Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 121, Number 8, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 25 February 1998 — Page 9

Us CONGRATULATIONS l BLACK SWISH'

WIN SECTIONAL— North Wood's 'Black Swish' basketball team has earned its sixth straight sectional tournament crown. See related story to. details. Pictured, front, from left. Manager Pam Hyde, Lori Dawn Klotz, Jamie Gill, Heidi Collins, Tiffany Glingle and Managers Jessica Hochstetler and Katy Sonner. Back,, Manager Sarah Stouder, Carrie Janey, Joanna Bove, Mandi Huff, Annie Zell, Amy Zercher, Coach Phil Lechlitner (partially hidden), Natalie Will, Angie Callander, Erin Newcomer, Coach Steve Neff, Manager Mandy Gerber and Coach John Yeager. (AN photo by Ron Keiser)

Lakeland falls to Class 3A sectional champions

The North Wood High School girls’ varsity basketball team earned its sixth straight sectional championship Saturday, and its first in Class 3A play, topping Lakeland 59-39, to avenge, in convincing style, the Panthers’ lone loss of the season, an earlier 59-58 last-second heartbreaker at Lakeland. Coach Steve Neff and company earned their way into the championship showdown with a 63-31 thrashing of West Noble in Friday’s semi-final round at Wawasee, while Lakeland topped the host Warriors 51-35. In the win over West Noble, North Wood had three players in double figures, with Lori Dawn Klotz, Natalie Will and Amy Zercher scoring 18, 15 and 12 respectively. Jamie Gill and Tiffany Glingle

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each added six and Angie Callander, Joanna Bove and Carrie Haney each two for the Panthers. North Wood, currently ranked No. 2 in Class 3A, just behind Gibson Southern, were a little ragged in their play, according to Coach Steve Neff, who reported, “You could tell we hadn’t played in a week. The nice thing was everybody got a good amount of playing time. I wanted to keep things simple and not show anything for Saturday night, which is exactly what we did.” The Panthers led at all stops in the contest, 22-9, 30-16 and 45-24, sailing to the 32-point victory. For Lakeland, it was their 21st victory of the season, a school record, which set the stage for the long-anticipated re-match. “Deep down, we probably all wanted another chance at Lakeland,” stat-

ed Neff. West Noble closed out its season at 7-14, while Wawasee finished 11-10. Earlier in the week, sectional openers were won by Wawasee over Northridge and Lakeland over Angola. In the title matchup, the Panthers led by a slim margin, 108 at the first stop, and extended the lead to 25-13 at halftime. North Wood moved out to a 39-22 edge after three and closed with the 20-point margin of victory. Leading the effort was Amy Zercher with a game-high 23 points. Her effort included two three-pointers midway through the fourth quarter, which added the icing to the Panther cake. Her effort paced an 11-point run by North Wood. “‘Z’ took over,” stated Neff. “And the thing was I wasn’t

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yelling at her to shoot, but I was sure cheering when she did. She’s got the green light to shoot. When she feels it, she’ll let ‘er rip.” Lakeland standout Brooke Crawford was held to 12 points by Lori Dawn Klotz and Tiffany Glingle, who drew the assignment of playing defense on the New Mexico State University recruit. Crawford was also plagued with foul trouble in her final high school outing. “We played good defense,” reported Neff. “Out concern was Crawford and Fry. We had a lot of people step up. We put Angie Callander on Fry and she only had six points, and we put Lori Dawn and Tiff on Crawford. Tiff put her heart out there.. Crawford couldn’t breath Tiff was so close. I think Tiff might know what flavor gum she chews.”

Nappanee Advance News Wednesday, February 25, 1998

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Neff did state, however, that the Panther? were not “at the top of our game. We missed some free throws and what—a dozen bunnies?” North Wood also won the rebounding game, 35-23, with Zercher grabbing eight, Will seven and Gill six. The Panthers committed 16 turnovers, but Lakeland, finishing 21-4, was guilty of a whopping 30. The Panthers will lay their 21-1 mark on the line in this week’s North Wood Regional Tournament, meeting Completing the scoring attack for the Panthers were Klotz with six, Natalie Will and Jamie Gill, eight each, Angie Callander, Heidi Collins and Glingle, each four, and Joanna Bove two.

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