Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 128, Number 51, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 22 December 2005 — Page 7

Pilgrims best Panthers in conference opener

By Anthony Godson Editor With the game seemingly within their grasp,' the North Wood Panthers (4-1, 0-1 NLC) allowed the Plymouth Pilgrims (5-1,1-0 NLC) to make a comeback, and steal a 49-46 overtime win in Northern Lakes Conference play on Saturday

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, DAT PHOTO Senior Ryne Lightfoot scored 23 points in North Wood’s Northern Lakes Conference loss to the Plymouth Pilgrims.

Swish loses 28-24 to Plymouth

By Anthony Godson Editor The Black Swish did everything right against Plymouth on Friday night except for shooting 31 percent from the free-throw line. "I give our kids credit,” North Wood coach Steve Neff said. "They played good defense, and if we hit our free throws, we win the game." Instead, North Wood dropped its second straight Northern Lakes Conference game 28-24 in a lovkscoring affair at Plymouth. "Plymouth plays good defense, and we knew that," Neff said. "1 know scoring 24 points doesn't sound good, but we ran the offense we wanted, and we were patient. We just didn't knock down any shots. We're a horrible shooting team right now." North Wood actually connected' on more field goals than Plymouth (9-8), forced more turnovers (19-13) and committed fewer fouls (18-16), but with Plymouth going 11-15 from the free-throw line, the Lady Pilgrims took the win: The Plymouth defense also did a good job of holding junior Mandy Yoder to only three points, with her lone field goal coming in the first quarter. "(Senior) Brittany (Hall) and Mandy were both Sick," Neff said. "You could tell Mandy was sick. I was hoping she'd snap out of it, but she didn't. She still hustled though." North Wood actually got out of the gates well, with junior Amanda Bechtel scoring the first five points of the game, putting the Swish on top 5-0 with 3:50 remaining in the opening quarter.

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DAT FILE PHOTO Sophomore Mackenzie Lechlitner recorded 2 points and 5 assists against Plymouth.

night at The Pit. Up 39-32 halfway through the fourth quarter, the Panthers were outscored 10-3 in the final stages, to send the game into overtime at 42-42. "We were ahead 39-32 and we missed the front end of two, one-and-one (free throws)," North Wood coach Dan Gunn said. "Those were pretty big

Plymouth went on to score the next four points, before Yoder hit a driving field goal with 1:30 remaining to give North Wood a 7-4 lead at the end of one. With 6:18 remaining in the second quarter, and with starting center Hall already on the bench with two fouls, senior back-up center Jen Kurtz then picked up her second foul. Senior Laura Schiefer then entered the game, playing almost the rest of the way, which wasn't too disappointing to Neff. "She uses her body, and against Plymouth, you have to be physical," Neff said about Schiefer. "She is the most physical of our centers." Following three points from Plymouth, the game was tied at 7-7 with 5:10 to play. At the 2:19 mark in the quarter, the two teams actually had more combined fouls (15) than points (14). Plymouth junior Elaine Hessel then connected on a free-throw to put Plymouth on top 8-7, before Schiefer responded 10 seconds later with a field goal that put North Wood in front 9-8 with 2:09 remaining in the first half. Schiefer's field goal was North Wood's only points of the quarter, and Plymouth took a 10-9 lead going into the third quarter. For the half, North Wood shot only 4-15 (26.7 percent), which was twice as good as Plymouth's 2- shooting (13.3 percent). The two offenses began to warm up a little bit in the third quarter with each team scoring 10, with North Wood getting seven of its points from junior Casey Bough. Following two free-throws by Bough, NorthVyood held a 19-17 lead, but Plymouth's Amber Boyle then hit a 3-pointer with only three seconds remaining, that gave Plymouth a 20-19 lead going into the fourth quarter. Following the 3-pointer, Plymouth never relinquished its lead, clinging to the 28-24 conference win. With the loss, North Wood dropped its first two conference games, and had also lost three of its last four games. With a home game against Goshen at home on Tuesday night, Neff hoped he would see spme changes. "Hopefully we get an attitude adjustment before then," the coach said. "Right now, we're just struggling a little bit all around." • PLYMOUTH 28, NORTHWOOD 24 At Plymouth Score by Quarters N-Wood 7 2 10 524 Plymouth 4 6 10 8— 28 Plymouth: Carrie Edison 01-2 1; Elaine Hessel 3 4-6 10; Amber Boyle 2 0-0 5: Heidi Keiser 0 34 3; Brittney Payne 3 3-3 9. TOTALS: 8 11-15 28. N-Wood: Amanda Bechtel 41-5 10; Mandy Yoder 1 1 7 2 3; Mackenzie Lechlitner 1 0-1 2; Casey Bough 2 3-3 7; Brittany Hall 0 0-2 0; Laura Schiefer 1 0-2 2; Jen Kurtz 0 0-1 0. TOTALS: 9 5-16 24. 3- field goals: Plymouth 1 (Boyle); N-Wood 1 (Bechtel). Turnovers: Plymouth 19, N-Wood 13. Team fouls (fouled out): Plymouth 18; N-Wood 16 (Lechlitner). N-Wood Stats Rebounds: Bough 6, Bechtel 5. Assists: Lechlitner 5. Steals: Yoder 3. Records: Plymouth 8-2 (2-0 NLC), N-Wood 6-3 (0-2 NLC). J.V. Score: Plymouth 36, N-Wood 23 Leading Scorers:, Heather Runsberger, Courtney Simpson, Megan Rendall 5. J.V. Record: 8-1.

free throws, because that allowed (Plymouth) to get back into a game that I felt we were finally getting some breathing room in." In overtime, Plymouth outscored North Wood 74, with all of Plymouth's points coming from the free throw line. "Plymouth just out-scrapped us," Gunn said. "They're a scrappy bunch." Plymouth's style of play lead to a few. tense moments on the court, and also helped force 21 North Wood turnovers. "When I saw them play, that's exactly how I saw them," Gunn said about what he saw when he scouted Plymouth earlier this season against Triton. "It's just a group of guys that play really hard." Plymouth held North Wood senior Ryne Lightfoot to 23 points, eight coming from the free throw line. Plymouth also contributed to fouling Lightfoot out of the game with 1:11 left in overtime following his third offensive foul. . "He took off and scored well early," Gunn said of Lightfoot. "He had 11 in the third quarter, but there were just some different calls." Lightfoot scored North Wood's first eight points of the game, while five different Pilgrims got into the scoring column, leading to a 10-8 Plymouth lead at the end of one. In the second quarter, senior Zac Lechlitner carried the scoring load, netting three 3-point-ers, scoring nine of his team's 11 second quarter points on his way to a 13-point night. In each quarter, only two points came from a North Wood

Sports

player not named Lechlitner or Lightfoot. Gunn saw opportunities for more points, but the ball just wasn't going through the net. "You have to make those good shots," Gunn said about others getting into the offensive scheme of things. Following 11 straight points by Lightfoot to open the second half, North Wood led 32-30 with 2:48 to play in the third. Lechlitner then recorded a steal, which led to a three-point play that put the Panthers on top 3530 with 1:30 remaining in the quarter. Plymouth went on to hit a field goal, but after a steal and lay-up by junior Kelly Adams with only three seconds remaining, North Wood held a 37-32 lead going into the final quarter. The lead was then extended to 39-32 following a field goal by junior Nate Brown with 7:01 left to play. North Wood would connect on only three free throws during the last seven minutes of regulation, and when Plymouth junior Chad Clinton hit a 3pointer with 1:10 remaining, the score was knotted at 42-42. Clinton hit three 3-pointers on the night, all which seemed to come at crucial times. "I thought we did a good job defensively on their leading scorer (Randy Davis), but Clinton really hurt us," Gunn said. Clinton finished the night with 17 points, while Davis finished with 12, six of which came from free throws in the overtime period. Following the loss, Gunn was disappointed, but not ready to

Panthers take battle of football champs

x '~"' By Anthony Godson <•* Editor Ball control offense can be very successful with an early lead, but getting that lead is essential for victory. That type of offense is what has given Jimtown (2-2) success in the past, including a 40-30 win over North Wood (4-0) last season. This season, however, North Wood jumped out to a quick lead, which propelled the Panthers to a 49-29 win on Dec. 13 at The Pit. "Jimtown, they're always going to be tough," North Wood coach Dan Gunn said. "Coach (Randy) DeShone always has them ready to play. Even though' they're young, they're very competitive." Jimtown's only lead came at 2-0, but the Jimmies did fight the entire way. It was just that after falling behind 14-3 late in the first quarter, their slowerpaced offense just couldn't fight all the way back. "You want to play from in front of them, that's for sure," Gunn said about coaching against Jimtown. "We did a good job in the first quarter, getting off to a good start, not taking any bad shots, playing good defense, getting in the passing lanes and forcing some turnovers. (Jimtown's) just pesky, and they run around." North Wood forced three Jimtown turnovers in the opening quarter, and junior Zac Lechlitner netted seven points in the quarter to take a 14-8 lead into the second. In the second quarter, junior center Nate Brown scored North Wood's first four points, and showcased North Wood's ability to get everyone involved in the game, with seven players getting into the scoring column on the night. "(The offense) was spread around a little bit more tonight, and that was good for us," Gunn said. In North Wood's previous game, Lechlitner and junior Ryne Lightfoot scored the bulk of the points, but with Lightfoot being hounded by Jimtown

'Advance News • Thursday, December 22, 2005 •

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DAT PHOTO Senior Ben Bemiller was one of five North Wood players that got into the scoring column against Plymouth on Saturday night.

abandon hope on an NLC championship. "This is a little early to throw in the towel," he said. • PLYMOUTH 49, NORTHWOOD 46 At Nappanee Score by Quarters Plymouth 12 12 8 10 7 —49 N-Wood 10 11 16 5 446 Plymouth: Jason Renz 0 3-6 3; Jared Wendel 1 0-0 3; Chad Clinton 5 44 17; Randy Davis 2 7-10 12; Rick Davis 1 2-2 4; Jacob Palmer 3 0-0 6; Kory Bucher 1 2-2 4. TOTALS: 13

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DAT FILE PHOTO Senior Brock Armington splits the defense against Fairfield earlier this season. junior Caleb Pettis all night, other players stepped up. "I thought they did a great job defending Ryne," Gunn said. Lightfoot did find enough room to hit a 3-pointer with 3:38 remaining in the first half, that gave North Wood a 21-12 lead. The 3-pointer sparked a 6-0 run by the Panthers, that put them up 24-12, before Jimtown sophomore Mike Landis hit a shot to cut the lead to 24-14 at the half. The third quarter didn't involve too much scoring, with the two teams combining for 13 points, but North Wood did force siv turnovers, compared to its two. The turnover differential helped North Wood outscore Jimtown 9-4 in the quarter, and pushed its lead to 33-18 following a 3-pointer by Lightfoot with only one second remaining in the third. "The last game (against Fairfield), we had eight or nine turnovers, and as long as you're 10 or under, that's kind of a team goal for us," Gunn said. After a field goal by Brown with 7:31 left in the game, North Wood had used an 8-0 run to take a commanding 35-18 lead. Jimtown did cut the lead to 42-29 following a 3-pointer by junior Brian DeShone with 3:59 remaining, but that was as close as the Jimmies would get. North Wood had five players

18-24 49. N-Wood: Zac Lechlitner 4 2-3 13: Ryne Lightfoot 6 8-8 23: Kelly Adams 1 0-0 2; Ben Bemiller 2 0-1 4; Nate Brown I 2-3 4. TOTALS: 14 12-15 46. 3-point field goals: Plymouth 5 (Clinton 3, Wendel. Randy Davis); N-Wood 6 (Lechlitner 3, Lightfoot 3). Turnovers: Plymouth 15, NWood 20. Team fouls (fouled out): Plymouth 16, N-Wood 21 (Lightfoot). Records: Plymouth 5-1 (1-0 NLC), N-Wood 4-1 (0-1 NLC). -

score in the final period, with Lightfoot finding open men each time he'd be doubleteamed. "We missed some lay-ups that I think we make at other times," Gunn said. "I thought (Ryne) did a good job of passing the ball, and finding the open shot for other people." Jimtown's main emphasis was on stopping Lightfoot, which seemed like something they'd be able to do after limiting him to only six points last season. In win this year, Lightfoot finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists on a night when he was battling the flu. "I thought he played awfully strong tonight, for being so sick," Gunn said about Lightfoot. "But he wanted to play." When Lightfoot was being blanketed by defenders, Lechlitner once again stepped up scoring 14 points, with two 3-pointers and going 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. "Zac's been awfully consistent for us," Gunn said. • NORTHWOOD 49, JIMTOWN 29 At Nappanee Score by Quarters Jimtown 8 6 4 929 N-Wood 14 10 9 16 —49 N-Wood: Zac Lechlitner 5 2-2 14; Ryne Lightfoot 4 5-7 15; Zuch Troyer 1 0-0 2; Kent Schaffer I 0-0 2; Ben Bemiller 1 1-2 4: Kyle Yoder 3 0-0 6; Nate Brown 3 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 8-11 49. Jimtown: Will Cramer 1 0-0 2; Brian DeShone 3 1-2 8: Mike Landis 3 0-0 7; Chris Landis I 2-2'5; Caleb Pettis I 1-2 3; Phillip Pettis 0 2-2 2; Derek Johnson 1 0-02. TOTALS: 10 6-8 29. 3-point field goals: N-Wood 5 (Lechlitner 2, Lightfoot 2. Bemiller). Jimtown 3 (DeShone, M. Landis. C. Landis). Turnovers: N-Wood 7. Jimtown 16. Team fouls: N-Wood 12, Jimtown 10. N-Wood Stats Rebounds: Lightfoot 7. Lechlitner 4. Kelly Adams 4, Kyle Yoder 4 Assists: Lightfoot 4, Lechlitner 2. Steals: Bemiller 2, Lechlitner. Lightfoot, Adams, Brown. Records: N-Wood 4-0, jimtown 2-2.

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