Candi Crawford (Homestead) and her move from a starting role last season to a supporting role this season. |
San Francisco Examiner | "Enjoying the total experience" - Commentary by columnist Lynn Knapp about the behind-the-scenes attitudes and clowning of Purdue and Duke players after the semi-final victories by both teams. |
News thru Sunday, March 28 |
As you may have read at the Fifthquarter
site, a move to merge that outstanding site and the Region
Roundball Review will be made sometime before the 1999-2000 high
school basketball season. We welcome Randy and Mike Beckett, creators of
Fifthquarter (the original web site covering Indiana girls basketball only)
to our RRR "family" so to speak. All of the details for the combining
of our two sites have not yet been completely hammered out, but the attempt
will be to bring all interested girls basketball fans the best and most
continuous coverage possible. Welcome aboard Randy and Mike! We look forward
to working with you.
The Goshen
News has released its picks for the Goshen All-Area Girls Basketball
Squad. Included on that list are seniors Natalie
Will and Amy Zercher of NorthWood,
Chakiea Jackson of Elkhart Memorial, Amy
Saal of Elkhart Central and freshman Shanna
Zolman of Wawasee. You can read the season summary pertaining to
each of these players in the related linked article.
Former Lake Central standout Kelly
Kuhn, now a freshman at Butler, was named to the Midwest Collegiate
Conference All-Newcomer Team. Kuhn averaged 10.6 points and 6.8 rebounds
during her first year of college ball and finished out her season with
24 points and 18 rebounds in an MCC Tournament loss to Detroit.
During her four-year career at Villanova, former Boone
Grove star Jenn Sliwa finished in that university's
top 20 for career scoring with 927, and 11th in rebounds with 486. Sliwa
started 55 of 57 games the last two years and averaged 8.3 points and 3.1
rebounds per game for the .500 Wildcats. She also was second for the season
in 3-point field goals with 46. Jenn's younger sister, freshman Kim
Sliwa at Boone Grove, is following in her big sister's footsteps.
Kim was the Wolves' leading scorer for the 1998-99 season.
News thru Saturday, March 27 |
The Post-Tribune has selected Valpo's Jeanette Gray as its pick for NWI Player of the Year awards. Gray, who will be playing for Valparaiso University next fall, led her inexperienced team to an 18-3 season with 18.4 ppg and 8.3 rpg. Although not expected to dominate this season with a roster of new players, the Vikings were consistently ranked as one of the top teams in the state and went 12-0 to start off the season, mainly due to the leadership and play of Gray. The Post-Tribune also named its First and Second Team selections as follows:
Post-Tribune All-Area First Team | Post-Tribune All-Area Second Team |
Jeanette Gray, Valpo Jenny DeMuth, Highland Jackie Campbell, Chesterton Kristin Cheairs, Gary West Side Abbey Coons, Hobart Erin Jedlikowski, Portage Tracie Mezera, River Forest Erica Martin, Kouts Cathy Herring, Hammond Morton Jen Bayer, Lowell |
Kara Austgen, Andrean Joann Smith, Hammond Gavit Kimberly Smith, Gary West Side Meghann Sullivan, Andrean Natalie Yudt, Portage Sarah Zondor, Crown Point Lauren Julian, Hobart Erin Sampsel, Valpo Jamie Gutowski, Andrean Christy Poparad, Chesterton |
Megan Eckert,
Manchester
Sarah Gordon, Prairie Heights
Rachel King, Bishop Luers
Maria Marchesano, Elmhurst
Brooke Minniear, FW Snider
Connie Meyers, Columbia City
Maria Recker, DeKalb
Kate Rolf, Carroll
Sara Schaefer, Bishop Luers
Brieann Starkweather, Whitko
Amy Waugh, Homestead
According to the Lafayette
Journal and Courier, Lafayette Jeff junior Suzie
Hammel, who was recently named to the Jr. All-Star Team Core Team,
has transferred to Lebanon High School to join up with her brother and
dad. Hammel's dad, Jim Hammel, had been let go from his position as head
boys basketball coach at Lafayette Jeff early in the school year and found
a new coaching job at Lebanon. Suzie Hammel has stated that she is making
the transfer to spend the last few months of school with her brother Scott,
who will be going off to college next year.
News thru Friday, March 26 |
The Times of NWI has named Chesterton senior Jackie Campbell as NWI Player of the Year. Campbell averaged 18.1 ppg and 5.1 apg this season and totaled 1,210 during her four-year high school career under dad and coach, Jack Campbell. The Times also named Susan Sanders of Kouts and Al Detterline of River Forest as NWI Co-Coaches of the Year. First and Second All-Area Teams were named by The Times as follows:
Times All-Area First Team | Times All-Area Second Team |
Jen Bayer, Lowell Jackie Campbell, Chesterton Kristin Cheairs, Gary West Side Abbey Coons, Hobart Jenny DeMuth, Highland Jeanette Gray, Valpo Susan Hay, Munster Cathy Herring, Hammond Morton Stacy Jones, Bishop Noll Lauren Julian, Hobart Erica Martin, Kouts Tracie Mezera, River Forest Meghann Sullivan, Andrean Natalie Yudt, Portage Shannon Wells, Merrillville |
Melanie Brumbaugh, Hanover
Central Stephanie Gill, Munster Jamie Gutowski, Andrean Tiffany Humphrey, Hammond Erin Jedlikowski, Portage Katie Julian, Hobart Christy Koby, Hanover Central Kristi Koselke, North Newton Kim McGinley, Morgan Township Lori Moore, Lake Central Michele Pickering, Portage Erin Sampsel, Valpo Kimberly Smith, Gary West Side Joann Smith, Hammond Gavit Sarah Zondor, Crown Point |
News thru Thursday, March 25 |
According to the Michigan
City News Dispatch, Chesterton senior Jackie
Campbell has been named by the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association
(ICGSA) as a First Team All-State selection. Campbell will attend Colorado
State University next year. We will try to track down the complete ICGSA
All-State list and post it here when we get it.
According to the Warsaw
Times-Union, Whitko girls head basketball coach, Ray Davis, has
resigned from his coaching post. Davis coached at Whitko for 5 years and
although his team went under .500 with a 10-11 record this season, the
Wildkats did log a win against the traditionally strong Warsaw girls basketball
program for the first time since 1981.
The local newspapers are carrying some interesting stories
about former Indiana high school players who will be playing in the upcoming
Women's NCAA Final Four. The
Times has a great article about Purdue tough-as-nails sophomore
Katie Douglas and the role she plays for the
Lady Boilermakers. Purdue freshman Kelly Komara
is continuing with her series of diary entries about the NCAA tournament
for The
Times. Also, the Post-Tribune
is carrying a reflective piece on the state of the women's college game
and where it stands.
With the NCAA Women's Final Four set for this weekend,
the Mercury Center
web site is carrying some very interesting articles about the women's
college game and how it is different today from 20 years ago. They cover
some interesting topics, including the characteristics of today's college
game and players, and how the recruiting process has really intenstified
for college coaching staffs. This is some great reading for those high
school players who are set on playing college ball and are looking for
ways to increase their chances for a scholarship.
News thru Tuesday, March 23 |
It will be deja vu all over again, although on a much grander scale, for Purdue's Kelly Komara (Lake Central) and Louisiana Tech's Monica Maxwell (East Chicago) when they meet in the second semi-final game of the San Jose NCAA Final Four on Friday. In 1994, two teams in NWI were in the national spotlight with No. 2 and No. 3 rankings in USA Today. Those two teams, East Chicago and Lake Central, boasted the likes of Tenille Adams and Maxwell for EC, and Kristina Divjak, Leslie Rossa, Denise Szany and little 5'4 freshman Komara for LC. After a regular season win for EC over the Indians in front of 6,000+ fans, the two teams met again in the finals of the Gary West Side Regionals in February. The game was extremely close, but Lake Central pulled away in the fourth quarter when EC tired late due to a tough early game, and the Indians won the Regional and a shot at the 1994 State Championship, which the Indians eventually won. On Friday, Komara and Maxwell will again go head-to-head for a shot at a championship game, but this time a game of the highest caliber -- the national NCAA Championship.
Who would have guessed it back in 1994?
Kelly Komara was a busy girl
one year ago at this time. She had intended to a go to the NCAA Final Four
at that time, but a last-minute phone call from some folks in Indianapolis
sent her on a detour to pick up the No. 1 All-Star jersey. She never did
make it to Kansas City, but she's making the trip this time -- and she
won't even have to pay to get in. You can read about Komara's trip to the
Final Four in the Post-Tribune.
As reported in The
Times, Valparaiso Head Coach Greg Kirby
has been selected to serve as Head Coach for the 1999 Indiana All-Star
team this summer. He served as assistant coach for the All-Star Team in
1993. Assistants this year will be Kim Bilskie
of Twin Lakes and Linda Bamrick of Indianapolis
Cathedral.
News thru Saturday, March 20 |
Lowell senior Jennifer
Bayer, known in NWI for her dominating and creative post play, will
be attending Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. After narrowing
her choices down to Army, Georgetown (Ky.) and Wheeling Jesuit, Bayer selected
Division I Lafayette for its outstanding academic programs. Bayer is second
in her graduation class with a 4.121 GPA. You can read about Bayer's choice
in The
Times.
Post-season honors continue to be awarded, with the following
appearing in a number of publications yesterday and today:
Duneland Athletic Conference - Coaches in the Duneland Conference selected the All-Conference Team for 1999 on Wednesday. Portage had the greatest number of players named, including two who will be returning as seniors next season. The selected players are as follows: MVP Jackie Campbell (Chesterton), Jeanette Gray (Valparaiso), Abby Coons (Hobart), Sarah Zondor (Crown Point), Shannon Wells (Merrillville), Bridget DeCordial (LaPorte), Erin Sampsel (Valparaiso), Michelle Pickering (Portage), Natalie Yudt (Portage), and Erin Jedlikowski (Portage).
Chesterton High School - Jackie Campell, MVP; Christy Poparad, Annie Ray, Bridget Schwoegler and Megan Smith shared most improved; Annie Ray, mental attitude award.
Michigan City News Dispatch All-Area Teams - FIRST TEAM - Jackie Campbell (Chesterton), Janice Belzowski (New Prairie), Jessica Yagelski (Michigan City), Amanda Warnke (River Valley) and Bridget DeCordial (LaPorte); SECOND TEAM and HONORABLE MENTION selections can be viewed in the Michigan City News Dispatch.
South Central High School - Hannah Herrold, MVP and tied most rebounds; Tarah Kitchell, best offense and tied most rebounds; Tabitha Kitchell, best defense; Randi Webb, mental attitude; Amber Oneal, most assists.
Northland Conference - Tarah
Kitchell (South Central) honorable mention All-Conference; Melinda
Cuff (South Central) All-Conference Academic.
The Miss Basketball mystery will be solved as of midnight
Saturday, when the results are considered available for release. At least
two sportswriters are giving the scoop on their votes for Miss Basketball
and the All-Star Team. Mike
Moffett and John
Estridge at the Connersville News Examiner give their picks
and supporting arguments. Guess who they picked for Miss Basketball???
;-)
News thru Thursday, March 18 |
The Indiana Jr. All-Stars, who will practice and compete against the Indiana All-Star Team in June, was announced in the Indianapolis Star yesterday. Locally, only junior Natalie Yudt of Portage was named to the North Team. (Last year three NWI players were named to the team, including Jeanette Gray, Jackie Campbell and Kristin Cheairs.) The North Team will play in an exhibition game against the 1999 Indiana All-Stars (composed of all seniors and yet to be announced) either on June 16 or June 23. The Jr. All-Stars roster is comprised of 18 players from around the state. Those players are placed on one of three teams: the Core Team, North Team or South Team. The Core Team will play in both exhibition games in June, and the North and South Teams will play in only one of the June games. According to Pat Aikman, Indianapolis Star All-Star Game Director, a representative group of girls basketball coaches selected the Girls Jr. All-Star team on March 7 in Indianapolis. The girls were then contacted for availability through their high school coaches. The complete roster of the Jr. All-Star Team is as follows:
Core Team - Lindsey Secrest (Bloomfield), Sara Nord (Jeffersonville), Shalicia Hurns (Broad Ripple), Jennifer DesJean (Perry Meridian), Connie Myers (Columbia City), and Suzie Hammel (Lafayette Jeff). These girls will play in both June exhibition games.
North Team - Anna Waugh (Franklin), Julie Johnson (Homestead), Sara Strahm (Ben Davis), Lindsay Galbraith (Anderson Highland), Natalie Yudt (Portage), and Andrea Milliser (Rochester). This team will play in only one June exhibition game.
South Team - Kristi Holloway (New Washington), Lynne Johnson (Corydon Central), Melissa Merkel (Northeast Dubois), Abby Scharlow (New Albany), Megan Mauck (Boonville), and Fabrianne Perez (Bedford North Lawrence). This team will play in the other June exhibition game.
Jr. All-Star Coaches - Connie
Garrett, Clinton Prairie; Rick Marshall,
North Knox; and Jeff Edwards, Morgan Township.
Other post-season honors are being conferred upon players
in NWI and around the state as follows:
South Bend Tribune All-Star Teams - Metro Team MVP Jackie Batteast (SB Washington), Area Team MVP Natalie Will (NorthWood), Area Team Member Jeanette Gray, (Valparaiso), and other players honored as shown in the S. Bend Tribune (alt. link). The Metro Team and the Area Team will play in the 13th Annual South Bend Tribune All-Star game on Thursday, March 25 at 7 p.m. at the Wiekamp Center at Bethel College.
LaPorte High School - MVP Bridget De Cordial, most improved and freethrows Alaina Neff, leading rebounder Lara Clarkson, mental attitude Sasha Miller and most assists Lisa Tegt.
All-Three Rivers Conference - First team: Megan Eckert and Jessica Hicks (Manchester), Abby Wilson (Northfield), Andrea Monroe (Oak Hill), Andrea Milliser (Rochester), Brooke McKee (Southwood), Rhonda Doud (Tippecanoe Valley) and Brianne Starkweather (Whitko). Remaining conference honors are shown in the Miami County Life.
![]() Hobart senior Abbey Coons brings the ball up the court under heavy pressure while Hobart Coach Phil Misecko watches on. (Post-Tribune photo by Jen Friedberg) |
Senior standout guard Abbey Coons became the Hobart High School career scoring leader this season with a total of 933 points, breaking Hobart's previous girls record of 840 points. Coons recently was named to the Hoosier Basketball Magazine Top 100 seniors in the state, and will be attending Notre Dame University, where she will attempt to walk on to the women's basketball team there. Coons has a good chance of filling a need for the Irish, who had some difficulties this season at the point guard position due to injuries and lack of depth. During her senior year, Coons averaged 15.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 3.1 steals per game. |
News thru Wednesday, March 17 |
All members of the girls basketball coaching
staff at LaPorte High School have announced their resignations from coaching
for a variety of reasons. Head Coach Mark Wilson
is looking to pursue other interests, while Assistant Coaches John
Dearing and Janie Ulmer wish to spend
more time with their families. During Coach Wilson's 5-year tenure, the
Lady Slicers gained a tremendous amount of respect as a program, which
is quite an accomplishment considering the fact that LaPorte is a member
of the tough Duneland Athletic Conference. You can read more about the
coaching staff resignations and the LaPorte team at the Lady
Slicers web site.
The complete list of Top 40 and Top 100 girls basketball
players in the state, as judged by Hoosier Basketball Magazine, is now
available at the Indianapolis
Star. As we reported earlier, a number of NWI players are on the
Top 100 list, although only Jackie Campbell of
Chesterton, Kristin Cheairs of Gary West Side,
and Jeanette Gray of Valparaiso were the only
Region girls to make the Top 40 cut. Of interest is the inclusion of West
Lafayette's Keaton Brumm, formerly of Crown
Point and Andrean, on the Top 40 list as well. The Top 40 Workout is scheduled
for 1:00 p.m. on March 21 at Marian College. Admission is $4.00.
As a reminder, the announcement of who will wear the coveted
No. 1 jersey in the Indiana All-Star games as Miss Basketball will be announced
this Sunday, March 21. You can view how the selection process for Miss
Basketball takes place and the most likely candidates, including Valpo's
Jeanette Gray, at the Miss
Basketball Watch in the Indianapolis Star.
After being totally ignored by USA
Today as the No. 1 team in Indiana for nearly three-quarters of
the season, New Albany finally jumps in as No. 12 in the national rankings
in that publication after winning the state finals. Earlier in the season,
Ben Davis had been ranked by USA Today as high as No. 14. It is
unfortunate that NorthWood is a 3A school, because they are worthy of a
national ranking as well, as proved by last Saturday's performance. The
Tournament of Champions should prove to be pretty interesting this year.
Those of you who were at the state finals on Saturday saw
three promising freshmen who played huge parts in their teams' performances
in the championship games. For Cathedral, 5'7 guard Sharika
Webb was nearly unstoppable in the paint, and tallied 21 points
for the Irish before she fouled out of the game with about 5 seconds to
go. For New Albany, 5'4 guard Jessica Huggins,
a defensive specialist, was like an Energizer Bunny, harassing Snider's
guards into submission. And for NorthWood, 6'0 center Carol
Duncan, a most promising prospect, scored 10 points for the Panthers
on 5 of 6 shooting, even though she sat a good portion of the game in foul
trouble. You can read more about Duncan and her season-long role for NorthWood
in the Warsaw Times.
The Olympic Athletic Conference has recognized the following
players for conference honors:
OAC First team: April McDivitt, Maria Renner, Beth Windhorst and Missy Taylor of Connersville; Abbey Clark and Brandy Strine from Huntington North; Erika Roudebush of Hamilton Southeastern; Cindi Merrill and Marianne Nethery of Noblesville; Brooke Davidson and Julie Shields of Brownsburg; Angel Hall and Lindsay Galbraith of Anderson Highland; and Cassie Golden of Jay County.
OAC Coach of the Year: Larry Miller of Connersville.
News thru Tuesday, March 16 |
Before we move on to our own take on the state
finals on Saturday, keep in mind that we would like to hear your comments
or favorite moments from the 1999 girls tournament series. Although many
of you have been posting your comments on several forums that we've visited,
we thought a posting board where tournament posts will not be lost to new
postings would be appropriate. Therefore, we have created a message board
entitled, "1999 State Tournament
- Comments & Favorite Moments" for all to use. Please feel
free to post your tournament thoughts and favorite moments there.
The 24th Annual IHSAA Girls Basketball State Finals was
a classic in many ways, and we pass on some of our humble observations,
notes and a few photos here. Hope you enjoy them.
No
more M-S-A: The 1999 State Finals at Market
Square Arena was the last one to be held in the 25-year-old building, which
has served as the girls basketball finals venue since 1980. MSA will
become a victim of the wrecking ball when the Indiana Pacers move to their
new arena, Conseco Fieldhouse, two blocks south. It is undetermined at
this time if the girls finals will be at the new arena next year or not.
But if they are, somehow the chant of "Conseco Fieldhouse!" or
"C-F!" at the Semi-State Championship games next year will not
have the same effect as the time-honored chant of "M-S-A! M-S-A!".
Best side story to the state finals: Those of you who saw 3A NorthWood head coach Steve Neff on the sidelines Saturday could probably tell by his coaching style that he isn't the type to sit still and let things happen, but is a decisive man of action. Never was that so true when the chartered bus that the Panthers had contracted for the ride down to the finals did not show up on Saturday afternoon to take the team to Indianapolis with just about four hours to go before game time. A quick call to the charter service spelled impending disaster when the company denied that any contract for a chartered bus ride to Indy existed. That is when "SuperNeff" took matters into his own hands, literally, and saved the day by driving the girls down to MSA himself in a NorthWood school bus. Still licensed to drive a bus from his field trip driving stints years ago as a summer school teacher, Neff managed to get his team to Indianapolis from Nappanee in under three hours. This is definitely a classic story that will go down in girls basketball history as part of the NorthWood championship legend. You can read about the entire "bus episode" in the Goshen News.
Weirdest coincidence: A number of schools around the state are considering changing their school colors to red and black after Saturday's finals games. EVERY champion of the day sported those winning hues, making it a red and black sweep. Go figure. The only school that somewhat broke that mold was NorthWood, which lists its colors as "Black & Red," as opposed to "Red & Black," like the other three champions of the day. A minor discrepancy that didn't seem to affect the outcome of the red and black (or black and red) championship day run.
Another
weird coincidence: Did anyone else who frequents
the various basketball web sites in Indiana notice that the logo on the
State Finals souvenier t-shirt sold on Saturday looked suspiciously like
the logo of the I.I.B.W.A. (Indiana Internet Basketball Writers Association)?
Hmmm... someday we'll have to get that thing copyrighted.
Best
coach's pre-game quote from the finals: In
the media glut before the state finals, coaches from all eight state-finalist
schools were interviewed and re-interviewed by a number of papers and news
services around the state. We read a good deal of those previews and the
quote that caught our eye and funny bone was from 2A Austin coach Dan
Deaton. When asked about what kind of team the 19-7 Eagles were,
Deaton replied, "We're just a bunch of old country girls that like
to get out and play some basketball."
(I love Indiana basketball...)
Strategy question of the finals:
In the exciting 3A game which went down to the wire, Cathedral had two
opportunities in the last 15-20 seconds of the game to set up plays on
timeouts to take the lead -- once when the score was tied at 70-70 and
then again after a NorthWood free throw put the Panthers ahead 71-70. During
the first timeout, the conversation in the stands was that Cathedral coach
Linda Bamrick would obviously go for the money
shot with 6'3 senior center Jennifer Callier,
who basically had been able to score at will throughout the game. I was
just about to agree when, surprisingly, it became obvious who had gotten
the nod for the planned game-winning play. As the players walked back out
onto the floor after the timeout, several of them were giving encouraging
words and pats on the back to freshman Sharika Webb,
who had scored 21 points so far in the game with her barreling, but effective,
penetration to the basket. I ventured a comment that Webb would take it
to the hole, and that's just what happened. But the basket did not go,
and on the ensuing NorthWood possession off the miss, Webb fouled Panther
Natalie Will, who hit the first of two free
throws with about 5 seconds to go. Cathedral pulled down the rebound on
the second Will attempt and immediately called a timeout. Certainly
the plan would be to get it to Callier this time, and it was, but that
was not how it went. Sophomore Asjah Zinnerman
took it coast to coast in the last 4.4 seconds for the final shot of the
game. With time running out, she put it up at about the free throw line
while sandwiched between two NorthWood players. The shot hit the glass,
banged down several inches into the basket, and then popped out to give
NorthWood the game. Callier tried to put back the rebound, but the buzzer
had already sounded and the Panthers were the new 3A State Champs. In reviewing
the 5-second digital clip that we have of that last play, it's very questionable
if Zinnerman could have dumped it off in time to Callier, who was ready
and open to the bucket, for the final shot. Zinnerman probably made the
right decision under the circumstances. But if Cathedral had it all over
to do again on that first time out...
However, maybe as Coach Bamrick stated in the post-game interview, "...it
wasn't meant to be." What an absolutely outstanding game. Thanks to
both teams and coaches for treating fans to the best game of the day.
Best coach's post-game quote from the finals: 3A NorthWood coach Steve Neff when asked about the exciting final play of the game, "That last 4.4 seconds was the longest I ever sat through.''
Best player strategy of the finals: Ft. Wayne Luers junior Jenny Moppert, a speedy 5'3 dynamo, walked away from the Knights' championship-winning effort with 11 rebounds. Not exactly considered a monster on the boards during the season with a 3.0 rebounding average, she shared her secret after the game. According to Moppert, she noticed that the MSA rims were pretty tight at the pre-game shoot around earlier in the week, and deduced that a good number of rebounds might be headed to wide open territory instead of just over the paint. She capitalized on that prediction by anticipating the high-arching outside rebounds and picking up her game-high 11. That's a pretty good 5'3 strategy in our book.
Record-making and -breaking performances:
Several season and tournament records of note were made during state finals
day on Saturday. First
in individual efforts, 1A Clinton Prairie senior standout and Mental
Attitude Winner, Kourtney Mennen moved
into 6th place on the all-time Top 25 Season Scoring Leaders list with
750 points for the 1998-99 season. Mennen also moved into 8th place on
the Top 25 Career Scoring Leaders list with a career total of 2,158 points.
For team records, in that stellar 3A game that was undoubtedly the best
game of the day, NorthWood put on a shooting clinic with a blistering .638
field goal percentage, trouncing an 11-year old Highest Field Goal Percentage
record of .586 set by Ft. Wayne Snider against Carmel in 1988. Cathedral's
shooting percentage was definitely nothing to overlook either at .518.
The combined shooting percentage of both teams (.578) was good enough to
break the 21-year-old record for Highest Combined Field Goal Percentage
in a championship game by nearly 8 percentage points. That earlier record
was set in the 1978 championship game between Warsaw and Jac-Cen-Del, when
both teams combined for a .504 shooting percentage.
Most interesting school mascot at MSA: A cross between what looked like Mr. Ed with an enlarged head and a blue and white Smurf, the New Washington Mustang mascot, hands down, was the most interesting at the state finals on Saturday. This furry fan-pleaser with the floor-length tail danced and pranced on the cheering floor in front of the enthusiastic New Washington fans, and was a darn good "hoofer". (Ba-dah-dum... Sorry. Couldn't resist.)
Crowd notes:
The biggest fan following of the day was without a doubt the crowd from
New Albany. They filled their section of the arena from top to bottom with
a sea of red and black. The loudest crowd of the day had nothing to do
with the biggest crowd. In fact they were from the smallest school at the
finals -- New Washington, with an enrollment of 264. This roudy bunch was
with their team from beginning to end, even when the Mustangs trailed by
15 points at the half. (Maybe it had something to do with that really cool
mascot.) The quickest crowd exit of the day definitely went to Cathedral.
A great green and white showing, the Irish following cleared out within
3 minutes after the 3A awards presentation. And when we say "cleared
out", we mean "cleared out". Maybe 75 Irish fans hung around
for the 4A game. The
lingering thoughts about the Cathedral loss were understandably just too
much to endure for the Irish faithful while watching more basketball. Most
likely they left to find their team and let them know how proud they were
despite the loss. Finally, the issue of attendance... Crowds were definitely
sparse throughout the day. The excitement of the all-day state finals event
is definitely not what it used to be. In the state finals game program,
the history recap for 1989 stated that attendance for that finals day was
31,325 for two sessions. This year's attendance in the morning session
was 6,776. We never did see the evening attendance posted, but it was probably
a bit more than that and probably brought the day's total attendance to
about 15,000 -- less than half the total attendance of 10 years ago. What's
the answer? We don't know. But we anticipate the IHSAA will be announcing
some changes to the present money-losing tournament format at its scheduled
Executive Board meeting in May.
And a final note: We wanted to bring you more photos from the games on Saturday, but as you might have been able to tell by what we offer here, our seats were not at all conducive to quality action photos from the games. But we hope we were able to provide a few interesting angles and observations from the games anyway. (Anybody out there know how to get a press pass? Just wondering for next year.)
News thru Friday, March 12 |
Previews to the 3A NorthWood vs. Cathedral
state finals game are appearing on-line, with comments from both coaches
and a hint at the strategy both will employ to help their teams claim the
gold at the state championship game on Saturday. This 3A matchup is being
anticipated as one of the best of the four class games, with both teams
sporting a number of Division I signees and prospects. You can read
about this upcoming battle in the South
Bend Tribune (alt.
link) and The
Goshen Times.
Sophomore guard Suzie Hayden
of 4A Ft. Wayne Snider is featured in the Ft.
Wayne Sentinel today. Hayden, a 3-point specialist (.344) for the
Panthers, could be the outside defensive focus of New Albany on Saturday.
Hayden's outside sharpshooting is used by the Snider offense to open up
opportunities for post players Kia Jones,
Erin Heffner and Sparkle
Williams. If New Albany can limit Snider's outside game, the defense
can concentrate on interior play. Snider doesn't have an answer to senior
Kennitra Johnson in terms of explosive play
and scoring. However, they rely on a balanced scoring attack with firepower
from 7 different players: Brooke Minnear (13.0
ppg), Jones (8.8 ppg), Hayden
(8.4 ppg), Williams (8.4 ppg), Erin
Heffner (7.3 ppg), Jackie Knight (7.2
ppg) and Antoinette Gregory (7.0 ppg).
The following players have been honored by their schools
or conference as follows:
Michigan City High School - Jessica Yagelski, MVP; Latisha Wagner, free-throw percentage award; Trenia Davis, most improved; Natalie Burgess, Wolf Award.
Wabash County - Senior Megan Eckert (Manchester) Player of the Year; First Team: sophomore Jessica Hicks (Manchester), junior Staci White and sophomore Abby Wilson (Northfield), sophomore Brooke McKee (Southwood) and junior Gina Curtis (Wabash). (Story in the Wabash Plain Dealer.)
New Prairie High School - Janice Belzowski, MVP; Katie Williamson, most improved; Sara Smith, mental attitude award; Krissy Mrozinski and Ashley McFatridge, assists award; Erica Hauschild, free-throw percentage leader.
Fremont High School - Sarah Shuman, MVP; Kristin Roederer, outstanding defensive player; Stacy Hanna, most rebounds; Summer Cress, best free throw percentage.
Three Rivers Conference - Academic All-Conference girls basketball team: Marie Rosswurm and Myra Absi of Rochester; Jenny Sanders, Jennifer Baker, Brooke Fisher and Jennifer Studebaker of Tippecanoe Valley; Sarah Garvin and Kristina Williams of North Miami.
Indian Creek High School - Beth
Teeters, MVP and best free throw percentage; Desirae
Tharpe, most rebounds; Lindsey Harvey,
most improved; Jodi Scott, mental attitude.
The Indianapolis
Star has named its Super Team for the 1998-99 season and sophomore
Shyra Ely of Ben Davis heads the list as Super
Player of the Year. Coach of the Year is Linda Bamrick
of Cathedral, whose Irish will be defending a 27-0 record in the 3A game
of the state finals on Saturday against NorthWood. Ten other players from
the greater Indianapolis area were also named to the team.
News thru Thursday, March 11 |
On-line news coverage of players, teams and coaches either in the state finals or whose season has come to a close, can be found at the following links:
3A Northwood Coach Steve Neff - South
Bend ribune (alt.
link)
2A Eastern Comets - Kokomo
Tribune
Indianapolis area Player of the Year, First
Team & Coach of the Year for each of the following geographical areas:
All-City - Indianapolis
Star
All-Metro North - Indianapolis
Star
All-Metro South - Indianapolis
Star
All-Metro West - Indianapolis
Star
All-Metro East - Indianapolis
Star
All-County - Indianapolis
Star
All Mid-Indiana Conference - Peru
Tribune
Northeast Hoosier Conference - Bluffton
Banner-News
On Friday, the Indianapolis
Star will announce its 1999 girls basketball Super Team, recognizing
the best players from the nine-county Indianapolis metropolitan area.
According to the Hoosier
Times, Bloomington South varsity head coach, Criss
Beyers, will be leaving his coaching and teaching positions to pursue
a new administrative career at an athletic facility in the Bloomington
area. During his five-year stint for the purple and white Panthers, Beyers
compiled a 60-45 record.
Two former north central Indiana prep players, Notre Dame
sophomore Ruth Riley (North Miami) and Duke
junior Lauren Rice (Peru) are getting ready
for the upcoming NCAA tournament. Rice
and her Duke Blue Devils (24-6) will begin NCAA play against Holy
Cross (21-7) on Saturday as the No. 3 seed in the East Region bracket.
The 6'5 Riley
and the Irish (25-4) are the No. 5 seed in the West Region bracket
and open against St. Mary's (26-2) on Saturday.
News thru Wednesday, March 10 |
According to a Region Roundball Review source,
seven NWI senior players have been named Hoosier Basketball Magazine
Top 100 players. State semi-finalist Hobart landed three on the list. All
NWI players include, in alphabetical order, the following: Jackie
Campbell (Chesterton), Kristin Cheairs (West
Side), Abbey Coons (Hobart), Jeanette
Gray (Valpo), Erin Jedlowski (Portage),
Katie Julian (Hobart), and Lauren
Julian (Hobart).
A number of on-line articles about teams and players either
in the state finals or just eliminated in semi-state play this weekend
are appearing around the state as follows:
3A Northwood - Elkhart
Truth (one-day link)
4A Ft. Wayne Snider's Sparkle Williams
- FW Journal Gazette
(one-day link)
4A Kokomo - Kokomo
Tribune
1A Clinton Prairie's Kourtney Mennen
- Frankfort
Times
4A Connersville - Connersvile
News-Examiner
1A Eminence - Martinsville
Reporter-Times
1 A North Harrison - Corydon
Democrat
The Kennitra Johnson/April
McDivitt Miss Basketball debate rages on with the outstanding performances
of both seniors during last weekend's semi-state championship game at Southport.
Pointing to the difficulties in selecting the top candidate are well explained
in an article appearing in the Connersville
News-Examiner by staff writer Andy Sallee.
News thru Tuesday, March 9 |
Congratulations to Ben Davis sophomore Shyra
Ely, who is being featured in the Spring Issue of Sports Illustrated
for Women, the cover of which you can view at the Sports
Illustrated for Women web site. According to the publication, Ely
is "the top high school player" in the nation's sophomore class.
Also featured on the cover and in the article is the top freshman in the
nation, 14-year-old Seimone Augustus (6'1) of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who
is expected to be the next generation Holdsclaw player in the high school
ranks. According to the article, her skills (which include the ability
to dunk) are so advanced, that it is felt she could step into the college
game today. Some interesting reading.
The IHSAA is carrying complete
team information about the eight teams that will be appearing in the
state finals at Market Square Arena this Saturday, including rosters, stats,
records, coach's information and other miscellaneous info. A great resource
for previewing the teams and how they match up.
How big of a game was the New Albany/Connersville matchup
on Saturday? Big enough for USA
Today to carry a small piece on the event. With the author of the
article, Dave Krider, taking notice of the 47-point performance of New
Albany senior Kennitra Johnson, don't be surprised
if New Albany sneaks into the next USA Today national rankings due
out later this week. Krider also does the rankings for the national publication.
On-line publications are carrying stories about teams appearing
in the State Finals on Saturday:
The
Goshen News - 3A NorthWood
Indianapolis
Star - 1A New Washington
News thru Monday, March 8 |
Go get a cup of coffee or a cola and get ready for a long read. We have lots of news and viewpoints for you look over today...
We were disappointed that The Times and Post-Tribune did not carry on-line coverage of the Semi-State games covering teams from Northwest Indiana. We would have liked to link them to our site for the rest of you around the state to see the NWI take on the games involving Highland, Andrean, Hanover Central and Kouts. But instead, we just cover a few points here...
4A Highland sophomore Jenny DeMuth could not be stopped by the Kokomo defense in the early game of the day, and scored a game high 22 points despite playing with the flu, which she had since Wednesday but did not let anyone know about until Friday. According to a quote in the Post-Tribune, Kokomo head coach Charlie Hall stated that he "can't believe there's a better sophomore in the state." DeMuth is scheduled to have surgery today on her knee, which has not been at 100% since her ACL tear last season. With her own estimate of a 30% utility of the knee this season, one can only imagine what she'll be doing at 100% next season...
3A Andrean players, coaches and fans are probably still wondering "what if" with the third quarter knee injury of senior long-range shooting specialist Kara Austgen in the NorthWood early game, when Andrean was only trailing by 3 points. The game plan at that point was to let Austgen loose from the outside to draw the defense and open some additional scoring opportunities inside for center Meghann Sullivan. That plan went out the gym door with Austgen's injury, however, and Andrean never recovered from her absence as NorthWood opened it up from that point on to win by 18. No word on Austgen's condition today...
For the last two weeks we've been reading about the impact 2A Hanover Central coach Denny Foster has had on the Lady Wildcat program since his arrival just after the season started. It became painfully obvious just how important he was to their success when he was ejected after two technical fouls just at the start of the fourth quarter. Without his presence on the bench, the Lady Wildcats went south quickly with four of five starters fouling out of the game before it was all over. In fact in the last quarter, Hanover Central sent Eastern to the line 22 times on 15 fouls, compared to the 1 foul of Eastern for the quarter...
Amazing underdog 1A Kouts, the only NWI team to make it to the Semi-State championship game, met a brick wall by the name of Kourtney Mennen in the Clinton Prairie final. The senior scored 27 points for her team to add to her 2,000+ career total. For Kouts, junior Jenni Bielinski established herself late in the season as a force that will have to be reckoned with in her final season of high school ball next winter. She had 17 points, 14 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks in the early victory over Fremont. Kouts as a whole looks to return a strong team, with the loss of only senior Mary Gonzales (10 ppg) from the starting lineup...
Congratulations to all the NWI teams that advanced
to the Semi-State this season! If this year's showing is any indication,
the Region looks to possibly go further in the tournament next season.
Now, for our notes from the Southport Semi-State:
The atmosphere at the Southport arena was of the state finals variety on Saturday -- big name players, high-ranked teams, tons of media, a huge crowd (7,500) -- and a treat for all the fans in attendance. The players definitely did not disappoint, with two fine early games and what turned out to be a legendary championship game. Kennitra Johnson and April McDivitt, both Miss Basketball candidates, were unbelievable, both coming up with clutch shot after clutch shot. Even with 8 or 9 seconds left in the second overtime, with Connersville down by 3 and NA with possession, you still didn't think it was over. But the play designed during the final timeout didn't unfold as planned, and McDivitt had no choice but to foul Johnson to stop the clock, sending Johnson to the line and McDivitt to the bench with her fifth foul. With McDivitt's exit, the game's finish was elementary...
When April McDivitt fouled out of the game with 5 seconds to go, the entire arena gave her a standing ovation as she walked off the high school court for the last time. This is a kid who plays with a huge, huge basketball heart. Her skills are undeniable and she will be a very valuable addition to Pat Summit's Tennessee Vols roster when she heads off to college next fall. I think her most amazing shot of the game, which she effectively willed to go in, was the 3-pointer with just a few seconds to go in regulation to tie it up. She was in the extreme left corner of the floor (about 7 feet away from us) with two defenders on her and she just jumped as high as she could over them, with her feet nearly as high as her waist, to hit that incredible shot. She absolutely refused to give up and would not quit until she was forced off the floor with that high school career-ending fifth foul...
We've seen Kennitra Johnson play on four different occasions, with three appearances at the Crown Point Shootout the last three years. However, she definitely never dominated at Crown Point like she did in that championship game. Although we saw glimpses of that type of play at CP, she normally relied on teammates to help with the scoring, usually distributing the ball to make things happen for her teammates. But Saturday she took the game on her shoulders and put on an incredible show. I think this is the type of play that Johnson has been capable of all along, but chose not to utilize in every game to keep her teammates involved. This kid has an incredible first step that left most of her one-on-one defenders chasing behind her to the bucket. She was just as formidible on defense, easily stripping opponents with her lightning-quick hands before they knew what happened. (I don't know how many times we saw that dazed and confused look on the faces of her steal victims... now you see it, now you don't!) The scary thing with Johnson is that you get the feeling that she has not yet tapped her full potential. There is still a lot of raw talent there that, when fully developed, should make her one of the top guards in the college game by her junior and senior years in college...
Kennitra Johnson was heavily recruited by Purdue before she made her decision to go to Connecticut. From what we understand, Purdue was her first choice, but the head coaching situation there being in limbo moved her to her second choice. It would have been great to closely watch Johnson over the next four years in Lafayette, but we'll just have to follow her progress from far away. One of the reasons Johnson was high on Purdue was because of her friendship with former Lake Central grad, Kelly Komara, who is now a freshman for the Lady Boilermakers. They played a lot of AAU and summer ball together over the past few years. Komara was at the Southport final to watch her New Albany friend in the performance of her career, and the two hugged after the game at half-court. Now THAT would have been another incredible backcourt at Purdue -- Komara and Johnson. Almost as good as White-McCarty and Figgs all over again. I bet all the top college programs are wiping their collective brows on that close call...
The determined face of NA's secret defensive weapon, 5'4 freshman Jessica Huggins, will probably be a recurring image in the nightmares of April McDivitt over the next few weeks. She didn't put it to McDivitt like a full-grown Bulldog, but was more like an annoying pup that wouldn't quit nipping at her heels. The frosh was fearless in the face of greatness, and made McDivitt's efforts to bring the ball up the court and penetrate much more difficult than they had to be. I suppose when Huggins gets to go up against one of the best in practice every day, the results are the type the quick-footed Energizer Bunny displayed on Saturday. The talk is that Huggins could be another KJ in the making, with her quickness and court effort. We know she can score if she has to. In summer basketball, our 14U team (CP Region Rage) played the New Albany team at the AAU state tournament last year at Southport, and Huggins was good for 18 points (mostly on penetration moves) to lead her very young team in a losing effort. Now she just needs to work on those free throws a bit... ;-)
Another freshman who played a lot of minutes on Saturday was 5'11 (although looking taller) Missy Taylor of Connersville. Taylor, a slim, lanky guard who looks like she is still growing, was effective in the first game against TH South with some key steals and scoring. Her long arms are a very effective defensive weapon against most teams, as long as the game tempo isn't took quick that is. Taylor's height is a definite advantage in the passing lanes and on the trap, but with the quickness of NA's offense, there was no need to pass the ball over Taylor because they rarely were trapped to force the pass. Taylor will be one to watch over the next few years as she settles into her growing frame and finds the best position on the floor to match her skills. She will most likely play a big part in the Connersville offense next season with the departure of McDivitt...
Another Connersville player who will play a key role in Connersville's future is unheralded 5'10 sophomore forward Maria Renner. We liked her aggressive post play and court sense -- always in the right place at the right time. Although Renner did not start for the Spartans, she played a majority of minutes. Sophomore starting guard Jenny Cooper (5'5) also made some key treys toward the end of the game to help Connersville stay in it...
Finally, a bit of fun. Like many others wanting
to get the best seats possible for the final game, we showed up before
the gates opened an hour before game time. (Hey... we know we're nuts,
okay?) As you can imagine, there wasn't a whole lot to do while waiting
in the bleachers once we were in, but there was entertainment nonetheless.
Because many of the fans from both schools were there early, the first
competition of the evening was between the cheering squads for the two
schools. With every warmup stunt, the opposing side tried to outdo the
other with fans going crazy after each one-up. Connersville cheerleader
bodies were flying 20 feet in the air on tosses and New Albany tumblers
were throwing chest-high full twists on passes going the length of the
floor. The fans from both school were outstanding, but we give the Connersville
crowd first place in attendance and noise. They took up nearly two-thirds
of the entire gym and made free throws a nerve-wracking ordeal for each
and every New Albany player at the charity line.
The South
Bend Tribune (alt.
link) is carrying some notes about the 3A and 4A Semi-State
action at Peru and Warsaw, including the 3A All Semi-State team honorees
at Peru. Named to the team were seniors Natalie Will
and Amy Zercher of NorthWood, senior Emily
Hammes of Westfield, freshman Ande Ray
of Westfield, and junior Linda Graham of Ft.
Wayne Elmhurst. Not a single player from Andrean was named to the all-tournament
team, although senior Meghann Sullivan made
a good showing with 15 points against a tough NorthWood team.
The IHSAA
is carrying a press release with some interesting information about teams
and players headed to the State Finals next Saturday. Senior Kourtney
Mennen of 1A Clinton Prairie is leading all scorers in the state
in total points for the season with 727. The ISU recruit scored a
total of 57 points over the weekend, and can up that season total with
additional scoring at Market Square Arena on Saturday.
The Porter County Conference, which made the strongest
showing in NWI with two teams advancing to semi-state play, has announced
its All-Conference team for the season. Hanover Central and Morgan Township
placed the highest number of players in the PCC Top 10 with three each.
Players selected are as follows: Erica Martin
(Kouts), Kim McGinley (Morgan Twp.), Melanie
Brumbaugh (Hanover Center), Christy Koby (Hanover
Central), Megan Hefner (Morgan Twp.), Andrea
Walker (Wheeler), Lindsey Schultz (Wheeler),
Michelle Armstrong (Hebron), Mary
Gonzales (Kouts), Tammi Boersma (Hanover
Central), and Jody Lackey (Morgan Twp.).
The South
Bend Tribune reports that 13 girls from the north-central area
of the state have been named to the Hoosierland Report Top 100 list
of seniors. As might be expected, the names of Jeanette
Gray of Valpo and Amy Zercher and Natalie
Will of NorthWood appear, as well as ten others, for a good showing
from the greater South Bend area.
Special thanks to all of you who reported scores on our
reporting board on Saturday. We were either on the road or in the gym (or
killing time at the mall between sessions) from 5:00 a.m. Saturday to 12:30
a.m. Sunday. Please feel free to use our reporting board for general comments
about the tournament or any other girls basketball related issues. With
few games left in the season, we might as well continue to put it to good
use!
News thru Friday, March 5 |
There are a good number of stories on-line
from around the state with regard to girls basketball today. Semi-State
preview articles about Region teams are in The Times today, covering
the tough contests that face Highland
(vs. No. 4 Kokomo) and Andrean
(vs. No. 6 NorthWood). There is also a very interesting article about Hanover
Central Head Coach Denny Foster with his take on coaching the girls'
game after having coached boys for 30 years.
From around the state, there are several other stories
about teams and players in upcoming Semi-State competition:
3A
Northwood favored (S. Bend Tribune)
4A Penn
faces big hurdle (S. Bend Tribune)
3A
NorthWood supporting cast (The Goshen News)
2A Eastern Comets
(vs. Hanover Central) (Kokomo Tribune)
4A Kokomo's Heather
Cusick (Kokomo Tribune)
2A Frankton's
Kelli Carter (Anderson Herald Bulletin)
2A Eastern v. Hanover
Central (Kokomo Tribune)
4A Connersville
v. TH South (Connersville News-Examiner)
1A
Eminence v. Washington Catholic (Martinsville Reporter-Times)
There is an opinion piece in the Anderson Herald
Bulletin about private schools and the class state tournament with
regard to the Frankton v. Ft. Wayne Luers Semi-State matchup. Interesting
reading.
Awards continue to be given by organizations and media
around the state. The Bloomington
Herald-Times has named 1A Bloomfield junior Lindsay
Secrest as their Player of the Year over other local senior power
players Cortney Cooper (Martinsville), Laura
Blevins (Bloomington South) and Nok Duany
(Bloomington North). Those three, however, were named to the All-Region
First Team with Secrest and Edgewood senior Abby
Schwartz. All-Region Second Team, Third Team and Honorable Mention
players in the greater Bloomington area are named in this article as well.
Apparently Hoosier Basketball Magazine's Top 100 senior
picks are out there somewhere, although we have not been able to locate
a complete list. Articles in the Connersville
News-Examiner and the Shelbyville
News are reporting that players in their area are appearing on
the list. So far April McDivitt (Connersville),
Traci Joslin (Cambridge City) and Delena
White (Southwestern) have emerged as players selected. That list
of 100 will eventually be cut to 50 for the Top 40 Workout (40 plus 10
alternates) to be held on March 21. The Top 40 Workout is an opportunity
for seniors to be seen by college scouts and to help make the final selections
for the Indiana All-Stars. If we are able to pin down other seniors named
to the list, we will mention them here in future reports.
The Indianapolis
Star, originator of the Indiana All-Star Team honors, has put together
a web page showing selection dates for Jr. All-Stars, Indiana All-Stars,
Miss Basketball and all other info about the Indiana All-Star games and
practices. Strong considerations for All-Star team selections from the
Region are seniors Jeanette Gray of Valparaiso,
Jackie Campbell of Chesterton and Kristin
Cheairs of West Side. For the Jr. All-Star team, Erin
Sampsel of Valparaiso is considered a front-runner from the Region.
News thru Thursday, March 4 |
The Post-Tribune is carrying two articles
about 2A Hanover Central, the surprise team of the Region post-season and
a mystery team to the rest of the 2A teams left in the tournament. Who
are these girls anyway? Well, you can find out a little bit more about
the players
and Head
Coach Denny Foster, former boys varsity coach at Hebron, who Hanover
players say is responsible for the team's current success. This group seems
like they're having the time of their lives and will do anything it takes
to continue playing toward a 2A state championship. Good luck to JM and
the Lady Wildcats!
The Elkhart
Truth is carrying a preview piece to the Penn vs. Ft. Wayne Snider
game. Penn is looking to continue on in the tournament in the name of all
the teams in the South Bend area. Snider's coach is giving a pretty confident
spin about this matchup, and he has good reason to. The Panthers are 24-1
on the season and have some of the best talent in the Northeastern part
of the state in senior Brooke Minniear, senior
Kia Jones, junior Sparkle
Williams and sophomore Suzie Hayden.
The Indianapolis
Star is announcing Indianapolis Girls All-City honors and All-Marion
County honors. Notable in the All-City honors is the inclusion of all five
starters from No. 1 3A Indianapolis Cathedral -- Jennifer
Callier, Jill Corbett, Beth
Roederer, Sharika Webb and Asjah
Zinnerman. Also in the Indianapolis
Star today is a feature on Miss Basketball candidate April McDivitt
and her long reign as a Connersville hometown hero.
After holding steady at No. 14 in USA
Today's Super 25 national rankings, 4A Ben Davis was summarily
dropped from the list after their 24-game winning streak ended with a loss
to Terre Haute South in last weekend's regional. Don't be surprised if
Ben Davis appears in the pre-season national rankings next fall, however,
as they return the nucleus of their winning team with sophomore Shyra
Ely, sophomore Ashley Allen and junior
Sarah Strahm.
As a resource for your Semi-State travels this weekend,
we have put together a page with Directions
to Selected Semi-State Sites, including the North Semi-States for all
classes and the South 4A Semi-State at Southport. Although some of the
directions we have linked to do not take you directly to the high schools
listed, they do give you route maps, route times and a good start to your
intended destination. We have also included telephone numbers to the Athletic
Director's office at each school if you require further details. The link
to this list of directions can be found on our home page for easy reference.
For those of you traveling to the 4 A Southport Semi-State
this weekend, featuring the No. 1 New Albany and No. 3 Connersville
(not to mention the two leading Miss Basketball candidates), the rumor
is that tickets will be scarce for those who don't have one in hand before
Saturday morning. We put in a call to the Southport Athletic Director's
office today and were told that 3,000 tickets will be available for sale
at the Southport ticket booths beginning at 9:00 a.m. (EST) that day.
News thru Wednesday, March 3 |
The Indianapolis Star is previewing
candidates for the upcoming vote for Miss Basketball in its Miss
Basketball Watch, which is being sponsored by Hoosier Basketball Magazine.
Featured on that web page is NWI's very own Jeanette
Gray of Valparaiso, as well as other candidates from around the
state, including Emily Butler of Center Grove,
Elizabeth English of Rushville, Jill
Hartman from Evansville Memorial, Kennitra
Johnson from New Albany, and April McDivitt
from Connersville. Included at the site is a link to the explanation
of how the Miss Basketball selection
process is conducted.
The South
Bend Tribune is carrying a number of interesting tidbits about
teams and players in the South Bend area. Included in the article are notes
about NorthWood, Amy Zercher of NorthWood,
S. Bend Washington and Krishna Snyder of 2A
No. 1 Ft. Wayne Luers, formerly of the South Bend area.
As the season comes closer to the end of tournament play,
post-season honors are being bestowed by conferences and publications around
the state. As they become available, we will bring them to you. However,
not all honors are published on-line, so if you are aware of any conference
or all-area honors that we may not be aware of, please forward them to
us and we will post them here. Today, the following conferences named honors
as follows:
The Rochester Sentinel reports Andrea Milliser of Rochester and Rhonda Doud of Tippecanoe Valley have been named the all-Three Rivers Conference girl’s basketball first team. Named to the second team were Alisha Ewing and Jill Bair Rochester, Tabitha Pratt of Tippecanoe Valley and Sarah Garvin and Kristina Williams of North Miami. Honorable mention selections were Marie Rosswurm of Rochester, Jennifer Studebaker and Brooke Fisher of Tippecanoe Valley and Mandy Sopher of North Miami.
The Shelbyville
News reports Shelbyville’s girls basketball team placed three players
on the all-Hoosier Heritage Conference team. The team is selected by the
conference’s coaches. Seniors Mandy Pouder and
Olivia Ash and sophomore Sarah
Laird were named to the first team. Laird was a unanimous pick.
Also named to the first team were: Rushville’s Elizabeth
English, Morgan Koors and Katie
Marlow; Mount Vernon’s Johna Goff;
Greenfield-Central’s Melissa Maxwell; New
Palestine’s Dana Schreiber and Darci
Ruster; Rachel Bowling of Pendleton
Heights; and Christy Clodfelder of Delta.
Shelbyville’s Bethany Smith was named to the
HHC honorable mention team. Shelbyville’s John Fair
shared HHC coach of the year honors with Rushville’s Cinda
Brown.
Coach Larry Miller of the
No. 3-ranked Connersville Lady Spartans is using some lessons he learned
from his own high school coach to keep his team focused throughout the
state tournament. Miller, who was a junior guard on the 1972 Connersville
Boys State Championship team, is lightening up on his team during this
stressful time with shortened practices and fun team competitions, in addition
to the regular drills and scrimmages. You can read about Miller's strategy
in the Connersville
Examiner. Also included in that article are some April
McDivitt updates, including the Indiana Miss Basketball race and
the Reebok North-South All-Star game.
An article by Pat McKee of the Indianapolis
Star lists a number of former Indiana high school players who have
been given a variety of season-ending honors, including Sarrah
Stricklett (Valparaiso), who was named to the All-Mid-Continent
Conference First Team.
News thru Sunday, February 28 |
Just a few notes from yesterday's Regional action in Northern Indiana:
In 4A Highland's win over West Side yesterday, the Trojans were trailing by 10 with less than 4 minutes to go in regulation when they went on a 10-point run to tie it near the end with a putback by junior Lindsey Chappell. During that run, sophomore Jenny DeMuth gave Region-area fans a look at what it means to have a never-say-die attitude. DeMuth was good for 5 points in those last 4 minutes, including an amazing sequence where she tapped out a West Side pass, chased it down with a tip-toe grab before it went out-of-bounds, and then drove baseline to close the gap to 2. That play sparked the crowd, and more importantly, the last seconds of Highland's play to get to overtime and the eventual win.
Gary West Side Coach Rod Fisher must be playing last night's game over and over in his head this morning after coming so close to a Regional win in what was supposed to be West Side's season to advance after consecutive regional losses to Crown Point (1996) and Lake Central (1997 & 1998). Muddled in those thoughts must be the free throw shooting of Highland in comparison to West Side. To say that free throws were a critical facet to this game is an understatement, where the Trojans were 47% from the line, while the Cougars were just 20%. Not that percentages had anything to do with the free throw factor, but rather opportunities. Highland made the trip 38 times to West Side's 5.
In 4A Hobart's loss to Penn, the Brickies were tentative coming out in the first quarter, but found an offensive rhythm to command the lead for all but the last minutes of the game. Twins Katie Julian (11 pts) and Lauren Julian (12 pts), and guard Abbey Coons (7 pts) were extremely tough on the boards and made some great plays while surrounded by Penn jerseys. As we watched the game heading into the fourth quarter, it seemed like Hobart would realize the next step of their post-season dream, but it was not to be. Penn's defensive pressure in the last minutes of the game was the difference in the game, as the Brickie guards turned it over 8 times in the fourth. Ironically, Penn guard Angela Knight, who was scoreless after missing a number of long shots throughout the game, hit the game winner on a baseline drive with 3 seconds to go to seal Hobart's fate... It was a nice run, Lady Bricks.
As a number of seniors leave the Region girls basketball scene, an underclass(wo)man is making her mark coming in. In 3A Andrean's win over Twin Lakes, the crowd was wowed by the play of 5'6 freshman point guard Jamie Gutowski, who had her high school career breakout game with 24 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals. With senior scoring leader Meghann Sullivan sitting the bench in the second quarter with 3 fouls and 1 point, Gutowski (8 ppg avg) and senior guard Kara Austgen turned up the scoring heat in the third to build on a 5-point lead at the half. Sullivan sat out the entire third quarter, which turned out to be no problem, as the guard duo took care of business in an uptempo effort. A running game has not been Andrean's style all season long, so it was a much different look than what Twin Lakes expected. Andrean will probably be running again next weekend, but this time against a better match in seasoned and athletic No. 6 NorthWood, who knocked off No. 5 S. Bend Washington in a 79-41 rout.
Another freshman who is making her mark, in what seems to be near obsurity so far, is NorthWood's Carol Duncan, a 6'1 starting center for the Panthers. This girl is definitely one to keep an eye on over the next few weeks and years. She does not look like a freshman, play like a freshman, or react like a freshman, and we are betting that you will be hearing a lot about her before she is done with her high school career. Duncan had 10 points in her team's win over NorthWood in a pretty physical post game. Although she benefits greatly from the playmaking ability and defensive attention on senior All-Star candidate teammates Amy Zercher (29 pts) and Natalie Will (21 pts), she is not beyond creating the necessary offense herself when presented the opportunity. Look for her to be the centerpiece of the rebuilding NorthWood offense next season.
Watch out 2A teams around the state. The Hanover Central Wildcats are still in it and intend to continue. With their able 63-54 win over No. 4 North Judson yesterday, the Wildcats are definitely on a roll and should not be overlooked. They will be running up against No. 7 Eastern next weekend in the first game of the Maconaquah Semi-State, with an eye on a chance against No. 1 Ft. Wayne Luers in the championship evening game. Don't count these Wildcats out... they are a bunch who have not even realized their full potential yet!
We attended the NorthWood Regional in Nappanee yesterday, and tried out our new digital camera on the days events. I'm sorry to report to Hobart fans that our first round of photo attempts in the 4A Hobart v. Penn game were not very good, and unfortunately we don't have any photos from that game. However, we were able (for some reason we have yet to figure out) to get a few decent shots from the 3A NorthWood v. SB Washington game. We bring our feeble first-time digital efforts to you with the following pics.
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News thru Saturday, February 27 |
Before you read anything else today on this
web site, I suggest you move on to the following Steve
Hanlon Prep Beat column from today's issue of The Times out
of Munster. Although this is about a young man from Munster involved in
the high school game (and in a way you might not expect as the central
focus of an article about prep basketball), you MUST read this oustanding
piece. It's truly an inspirational one for players, coaches and parents.
It definitely made my day.
The Northern Lakes Conference (NLC) has named its All-Conference
teams for the current basketball season. NorthWood, ranked No. 7 in 3A,
had the most with three players named to the First Team, including Amy
Zercher, Natalie Will and Angie
Callander. Also selected was state scoring leader Shanna
Zolman, a freshman from Wawasee. From Warsaw, Katie
Elliott and Jenna Rooney were First
Team picks as well, while Warsaw head coach Will
Wienhorst was named NLC Coach of the Year. To see the remainder
of the First and Second Team NLC selections, go to the Warsaw
Times-Union.
Either No. 2 Ben Davis and No. 8 Terre Haute South will
walk out a winner after today's 4A contest in the Northview High Regional,
but you can be sure that whichever team leaves with the trophy will have
survived one of the toughest battles of the year. So far this season, Ben
Davis has beaten TH South twice, but as most coaches, players and fans
know, it is hard to beat a good team three times in one season. The Braves
are hoping to give the Giants everything they've got with three outstanding
last-chance seniors in Dorcus Lawson, Joileen
Brewer and Cara Stuckey. You can read
about today's expected battle royale in the Indianapolis
Star.
Many of us remember seeing Stephanie
White (now White-McCarty) lighting it up on the basketball courts
of a number of high school gyms around the state and, at the time, knew
she was something very special. But I wonder if we all knew just how special
she was. If we didn't know then, we certainly know now. White-McCarty,
as expected, has been unanimously named by the media and Big Ten coaches
as Big Ten Player of the Year. She was also the only unanimous selection
to the All-Big Ten First-Team, where she is joined by back court running
mate Ukari Figgs. A number of former Indiana
high school players were given Big Ten honors, including Lake Central's
Kelly Komara (Purdue, Coaches All-Freshman
Team), Blackford's Jill Chapman (Indiana,
Coaches All-Freshman Team and Media Honorable Mention), Perry Meridian's
Katie Douglas (Purdue, Coaches and Media Second-Team),
Richmond's Lisa Shepherd (Penn State, Coaches
and Media Honorable Mention). Also, several Indiana college players were
honored, including Cindy Kerns (Indiana, Coaches and Media Honorable Mention),
and Camille Cooper and Michelle Duhart (Purdue, Media Honorable Mention).
Also, Purdue head coach Carolyn Peck was named
Coaches and Media's Big Ten Coach of the Year. You can check out all the
Big Ten Honors awards at the Big
Ten web site.