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Region
Roundball Review April, 2001 News & Updates Go to Game Scores View Archived News Editions |
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Welcome to the news area of the Region Roundball Review. This page will be updated as information becomes available. 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. 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. |
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Important
Upcoming Dates: |
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News thru Friday, April 27 |
We've
recently been made aware of a huge number of signings and commitments, 24 in
fact, from around the state. (Thanks to Brian Sullivan of Franklin College
for most of this list.) Here are the latest players heading off to college
basketball next season and the related news and notes that we received or could
find:
Player Name |
Pos. |
Hgt. |
High School |
College |
Mandy Topp | F | 5'9 | Norwell | Indiana Wesleyan |
Topp averaged 11.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game and was named to the First Team of the Northeast Hoosier Conference. Topp finishes her career at Norwell as the 5th leading scorer in school history | ||||
Brittany McElya | F | 5'11 | Danville | Lake (IL) |
Lake is a junior college that has been to the JUCO Nationals for two years running. |
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Laura Abel |
F |
5'9 |
Washington |
Indianapolis |
Kelly Abbott |
F |
5'10 |
Carroll (Allen) |
Tri-State |
Melia Bodkin |
G |
5'6 |
Greenfield-Central |
Franklin |
Laura Brumfiel |
G |
5'7 |
Cambridge City Lincoln |
Kankakee Community (IL) |
Annie
Prescott |
G |
NA |
Boonville |
Olney Central |
Amber Snodgrass |
F |
5'11 |
Boonville |
Olney Central |
Takesha Jagoe |
G |
5'7 |
Evansville
Bosse |
Olney Central |
Emily Creachbaum |
F |
5'10 |
Marian |
St. Mary's |
Lisa Cowper |
G |
5'4 |
S.
Bend Riley |
Purdue Calumet |
Ashlee Gordon |
F |
5'9 |
Connersville |
IU Southeast |
Suzie Hayden |
G |
5'6 |
Snider |
Taylor |
Hayden averaged 11.0 points and 3.7 assists on the way to a state finals appearance. |
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Zinnerman, Asjah | G | 5'6 | Cathedral | Murray State |
Zinnerman averaged 8.9 points, 3.4 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 2.5 steals on the way to at 3A state championship. Zinnerman helped her team get to the state finals three consecutive years, and won it the last two. |
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Lexie Henry |
F |
5'8 |
Crawford County |
Hanover |
Betsy Hummel |
C |
6'0 |
Glenn |
Franklin |
Heather Kress |
F |
5'9 |
Forest Park |
Cumberland |
Ashley Lytle |
C |
6'0 |
Floyd Central |
IU Southeast |
Leslie Smith |
G |
5'11 |
Paoli |
Cumberland |
Sarah VanWinkle |
G |
5'8 |
Forest Park |
Oakland City |
Danielle Walker | F | 5'11 | North Harrison | Oakland City |
April Williams | G | 5'8 | White River Valley | Southern Indiana |
Williams was a key contributor to the state finals run of White River Valley this season, averaging 8.1 points per game. |
According to a short mention in The Times, Highland point guard Corrie Kaczmarek will be attending St. Joseph's college in Rensselaer next fall to play soccer. Kaczmarek was instrumental to Highland's outstanding run the past three years, and averaged 4.6 points and 3.6 assists during her senior season. The Websters will forever remember Corrie as the Highland player that nailed the coffin shut on Crown Point in this season's Regional with three well-timed and deadly three-pointers.
Coaches and parents, as you can see a great number of players are getting scholarship aid to attend college next fall. There is a community college in southern Michigan that is very, very interested in offering scholarship aid to Indiana players in order to build its roster. This college is willing to discuss players that are being overlooked by other programs and have potential for development. If you know of a player that is interested in college basketball and a chance at a scholarship, please contact us and we will put you in touch with the coaching staff there.
Several
coaches are encountering changes regarding their careers:
Two-year Griffith head coach Dianna Melby,
who also coached at Hammond Gavit for five years, has decided to resign
her position. According to The
Times, Melby is expecting a child in September and also wishes to
spend more time with her 12-year-old son, who is now getting into competitive
athletics as well. Melby compiled a 31-18 record at Griffith.
The Indianapolis
Star recently reported that Bloomfield coach Paula
Fettig was asked to resign, refused and was let go several weeks
ago. Fettig led Bloomfield to a Class A state championship in 1998 and has
been at Bloomfield since 1994. During her seven-year coaching term, Fettig
amassed a record of 100-54, going 5-15 this past season.
Pike coach Beth DeVinney recently
resigned her first head coaching position with the Red Devils after five
seasons. While at Pike, DeVinney led her teams to an overall 55-47 record
and an impressive 13-8 record this past season against a competitive schedule
that included Bloomington South, Perry Meridian, Southport,
Martinsville and Decatur Central.
We continue to keep tabs on coaching positions around the state on our Revolving
Door coaching page. Recent openings include Carmel, where
one-year coach Dan Renihan has resigned, and
West Central, where two-year coach Denise
Fitzgerald has also left. Recent hirings for open positions
include Bob Windlan at Anderson Highland and
Tim Hudson at Peru.
It's now official. Well, almost. Kankakee Valley and Wheeler are now the 14th and 15th members of the Lake Athletic Conference, the largest conference in the state. According to The Times, all that is left to make it formal is the receipt of the welcoming letter to the principals of both schools from the LAC. And that's in the mail. With so many member schools, the LAC has decided to have Black and Blue Divisions for each school that will not be based upon enrollment or location, but will vary from sport to sport depending on the competitiveness of each team. Although Wheeler and Kankakee will not become full members of the LAC for a year or two (until scheduling can be taken care of), the Black and Blue Divisions will go into effect for both girls and boys basketball for 2001-2002. Expect to find Highland, Andrean, Gavit, Munster, Lowell and either Calumet, Griffith or Noll in the more competitive Black Division.
According
to the Louisville
Courier-Journal, a number of Indiana players, seniors and
underclass(wo)men, will be playing in the inaugural Twin Bridges Basketball
Classic tomorrow at Bellarmine University. The players representing
Indiana are as follows:
Seniors
Maria Rickards and Amanda
Sizemore, New Albany
Lexie Henry, Crawford County
Rachel Perkins, Columbus North
Ashlee Lytle, Floyd Central
Angie Rogers, Castle
Ashley Jordan and Jenny
Cooper, Connersville
Lori Little, Salem
Coach -- Angie Hinton, New Albany
Underclass(wo)men
Jessica Huggins and Savanna
Jones, New Albany
Angela Newkirk, Salem
Brianna Howard, Southwestern
Emily Wright, Floyd Central
Katie Coulter, Providence
Laura Ellerbusch and Hattie
Schnacke, Castle
Jenna Rhodes, Silver Creek
Donique Derrick, Jeffersonville
Coach -- Jeff Wise, Charlestown
West Lafayette standout Lello Gebisa of Duke, has decided to leave the Blue Devils program due to a lack of playing time. According to the Lafayette Journal & Courier, Gebisa will be searching for a school closer to home. Sister Ebba Gebisa, an Indiana All-Star, committed to Wisconsin earlier this year. Wisconsin just announced several days ago that sophomore center Nina Smith has decided to leave the program, which might create some interesting possibilities for the Gebisa family.
The Johnson County Daily Journal describes how Indian Creek varsity head coach Dana Scott tries to keep in shape in order to keep pace with her girls basketball team.
In
case you didn't catch it on our message board or the AAU website, Indiana
Association AAU recently announced that the 17U and 18U divisions will
not need to play through a regional to advance to the state tournament on June
8-10. Only 16 teams were entered in the 17U division and 8 teams in the
18U division, requiring no playoffs. Due to the low numbers in 17U, only
the top two teams in that division will qualify for the AAU Nationals in
Orlando, Florida, this summer. Numbers were down in the 16U division as
well, and only three teams will advance to the AAU Nationals in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina. The 16U division was eight short of the required 48 team
entries to qualify four teams to advance to nationals.
Also, those 15U and 16U teams entered in the May developmental tournaments have
had site changes for this tournament that will take place in about two
weeks. The 15U division will play at New Castle instead of Southport, and
the 16U division will play at Franklin instead of New Castle.
News thru Monday, April 23 |
We
just discovered the ICGSA
2000-2001 Basketball All State list on the web, and several NWI players
appear on the list. Jenny DeMuth of Highland
received First Team honors, while Courtney Rosenbaum
of Valparaiso and Sarah Zondor of Crown
Point received Second Team honors. The complete listings are as
follows:
ICGSA First Team | ICGSA Second Team |
1. Shyra
Ely - Ben Davis |
1. Emily
Loomis - FW Luers |
According
to the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette, Maria
Marchesano of Elmhurst has chosen Butler over Duquesne to
continue her basketball career. Marchesano, who averaged 20.0 points per game as
a senior and is Elmhurst's all-time leading scorer, said she "chose Butler
because she liked the players, and never got to meet the team at
Duquesne." Marchesano steps into turmoil and opportunity after five
Bulldogs players announced earlier this month that they would be leaving the
Butler program. With a roster chockfull of voids, Marchesano should see
lots of playing time early on in her college career as the Bulldogs try to
regroup.
Portage 5'5 guard Ashley Safstrom, as
reported recently in The Times, has received a scholarship to play
softball at St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer.
Valparaiso forward Lee Traynham will
forego a college basketball career to accept an academic scholarship to Stanford
University. The hard-working 5'11 senior excels in Valparaiso's
high-academic Baccalaureate program and also received scholarship offers from
Duke, Columbia and the University of Washington. Traynham, a defensive
specialist, was a key contributor in the Vikings' run to the state finals in
2000.
The
Indiana
Basketball Coaches Association recently named its Bob King District
Girls Coaches of the Year as follows:
District 1 - Chris Huppenthal, Highland
District 2 - Kem Zolman, Wawasee
District 3 - Jodie Whitaker, Lawrence
North
District 4 - Jon Howell, Alexandria
District 5 - Marty Niehaus, Forest Park
The Nancy Rehm/Border Wars game with Ohio took place over the weekend, and Ft. Wayne Luers senior Rachel King added another trophy to her case with MVP honors in a 77-74 Indiana win. King produced 17 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals to lead her team to the victory. Following King in scoring were Ashley Powell of East Noble with 12 and Cassie Kline of Huntington North with 10. Powell was recently profiled in the Journal Gazette in connection with the game. The Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette also has complete game details and a history and background explanation of the Nancy Rehm/Border Wars event, for those of you who are curious.
We
thought we were late with our all-area picks, but the Monticello
Herald-Journal just came out with its All-White County Girls
Basketball Team today:
Kinsey Lehe (POY) - Frontier
Jessica Bragg - Twin Lakes
Amanda Engleking - Tri-County
Meredith Helderle - Tri-County
Valarie Zarse - Tri-County
Erin Guy - Twin Lakes
Hometown fans of Notre Dame's Ruth Riley (North Miami) were less than happy with the Indiana Fever's rebuff of the 6'5 All-American center during the WNBA draft. The South Bend Tribune describes how the Ruth's hometown took the news.
News thru Friday, April 20 |
The IHSAA has released its annual Board of Directors Meeting agenda for Monday, April 30, when a number of controversial proposals will be presented to the Board for voting. In all, there are 43 proposals that will go before the Board. Included in that list are the following that would directly affect girls basketball as we now know it:
- Schools may be classified up to a maximum of three classes in all sports except football, which would have 5. Proposed by Tri-County.
- A separate statewide tournament would be organized in all team sports for private schools to enter and compete for a state championship. Public schools would participate in the already-established tournament. Proposed by Tri-County.
- Schools could request to be moved up in class for a specific sport if desired for two years. Was tabled from last year's proposals and is being entertained again.
- Schools would be reclassified every four years instead of every two years. Proposed by the IHSAA Commissioner.
- Reclassification would be based upon grades 9-12 instead of the present 9-11. Proposed by the IHSAA Commissioner.
- Coaches would be allowed to provide individual instruction in the off-season so long as it is not sponsored or required by the school. Proposed by the IHSAA Commissioner. (This one is a little bit unclear, as the proposal seems to say the exact opposite. It reads: "Coaches, from a member school coaching staff, may not instruct students in that sport if NOT under the organization, supervision and operation of the member school." We need a legal interpretation on this one!)
- No limit would be placed on the number of athletes from the same school participating together on a non-school team in the off-season. Proposed by North Central.
- No restrictions would be placed on coaches instructing players in the off-season. Proposed by North Central.
- Open gyms would be limited to only those students attending that school. Proposed by the IHSAA Commissioner.
- The first authorized week of practice for girls basketball would move from Week 16 to Week 15, and contests from Week 19 to Week 18. This change would be necessary if a four-week state tournament format is adopted so the girls tournament would not overlap the boys tournament. This proposal would also allow girls to participate on non-school basketball teams as soon as their team is eliminated in IHSAA tournament play. Proposed by the IHSAA Commissioner.
Obviously,
these are all just proposals, and the Board has four options on each proposal --
affirm, deny, table or amend. It is more than likely that some will be
approved, especially those presented by the Commissioner, while others will be
flatly denied.
Also on the 30th, the IHSAA Executive Committee will meet, and according to an
IHSAA press release, discuss and/or decide the format
for the 2002 girls basketball and boys basketball tournaments. This will include
a decision regarding a three-week versus a four-week tournament format and the
possible elimination of the mid-week regional. Hold on to your hat, folks,
it's bound to be a wild ride at the IHSAA offices on the 30th.
Senior Jessica James of Franklin Central has signed with IUPUI for next season. According to the Indianapolis Star, the 5'10 forward averaged 15.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game during her senior season and set career records at Franklin Central in scoring and rebounding. Many of you may remember the stellar performance of James in the Marion County Tournament Championship game that brought the Ben Davis Giants to their collective knees for their first loss of the season.
Ben Davis senior Kristin VanValin was recently honored by the Indiana Pacers organization with the 2001 NBA/WNBA Sportsmanship Award in an on-court presentation at the Pacers v. Philadephia 76ers game. The award was made for a "season-long dedication to sportsmanship... representing the ideals of sportsmanship for student-athletes in the State of Indiana." She was presented a medal by Sam Perkins of the Indiana Pacers, along with Westfield girls basketball coach Andy Tebbe, who was also recognized.
Although most considered him the top runner throughout the season, it is now official that Martinsville assistant coach Vince Cerbone (formerly an assistant at Center Grove) is the new head coach at Martinsville. Cerbone will replace outgoing coach Jan Conner, who chose to retire after a highly successful coaching career. According to the Indianapolis Star, Cerbone is a Center Grove graduate and also coached tennis for three years at Perry Meridian. Cerbone is looking to institute a high-intensity, pressing-defense game at Martinsville.
As we announced yesterday, Rodger Kirkpatrick of South Bend Adams has taken the coaching position at Warren Central. The South Bend Tribune has an article about Kirkpatrick's decision.
Several
Indiana college players were selected in this morning's WNBA draft.
Although she could have been picked up by the Fever at the No. 3 pick, Notre
Dame's Ruth Riley (North Miami) was
selected as the No.5 pick by the Miami Sol. Purdue's Katie
Douglas (Perry Meridian) was picked up as the ninth pick in
the first round by the Orlando Miracle, where she will be reunited with former
Purdue coach Carolyn Peck. Camille
Cooper of Purdue went 16th to the Los Angeles Sparks, where she will
pick up with former Purdue player Ukari Figgs.
Notre Dame's Niele Ivey was a lucky choice
at No. 19 for the Fever, because most thought she would be selected much
earlier. The complete list of picks for the Fever is as follows:
#3 - 6'1 F Tamika Catchings (Tennessee)
#14 - 6'5 C Kelly Schumacher (Connecticut)
#19 - 5'8 G Niele Ivey (Notre Dame)
#35 - 6'1 F Marlena Williams (Missouri)
#51 - 5'11 F April Brown (Louisiana State)
News thru Thursday, April 19 |
The
annual revolving door ritual of high school coaches has begun to pick up speed,
and we have news of several today. In order to help all of you keep track
(and help those who are looking for a new coaching position), we've created The
Revolving Door - Indiana high school girls coaching changes.
This page will be accessible from our main menu, and if you should have any
coaching changes, corrections or additions that you are aware of, please let
us know. Here is the news on the latest coaching changes:
Warren Central has announced that Rodger
Kirkpatrick, who was the head coach at South Bend Adams this
past season, will lead the Warriors' girls basketball program next season.
According to the Indianapolis
Star, Kirkpatrick inherits a 5-15 squad that has seen four coaching
changes in five years. Warren Central plays in the tough Metropolitan
Athletic Conference and returns Purdue recruit Ashley
Mays as a senior next season.
Bremen
coach Steve Hickman has resigned his
position to spend more time with his young family. Hickman was the coach
for the Lions the last two seasons and compiled a 20-25 record during that
time. According to the South
Bend Tribune, Hickman will continue with his teaching position at a
Mishawaka middle school.
Tri coach Dave Bennett has submitted
his resignation after 12 years with the Titans girls program, compiling a 174-71
record during his term. According to the New
Castle Life, Bennett is a 30-year coaching veteran, having coached
both boys and girls basketball. Bennett's best outing was during the
1996-97 when his now Class A team made it to the Huntington North
Semi-State before being eliminated in the final game.
According to the South Bend Tribune, LaPorte coach Greg Samuelson weathered a parents' campaign to oust him and a 3-4 school board vote to non-renew his contract this past week. After an up-and-down regular season (12-12), which included impressive wins over Plymouth, Portage and South Bend Washington, Samuelson took his team to the 4A Warsaw Semi-State in a surprise run that ended in a double-digit first round loss to eventual Semi-State Champion Ft. Wayne Snider.
Wheeler has made it official. They will be applying to the Lake Athletic Conference for membership in the 13-team league. According to The Times, Wheeler is seeking to have conference participation for all school sports, which is not currently possible for soccer, football, swimming, golf and tennis in the Porter County Conference, Wheeler's current conference. The Bearcats have been a member of the PCC since its inception in 1923.
Several
college commitments and signings are coming our way as the NCAA late signing
period got under way on Tuesday.
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Crown
Point senior Nikki Borys has chosen
Indiana Wesleyan in Marion as the program to continue her playing career.
The 6'0 forward averaged 7.6 points and 5.7 rebounds during a successful senior
campaign, which included a sectional championship and an undefeated Duneland
Athletic Conference championship. Borys chose Indiana Wesleyan over
Goshen, Bethel and Purdue Calumet.
Last
week, it was announced in The
Times that Wheeler three-sport standout Andrea
Walker will attend Butler University in Indianapolis on a softball
scholarship. Walker averaged 21.3 points and 4.5 assists her senior
season on the way to her team's second place tie in the Porter County
Conference. The 5'5 guard holds Wheeler's all-time career scoring title for both boys and girls with
1.365 points. Walker excelled at Wheeler in soccer, basketball and
softball all four years of her high school career.
Glenn senior Chasity Zellers will be
playing at Bethel College next season. According to the South
Bend Tribune and the Plymouth
Pilot News, the 5'4 guard averaged 18.0 points, 4.4 steals, 2.8
assists and 1.5 rebounds during her senior season, while leading the Falcons to
a 19-6 record and sectional and regional championships. Zellers holds over
20 school records in basketball, including career points at 1,254.
Also, Plymouth center Brandy Swihart
made it official by signing with Bethel College as well. According to the Plymouth
Pilot News, the 6'1 senior averaged 11.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in
a successful senior season that took her team to the 3A state finals.
Evansville North forward Wendy Goodman
has signed with Southern Illinois University. According to the Evansville
Courier Press, the 6'1 senior averaged 16.3 points per game during
her final high school season.
Shyra Ely has captured yet one more award as she prepares to move on to the college ranks. The 6'2 Ben Davis forward was named the Scholastic Sport Gatorade National Player of the Year. According to the Indianapolis Star, Ely was also named Student Sport Magazine Player of the Year, and as previously stated here, Naismith High School Player of the Year and USA Today Player of the Year.
According to The Flyer Group, the Hendricks County Girls Basketball Tournament has been changed from a mid-season event to an early season event that will take place on November 13, 16 and 17 this winter.
The
West Liberty State College career of Adrianne Harlow
(Tri-Central) is reviewed in the Kokomo
Tribune. The 5'0 point guard led all three NCAA divisions in
the nation with 8.5 assists per game this past season.
Also, University
of North Texas junior Karen Lee (Zionsville)
is profiled in the Zionsville
Times Sentinel. The 6'2 power forward averaged 7.5 points and
4.5 rebounds as her team compiled a 19-11 record and made an appearance in the
WNIT.
News thru Monday, April 16 |
In case you didn't get your copy of Parade magazine in Sunday's local newspaper, you didn't get to see that three Indiana players were named First Team All-Americans in the magazine's annual girls basketball selections. Shyra Ely of Ben Davis, Shanna Zolman of Wawasee and Jackie Batteast of South Bend Washington were honored with this prestigious post-season award. The Parade Player of the Year was Cappie Poindexter of Marshall High School in Chicago, followed by Parade's No. 2 player Ely, No. 3 Zolman and No. 8 Batteast. Zolman's appearance at the No. 3 spot puts her in line for Parade's Player of the Year award next season as the highest ranking junior this season. California led the Parade list with four players honored, while Indiana, Illinois, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Texas each had three. The South Bend Tribune recently profiled Batteast's reaction to receiving this special honor.
Several
All-Star games were played over the weekend, and we have some on-line news
articles about three of them.
The first was the inaugural Dave Sanders All-Star Girls' Basketball Game, with
participants from west central Indiana. Dave
Sanders, a 1969 Fountain Central graduate athlete, was the girls
basketball coach/teacher killed in the Columbine shootings. The all-star
game was in his memory and raised funds for the Dave Sanders Memorial. Julie
Shirley of Lafayette Jefferson was named the MVP after scoring
41 points to lead the "Hoosiers" team over the "Sycamores"
team in a 87-85 victory. Western Boone's Courtney
Nicley led the Sycamores team with 22 points. Preview articles
to the game with listings of additional participants appear in the Lafayette
Journal & Courier and the Crawfordsville
Journal Review, while the Review
also has a recap of the game.
The second all-star game was the Special Children's Classic girls basketball
game featuring the Shelby County All-Stars v. the Hancock County
All-Stars. This is a two-game series, with Hancock taking the first battle
63-55. Leading scorer for Shelby was Mt. Vernon (Hancock) senior Alissa
Kirby, who offered up an all-around effort with 15 points, 6 assists
and 4 steals. A complete write-up of the game is in the Shelbyville
News.
Finally, the Indianapolis City v. Marion County All-Star game was played over
the weekend, and the County team pretty much walloped the City team 91-38.
Leading scorer for Marion County was Jessica James
of Franklin Central with 15 points, which earned her MVP honors in the
game. A very small recap is at the end of the article about the boys game
in the Indianapolis
Star.
Kankakee Valley will officially submit an application to enter the 13-member Lake Athletic Conference, according to The Times. Three other schools -- Hobart, Wheeler and North Newton -- are also considering applying to the league, which would probably put the stops at 16 members. With a wide disparity in enrollments in the LAC, two 8-team LAC divisions may emerge, giving teams within the LAC much more flexibility with scheduling. As it is now, all LAC teams must play one another during the regular season. With the two divisions, most likely teams would only be required to play teams within their division during the season.
Indiana's very own nearly swept the Naismith awards earlier this month. As we reported earlier, Shyra Ely was named the Naismith High School Player of the Year. Also, Ruth Riley was named the Naismith Women's College Player of the Year and Muffet McGraw was named the Naismith College Coach of the Year. All three were captured in living color at the Naismith awards banquet and reception, which can be viewed at Mini Moments Photography.
According
to the Ft.
Wayne Sentinel, the annual Nancy Rehm/Border Wars game
between players in Indiana and Ohio is set for April 21 at 5:00 p.m. at Indiana
Tech's Schafer Center in Ft. Wayne. Team Indiana is coached by Gary
Andrews of Ft. Wayne Luers and consists of the following Ft.
Wayne area players:
Kelly Abbott, Carroll
Jamie Grogg, Huntington North
Suzie Hayden, Snider
Jessica Hicks, Manchester
Rachel King, Bishop Luers
Cassie Kline, Huntington North
Maria Marchesano, Elmhurst
Ashley Powell, East Noble
Melissa Sarrazine, Woodlan
Kelly Springer, Leo
Jenny Steele, Leo
In a special presentation
during the evening, Wawasee junior
Shanna Zolman will officially receive her plaque for be named a First
Team Parade Magazine
All-American.
We
found one more all-conference listing that was recently announced:
All-West
Central Conference
Jill Hutcheson - South Putnam
Ashley Trent - North Putnam
Jenny Maves - Speedway
Cassie Hunt - North Putnam
Krystal Parker - North Putnam
Molly Williams - South Putnam
Danielle Allen - Cloverdale
Rhonda Gottshalk - Greencastle
Jessica Cooper - Cascade
Danielle Vieria - Cascade
Jena Crone - Monrovia
Heather Gore - Monrovia
For those of you with daughters in the college ranks or headed that way, the ESPN website has put together a series of articles about the safety of travel for women's basketball programs and what you can do as a parent to make sure that your precious college cargo is being safely transported to games and tournaments around the country. It's not the most pleasant subject for parents to read about, as there are some pretty shocking facts that come out of ESPN's exposé (one of the planes used by a college-popular air fleet is nearly 50 years old and has a history of cracks in the fuselage), but it's better than being an ostrich with your head in the sand. Huge spending discrepancies between the travel budgets for men's and women's teams is also looked at, which is also pretty shocking. (Some men's programs get twice the travel budgets of their counterparts in the women's programs.) This series is mandatory reading for parents of college athletes, so don't forget to bookmark the site if you don't have time to read it now.
News thru Thursday, April 12 |
Okay. We know you NWI fans have been patiently awaiting the 2001 RRR All-Region selections, and we FINALLY have them ready for viewing. (Blame the IRS for wanting our tax returns submitted on time!) This year's Player of the Year selections were difficult to make, as many players in the Region had outstanding seasons. As we did last season, we've separated out our picks into 4A & 3A and 2A & 1A. We know you all might not agree with what we think, but hey... it's our website. ;-) Congratulation to all the Region area players on a fine 2000-2001 season and good luck to the seniors who are moving on in basketball and in life!
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The
NCAA observation period ended on Sunday, and some teams and players from Indiana
were making the most of the last viewing opportunity before July by participating in the competitive Deep
South Classic in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. With the
facilities of Duke University, the University of North Carolina and North
Carolina State University within minutes of each other, players were treated to playing in some of college basketball's most legendary
arenas, including the Dean Smith Center on the campus of UNC, where Michael
Jordan played as a Tarheel.
Four Indiana teams were in attendance at the Deep South -- Indiana Force 17U,
River City Rockers 16U, Indiana Pearls
15U and Spiece Diamonds
14U. We don't have the details on how all the Indiana teams fared,
but we can tell you that both Indiana Force and Spiece Diamonds finished in
second place in the Gold and Copper Divisions, respectively.
Indiana Force, comprised of some of the top junior and sophomore talent in
Indiana, including seven Indiana Junior All Stars, played in the competitive Gold Division under the guidance of coaches Stacie
Shepherd and Glenn Shepherd.
Stacie, a Richmond High School and St. Joseph's College grad, teaches English
and coaches a high school team in Florida during the school year. She then
donates her time in the summer to coach Indiana Force. Glenn selects
and organizes this team to showcase Indiana high school talent and to afford the
girls an opportunity to be seen by college coaches from around the country. After getting together
for only one practice on the day of their first game, Indiana Force
defeated teams from South Carolina, Arkansas and two teams from California,
including a 108-71 win over a very good East Bay (CA) team, before losing to the
California Ballers in the Gold Division championship game.
Indiana Force |
Alex
Webster (5'10 G) - Crown Point Ellen Hamilton (5'10 G) - Greenfield Central Megan Liffick (5'11 G) - Whiteland Katie Gearlds (6'0 G/F) - Beech Grove Candace Dark (6'0 G/F) - Fountain Central Shanna Zolman (5'10 G) - Wawasee Megan Wallen (5'11 F) - Wawasee Carrie Smith (6'1 F/C) - Brebeuf (injured) Jenny Pfeiffer (5'8 G) - Jennings County Bridgett Branson (6'2 F/C) - Turkey Run Jessica Scherer (6'2 F) - Triton Central Teran Warner (6'0 C) - Shenandoah Mandy Sichting (6'4 C) - Martinsville |
Spiece Diamonds |
Allison
Scheidt (6'0 F/C) - Columbus East Ashley Cazee (5'7 G) - Center Grove Brittany Myers (5'8 G) - Madison Ashley Kinnett - (5'11 F) - South Dearborn Leah Phillips (5'6 G) - Castle Candace Jones (5'6 G) - Indianapolis Technical Janese Banks (5'10 F) - Ben Davis Amber Norton (6'1 F/C) - Assumption (KY) Emily Strandmark (5'9 F) - Madison Samantha Johnson (6'4 C) - Jeffersonville Stephanie Lynch (6'3 C) - New Albany Kaleigh Gossman (6'0 F/C) - Castle |
Crown
Point junior Alex Webster represents the
Region on Indiana Force. She contributed with assists and scoring at the
point guard position, while taking on defensive specialist duties for her
team. Leading scorer on the weekend was Wawasee junior Shanna
Zolman, who led the Force charge offensively with a combination of
scoring attacks from all over the floor. This team is evenly balanced and
very deep, and benefited with contributions from every team member. Most
opposing teams were unable to keep pace for two full halves with a steady stream
of fresh Force substitutions. Most games were close at the half, but
opened up several minutes into the second. The Force had a sub-par
performance in the championship game from the start and never did find a rhythm,
resulting in a double-digit loss. You can view a few photos from the
weekend on our Deep South Photo Gallery.
Lots of Indiana colleges followed the team during the weekend, including Ball
State, Evansville and Purdue. Indiana Force
will be participating in the U. S. Junior Nationals in Washington, D.C., and
the Nike Challenge in Chicago, both during the July NCAA evaluation period.
The Spiece Diamonds defeated teams from Illinois, Ohio, New York and Arkansas
before falling to Cincinnati Classic Way in the Copper Division championship
game. You can visit the Spiece
Diamonds website for more information on their finish at the Deep South.
The Post-Tribune named Highland senior Jenny DeMuth its Girls Basketball Player of the Year yesterday. DeMuth led her team to the Warsaw Semi-State before falling to Kokomo in the first round. DeMuth will represent NWI in the upcoming Indiana-Kentucky All-Stars Series in June.
According
to The
Times, the Northwest Indiana All-Star Classic was played last
Saturday, and Kim Smith of Gary West Side
(14 points, 13 rebounds) and Sarah Zondor of
Crown Point (12 points, 4 steals, 2 assists) led the East over the West
in a 75-43 victory. Leading scorers for the West Team were Meigan
Tucker of Lake Central and Tracey Jackson of
East Chicago, both with 8 points each. Coach Tom
May of Crown Point was the coach for the victorious East Team,
while Coach Tom Spina of Hammond Gavit
served as the coach for the West Team. Smith, a 5'10 forward headed to
Miami University, was named the NWI Indiana All-Star Classic MVP. Members
of the East and West squads were as follows:
NWI East Team | NWI West Team |
Kim
Smith (Classic
MVP) - Gary West Side Amanda Autrey - Portage Karen Gibson - Hammond Lauren Hansen - Portage Tiffany King - Gary Wirt Ashley Magee - Lew Wallace Christy Poparad - Chesterton Brooke Reed - LaPorte Arianne Robinson - Gary West Side Lee Traynham - Valparaiso LaSharon Watson - Gary Roosevelt Sarah Zondor - Crown Point |
Lolita
Christopher -
Munster Priscilla Crumble - Calumet Vanessa Hernandez - East Chicago Nicole Hluska - Hammond Noll Tracey Jackson - East Chicago Krystal Jenkins - Hammond Dana Jeffries - Hammond Morton Eugenia Jones - East Chicago Corrie Kaczmarek - Highland Kelly Stolman - Whiting Sara Stessl - Hammond Noll Meigan Tucker - Lake Central |
The North-South Indiana All-Star Classic was also played over the weekend at the New Castle Chrysler Fieldhouse. The South Team defeated the North Team 94-80, and both squads included some of the top talent from around the state. Leading scorer for the South Team was Ohio State bound Ashley Allen of Ben Davis with 19 points, followed by Evansville Memorial's Kate Endress with 18. The North Team was led by the 13 points of Muncie Central senior Ricaye Harris, followed by 12 points each from Sara Riedeman of Greensburg and Julie Shirley of Lafayette Jeff. Several articles about the North-South game appeared in the New Castle Life, Muncie Star Press, Louisville Courier-Journal and Terre Haute Tribune. The complete roster of the North and South Teams can be found on our 2000-01 Post-Season Honors page.
|
Kristin VanValin of Ben Davis has accepted a basketball scholarship to play at Spring Arbor University (Michigan) next season. The 6'3 senior was a consistent and solid contributor to the Giants' run to two consecutive 4A titles. VanValin was also highly recruited by Taylor University, Indiana Wesleyan and Greenville College (Illlinois), all Christian Liberal Arts College. Spring Arbor is a NAIA Division II university.
More
post-season awards have been announced:
Ben Davis senior Shyra Ely has
received yet another high-profile honor heading out of her senior season of high
school basketball. Besides being named the Naismith High School Player of
the Year, the 6'2 forward was also recently named USA
Today's
Senior of the Year and, according to the Indianapolis
Star, Gatorade National Player of the Year. As we all
know, Ely will be playing for Tennessee's Pat Summit next season.
According to the Ft.
Wayne Journal Gazette, Wawasee junior Shanna
Zolman has been named a First Team 2001 Parade Magazine
All-American.
The Louisville
Journal-Courier recently named its own choices for All-State Teams
and honorees. From the Region, Jenny DeMuth
of Highland was named to the First Team, Courtney
Rosenbaum of Valparaiso was named to the Second Team, and Lauren
Bechtold of Hebron, Lauren Hansen
of Portage, Hannah Herrold of South
Central, Michele Kiger of Rensselaer,
Erica Martin of Kouts, JoAnn
Smith of Hammond Gavit, Kimberly
Smith of Gary West Side, and Sarah
Zondor of Crown Point were named All-State Honorable
Mention. Complete First-Team voting was as follows:
Shyra Ely - Ben Davis
Jenny DeMuth - Highland
Jacqueline Batteast - South Bend
Washington
Shanna Zolman - Wawasee
Ashley Allen - Ben Davis
Kate Endress - Evansville Memorial
Kelly Springer - Leo
Rachel King - Ft. Wayne Luers
Jenny Pfeiffer - Jennings County
Kristen Weddle - Terre Haute South
According to the Ft.
Wayne Journal Gazette, Luers senior Rachel
King was named the winner of the Journal Gazette Tiffany
Gooden Award for the second year in a row. Ft. Wayne Snider coach Lamar
Kilmer was named Coach of the Year.
According to the Lafayette Journal & Courier, Lafayette Central Catholic head coach Alan Schrope has resigned his position in order to seek a coaching position at a larger school. While at LCC, Schrope compiled a 16-47 record.
Indianapolis has made the cut as one of five finalists to host the 2005 or 2007 women's NCAA Final Four. According to the Indianapolis Star, the event would be held at either Conseco Fieldhouse or the RCA Dome.
The senior year of Purdue senior Katie Douglas (Perry Meridian) is profiled in the Boiler Station section of the Lafayette Journal & Courier.
We've found the official announcement. According to the Bloomington Hoosier Times, Anna Waugh (Franklin) and two other Indiana University freshmen will not be returning to the Hoosiers next season.
News thru Tuesday, April 3 |
INDIANA
RULES!
Like all of us didn't
already know! The women's and girls' basketball game in Indiana received a HUGE
shot in the arm this past weekend when the entire nation watched Notre Dame take
on Purdue in an all-Indiana NCAA Championship final in St. Louis, the first time
in the history of the women's tournament that the final two teams were from the
same state. Of course, Indiana being honored as the first state to
accomplish this is not a surprise to Hoosier fans! Notre Dame boasted
All-Everything Ruth Riley (North Miami)
as the only Indiana player on its roster, but Purdue had lots of Indiana talent
on display with Kelly Komara (Lake
Central), Katie Douglas (Perry
Meridian), Candi Crawford (Homestead),
Shalicia Hurns (Broad Ripple) and Mary
Jo Noon (Jeffersonville). Douglas and freshman Hurns,
who had her coming out party on national television, were named to the Final
Four All-Tournament Team with ND's Riley. The game went down to the wire
and was a great introduction for a number of first-time observers of the women's
college game. (My daughter was pleasantly surprised to have the BOYS at
her school comment to her the next day about what a great game it was!)
Riley was absolutely amazing after a slow start, and her ability to grab that
last pass and make ND's final shot attempt was heroic. Not to mention the
succeeding free throws that won the game. Purdue frosh Hurns played Riley
extremely well, and had some unbelievable defensive plays as well as dropping in
17 points on the offensive end. We've linked the hometown coverage for
both teams from before and after the game, as well as some of the better
editorials about the women's college game. Also, USA
Today has a great grouping of articles about both teams.
Lafayette
Journal & Courier's Boiler Station
Riley's late heroics deny Boilers title -
4/2/01
Riley delivers for Fighting Irish - 4/2/01
Freshmen give Boilermakers bright future - 4/2/01
Despite loss, Purdue among nation's elite programs - 4/2/01
Noon's return motivated by memories of '99 - 4/1/01
South Bend Tribune
Champions
- 4/2/01
Curry:
Game not lost on final play - 4/2/01
Riley
makes it into another Hoosier classic - 4/2/01
Signs
say happy homecoming for Niele Ivey - 4/2/01
Basketball-loving
Hoosiers await women's championship - 4/1/01
McGraw
has become America's sweetheart - 4/1/01
Notre
Dame, Purdue sports fans ecstatic - 4/1/01
Editorials & Individual player stories
A
new chapter for the state's hoops history - Indianapolis Star
Time
to give Riley her due - The Times
As
usual, Riley head and shoulders above the rest - New York Daily News
Komara
is Region tough - The Times
Crawford
makes the most of her time - Kokomo Tribune
Former Tipton Indiana All Star, Purdue player and current Harrison coach and radio color commentator, Jane Schott, gives her inside perspective of the Purdue Boilermakers in the Kokomo Tribune. Schott is the announcer for WLFF, the station that broadcasts Purdue's games on the internet.
With
its media
release last week, the IHSAA sent coaches, players and fans scrambling
to the drawing board to see how their chances will fare with the new sectional
alignments. When they do, they'll only be able to figure out one step of
the equation, as the IHSAA has yet to number the newly aligned sectionals for
regional groupings. According to IHSAA spokesperson Jim Russell in
a number of publications,
"There is some thought about going to a four-team regional and a
two-team semi-state, and with a four-team regional, you want four sectional
groups that make the most sense geographically. Rather than numbering them
now, we have opted to assign the sectional groups now and will assign sectional
numbers after the April 30 meeting."
The four-team regional is one of the proposals to be discussed at the April 30
meeting, along with the possibility of moving to a two-class system. With
all the different suggestions floating around, it seems that next season's
tournament format is pretty much up for grabs. One suggestion, as
described in the IHSAA
March 23 Board minutes, is to skip the semi-state and have a 16-team
state finals format that has all four classes playing at separate locations on
Friday evening. All of the final class games would be played at a central
location the next day. I can't even imagine how tough that would be on the
1A team playing the first final of the day after winning the preliminary the
night before, not to mention the difficulty of selling state finals tickets to
the fans of all the finalists in less than 24 hours. For that second
reason alone, this idea seems to be out the window already. But then you
just never know...
But with respect to the realignments, we've evaluated who the Realignment
Winners and Losers are in 4A, as well as in the NWI 3A, 2A and 1A
sectionals. Also, articles on-line discussing the impact of realignments
for teams around the state are as follows:
IHSAA shuffles sectional rivals, ponders changes - Lafayette
Journal & Courier
Area sectionals affected by class realignment - Goshen
News
IHSAA announces that 38 schools change classes - Louisville
Courier-Journal
IHSAA announces switches in sectionals for for next 2 years -
Ft.
Wayne Sentinel
Trojans face new tourney foes next year - New
Castle Life
IHSAA draws up new sectionals, may change regionals - Frankfort
Times
The Associated Press announced its picks for the AP 2000-2001 All-State Girls Teams last week. Five NWI players were recognized by the AP -- Jenny DeMuth of Highland was named to the AP All-State First Team, Courtney Rosenbaum of Valparaiso and Lauren Bechtold of Hebron were named High Honorable Mention, and Brooke Reed of LaPorte and Hannah Herrold of South Central were in the "Receiving Votes" category. According to one of the AP poll board members (which number about 20 around the state), ballots with close to 200 or so names listed are sent out to the members, who select their top 15 picks in order, with 15 points being assigned for the No. 1 pick on each person's ballot, down to 1 point for the 15th person selected. (So those players listed as "Receiving Votes" were considered one of the top 15 players in the state by one or more of the voters.) Since there is no AP poll for girls, the ballots are sent to writers who rank the boys teams throughout the season. The hope is that those voters who are not familiar with the girls side of the game consult with those at their publication who are. For posterity, we've included the entire AP All-State list on our 2000-01 Post-Season Awards page.
The Indianapolis
Star
announced the members of the
Indiana All-Stars Team last week, with 13 senior players making the cut
to represent the Hoosier State in the 2001 Indiana All-Stars Series. Jenny
DeMuth of Highland, who was second in Miss Basketball balloting, is
the only NWI player on the roster. Although a few publications mentioned that two additional team members
were to be named, that statement was later retracted as erroneous. This year's All-Stars Team is a
talented and athletic group. The only thing this squad is missing is a
true center, which speaks to the versatility of the team's players 6'0 and
taller, who have tremendous ball-handling skills and quickness. They
should give the Kentucky All-Stars (which will be named late in April according
to the Louisville
Courier-Journal) all they can handle and more. The team
is as follows:
Shyra Ely (6'2 F) (Miss Basketball) - Ben Davis Jenny DeMuth (5'10 G/F) - Highland Jacqueline Batteast (6'1 G/F) - SB Washington Ashley Allen (5'9 G) - Ben Davis Jill Corbett (5'10 F) - Cathedral Kate Endress (5'11 F) - Evansville Memorial Hillary Beck (5'6 G) - Kokomo Sara Riedeman (5'5 G) - Greensburg Rachel King (5'8 G) - Ft. Wayne Luers Miranda Eckerle (6'0 F/C) - Franklin County Ebba Gebisa (6'4 G/F) - West Lafayette Kelly Springer (5'11 F) - Leo Kristen Weddle (6'0 G/F) - Terre Haute South |
|
The selection of Twin Lakes junior Erin Guy to the North Squad of the Indiana Junior All-Stars was announced recently in the Monticello Herald-Journal.
Many Region and DAC fans would be surprised to learn that the sister of a very capable post player in NWI has a sister that recently played in the NCAA Tournament at the Sweet Sixteen level. Lauren Beckman, the sister of LaPorte junior post standout Katie Beckman, was this season's leading scorer and rebounder for the University of Utah. The elder Beckman recently played against national power Notre Dame, only to see her team eliminated from NCAA Tournament play by the Irish. Before moving to LaPorte, the Beckman family lived in Nevada, where Lauren was named the Nevada Gatorade Player of the Year along with other state honors, according to the LaPorte Herald-Argus.
Some
more post-season honors:
Tri-River
Conference First Team
Rebekah Forsyth - North Central
Andrie Koehler - Clay City
Megan Haag - North Central
Jennifer Scott - Shakamak
Keesha Knox - Clay City
Midland Athletic Conference
Lindsey Swanson (POY) - FW Canterbury
Stephanie Heger - FW Canterbury
Jessica Warriner - FW Christian
Kelsey Whitton - Lakeview Christian
Amanda Wagner - FW Canterbury
Coach - Scott Kreiger - FW Canterbury
Wabash
River Conference
Candace Dark - Fountain Central
Mandi Rozendaal - Covington
Emily Russelll - Turkey Run
Amanda Newnum - Turkey Run
Brigett Branson - Turkey Run
Columbus
Republic
All-Area
Sara Riedemen (POY) - Greensburg
Tina Bolte - Columbus North
Kali Carter - Columbus East
Ashley Elmore - Jennings County
Michelle King - Columbus East
Tiffany Keller - South Decatur
Katie Kuperus - Columbus North
Amy Pence - Hauser
Rachel Perkins - Columbus North
Jenny Pfeiffer - Jennings County
Leah Wischmeier - Brownstown
Muncie
Star Press
All-Area
Kelly Troxel (POY) - Shenandoah
Megan Hartwell - Alexandria
Mindy Schoenlein - Winchester
Megan Allen - Wes-Del
Ricaye Harris - Muncie Central
According
to the Hickory
Husker website, the Hoosier Basketball Coaches Association recently
announced those players invited to their annual East-West All-Star Game on April
22 at Corydon High School. The invitee list includes:
HBCA EAST TEAM |
HBCA WEST TEAM |
Jessica
Buldoc - Jeffersonville |
Laura
Able - Washington |
Also, the Monticello Herald-Journal is announcing the members of the two senior teams set to compete in the Midwest Conference Annual All-Star Game. The game will take place at 6:00 p.m. on April 7 at Pioneer High School.
TEAM 1 |
TEAM 2 |
Kinsey
Lehe - Frontier |
Katie
Riley - North White |
The late signing period begins one week from tomorrow, and expect to see a flurry of announcements from those players that have not yet signed or made their college choices know. One verbal commitment that has come our way is that of DeKalb senior Megan Dean, who has chosen to attend Marian College next season. Dean, a 6'1 center for the Barons, helped lead her team to a 17-5 record before bowing out of the sectionals with a loss to eventual state runner-up Ft. Wayne Snider.
At
this time of the year, it is expected that college coaches look to better their
situations as contracts expire, but this year there are an unbelievable number
of former Indiana high school players who are looking to make a change as well.
The shift of these players to other programs in the Midwest and around the
country will undoubtedly have an impact on the recruiting of current high school
players from Indiana.
According to the Indianapolis
Star, five players from the Bulldogs women's program have requested
releases from the team. Included in those requesting a release are junior Kelly
Kuhn (Lake Central), sophomore Dorcas
Lawson (Terre Haute South) and freshman Sara
Strahm (Ben Davis). Both Lawson and Strahm will seek to
join basketball programs at other schools, while Kuhn has decided to continue
her education at Butler but will no longer play. Difficulties with Butler
head coach Wendy Gatlin were cited by some of the players leaving. Last
year, Kristen Bodine of Martinsville
left the Butler program to attend Indiana, where she will be eligible to play
next season.
According
to the Evansville
University women's website, former Center Grove standout Lisa Eckart has
asked for and been given a release to leave the Aces program. Eckart was
the leading scorer and rebounder for the just-completed season, and was named
Missouri Valley All-Conference.
There has been some discussion on the Women's Basketball Journal website that
freshman Anna Waugh (Franklin) is
planning to transfer from Indiana along with the only other two freshmen on the
team (Charliss Ridley of Illinois and Nicole
Motto of Ohio), although we've been unable to confirm that move for sure.
Some of you will remember that Ridley played at Perry Meridian her
freshman year of high school.
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