Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 129, Number 8, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 23 February 2006 — Page 7
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DAT PHOTO North Wood junior Amanda Bechtel pleads her case.
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DAT PHOTO North Wood senior Brittany Hall awaits a rebound.
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DAT PHOTO North Wood coach Steve Neff instructions his players, while senior Jen Kurtz (44) looks on.
Swish elude Vikings en route to championship game
By Anthony Godson rh . Conor If it hadn't been for a late third quarter run by the Tippe.canoe Valley Vikings (11-11), the North Wood Black Swish (20-4) would have breezed to its •second-straight regional championship game. As it was, the Vikings did mate a run, but it still wasn't enough to prevent the Swish from making their second straight trip to the •Peru Regional Championship game following a 45-38 win. "We got kind of got helter-skelter there in the fourth quarter," North Wood coach Steve Neff said. "We missed some point-blank shots, period. We started playing a little sloppy in the middle of the third and beginning of the fourth. That's not our style We have to be more patient and organized.'' After taking a 35-22 lead on a Mandy Yoder bucket with 24)4 left in the third quarter, Tippecanoe Valley scored the last seven points of the quarter, drawing to within 35-29 going into the fourth. From there, the two teams went *-**:?' &&& too common with V
the Swish during their postseason rim, a large lead was squandered, resulting in a bit of a nail-biter. "It's been like that for a lot of games, and we've survived," Neff said about his team winning the hard way. North Wood has. survived to the tune of a 204 record, resulting in a third straight regional match-up against Fort Wayne Bishop Luers. The two teams have split games over the previous two years, with Luers warning in 2004 and North Wood winning in 2005. Before getting into the championship game, hie Swish first had to defeat he Vikings for the second time this season. North Wood had already defeated Tippecanoe Valley on Jan. 9 at The Pit. "They're a better team now, than they were in January," Neff said of the Vikings. "They have aggression to them noW." That aggression helped to force 14 Swish turnovers, but in the early going it was North Wood coming up with the turnovers, forcing 11 in the first half. 'Mandy (Yoder) and Amanda (Bechtel) got some hands in he pass-
20-win season comes to an end
By Anthony Godson Editor For the third consecutive season, the North Wood Black Swish and Fort Wayne Bishop Luers met up at the Peru Regional, with Luers taking victory this time around. "You have to put yourself in a position to win a game," North Wood coach Steve Neff said. "We were there, but we just didn't do it." Luers claimed the regional championship, defeating the Swish 39-32. The. victory redeemed a regional championship loss to North Wood last season, after Luers had defeated NorthWoods«f2oo4. A key defeating the 20-win Swish, was paying special attention to North Wood junior Mandy Yoder. "They have big bodies to put on her little body," Neff said about the Luers defense on Yoder. "She was trying her hardest to get open, but they were on her." While expending so much injury just to get open, Yoder shot 2-for-13 from the field, missing her first eight shots. For the game, she finished with 10 points. North Wood's other offensive threat, junior Amanda Bechtel, entered the game nursing a sore back, which limited her mobility. The ailment seemed to bother the guard, as she finished with only three points, on l-of-8 shooting. Yoder and Bechtel's struggles from the field were not out of line with their teammates, as the team as a whole shot 8-of-38 (21 percent) for the game. Luers put the pressure on North Wood from the outset, nabbing an 8-0 lead, before North Wood even attempted a shot. The Swish finally got onto
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DAT PHOTO North Wood junior Mandy Yoder drives hard to the basket.
hanks in large part to an aggressive Yoder and Bechtel. In he first quarter, Bechtel recorded a steal, a rebound, three assists and two points, while Yoder went 4-for-4 from the field, with nine points. Of her nine first quarter points, six came off lay-ups which followed steals. For the game, Yoder shot 8-for-13, hitting her first five hots, finishing with 17 points, five steals and five rebounds. Many of her points had to come in transition, as the Vikings defense was zoned in cm her. "They focused -just about all their energy cm taking the game away from Mandy," Neff said. "Our other girls picked it up, but we certainly could have put more baskets in." In a 33 percent shooting game, North Wood hot only from the field. With Yoder taken out of the equation, the teem shot hist 9-for-38 (24 percent), but with he Vikings shooting 14-f Or-43 (40 percent), the Swish got aWay with it • A key to bringing he Vikings beck into the game was he play of senior whofinished with quarter and the 5:34 mark in he
Sports
the board at the 3:01 mark in the first quarter, following two free throws by sophomore Mackenzie Lechlitner. "Early, they kept switching from man to zone (defense), and I thought that it shouldn't have confused us as much as it did," Neff said. Following Lechlitner's free throws, North Wood began to loosen up, but Luers still took a 13-6 lead into the second quarter. "We told them that they had to weather the storm," Neff said about what his staff told the team during a first quarter timeout. North Wood had successfully weathered the initial Luers run, and was within seven points going into the second quarter. Yoder got the scoring underway in the second, connecting on two free throws that cut the Luers lead to 13-8 with 7:12 left in the half. From there, Luers' sophomore Amanda Pedro scored four points, upping her team's lead to its largest at 17-8. Down by nine, Bechtel hit a 3pomter to cut the lead to 17-11 with 2:53, but Luers kept answering until Yoder got the last word of the half, hitting a 3pointer with time running out. The shot put North Wood within striking distance at 2117, but almost more importantly, it was Yoder's first field goal. "1 thought that might be the spark," Neff said about the shot possibly getting Yoder going. After surviving the Luers fast start, Neff was pleased with where his team stood at the half. "We got the game into the tempo that we wanted it," the coach with 504 wins said. "We survived the first flurry, and then worked our way back." Into the second half, North Wood controlled the
Advance News • Thursday, February 23, 2006 *
tempo, but could just never get over the hump. Two Yoder free throws to begin the half, drew NorthWood to within 21-19, but Luers responded by scoring the next four points. Yoder's second 3pointer of the game came with 1:33 remaining in the third, and cut the Luers lead to 27-24, but a late Luers field goal, upped the lead back to 29-24 going into the fourth. In the fourth quarter, NorthWood got to within two points, on two occasions, but the lead was always out of grasp. "We had three possessions, that I know of, where we had three turnovers in a row," Neff said. Even more costly than the turnovers was a mental lapse on a free throw with 29 seconds remaining in the game. Down 36-32 with 29 seconds left to play, Luers' freshman Kelsey Wyss missed the first, of a one-and-one. Instead of that being a positive for the Swish, it became a negative when Pedro retrieved one of her 10 rebounds, scoring on the rebounds, putting her team on top 38-32. "We didn't screen out on a free throw," Neff said. "Pedro's a good leaper, she's like a gazelle out there. It just takes one or two little things like that." To defeat Luers, North Wood needed to play a near perfect game, but with not even playing that well, North Wood was in it to the end. "You can't take anything away from these girls," Neff said about his 2005-2006 team. "(It's an accomplishment) to be 20-5, get a sectional championship and to be in the Elite 8. They also had to put a run together to get me 500 wins.
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DAT PHOTO North Wood sophomore Mackenzie Lechlitner tries to qet hot players into position.
fourth, Hathaway shot 5-of-5. from field. During that span, Tippecanoe Valley cut a 33-20 North Wood lead to just 37-31. "(Hathaway) had a good game for them," Neff said. “We didn't expect that from her. Every time he put it up, it seemed like it went in." Tippecanoe VaHey then cut the lead down to 41-36 following a 3-pointer by junior Chelsea Rhoades with 54 seconds left on he dock, but North Wood hit 4-of-5 free throws down he stretch, securing the win. In claiming die victory, North Wood did sustain some setbacks, with senior center Brittany Hall getting her time cut following a flute accident at halftime. "Brittany Hall, we wanted to play her more, but she took a ball (to hie face) at halftime, and chipped a tooth." that it hit her in face," the coach added Although he wasn't injured during he game, Bechtel also played at less than 100 percent, but stiS came up witt two big *cond > mjunri W »
There was a lot of pressure on them." For the Swish to win 2f 1 games is quite an accomplishment, and it wasn't something even Neff was predicting. "I would have never guessed we'd be 20-5, I'll put it that way," Neff said Following the loss, seniors Brittany Hall, Jen Kuitz, Laura Schiefer and Heuth>r Stutsman walked off the court foi the final time. Although they may not be his most talented class, the girl • will still be a special group tor Neff. "My seniors played hard, and were very gracious all year long," he saicl. "(Kiev) cheered when I played the freshmen, and they were just a tremen dous group." • F.W. BISHOP LUERS 39, NORTHWOOD 32 At Peru Regional Championship (him! Score by Quarters N-Wood 6I! 7 8 32 F.W. Luers'l3 8. 810 3<>' BL: Murkee M artin 3 0-0-6: Amanda Pedro 5 4-8 14; Kelsey Wyss- 3 3-5 10: Megan Pedro I 0-0 3: Monica Lohmuller 1 2-2 4: Mary Hathaway I 0-02. TOTALS: 13 9-15 39. NW: Amanda Bechtel I 0-0 3. Mandy Yoder 2 4-4 10; Mackenzie Lechlitner 1 5-5 7: Casey Bough I 22 4: Brittany Hall I 0-0 2 I aura 'Schiefer 2 2-26. TOTALS 8 13-13 32/ 3-point field goals: Bl 2 t Wvss. M. Pedro): NW .3 (Yoder 2. Bechtel). Turnovers: BL 18: NW 14 Team fouls: BL 16: NW 17. Individual Stats Assists: BL - Martin L NW - Lechlitner 5. Blocks: NW - Lechlitner. Rebounds: Bl - A Pedro 10;NW-Bechtel5 !adihtner 4. Steals: BL - M. Pedro 2: NW - Stutsman 3. Records: BL 22-4: NW 20-5.
Thursday, but she hit a couple big ones in there," Neff said. "She's a trooper * NORTHWOOD 45. TIPPECANOE VALLEY 38 At Peru Regkmal (Semi-Final) Scare by Quarters TV 7 8 14 9-38 NW 17 10 8 10-45 NW: Amanda Bechtel 4 0-1 It): Mandy Yoder 8 1-2 17: Mackenzie Lechlitner 2 2-2 7; Casey Bough 2 2-4 6; Laura Sehiefer I 345. TOTALS: 17 8-13 45. TV: Kayla Newman 0 4-4 4: Jennifer Hateway 7 1-217;Cbdsy Rhoades 2 04) 5; Hannah Krueger 3 0-0 8; Rachel Sitts 2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 145-638. 3-poißt flcW goals: NW 3 (Bechtel 2. Lechlitner); TV 5 (Hateway 2, Krueger 2, Rhoades). Taraovers NW 16; TV 17. IteafaafcNW 10; TV 16 Individual Stats Aarirts NW - Bechtel 7, Lechbtner 2. Hacks: NW - Kartz, TV - Lela Rohrer 2. Mamie NW - Bough 7. Lechlitner 6. Yoder 5, Boded 4; TV - Krueger 10. Sitts 7, Hathaway 5, Whitney Sparkman 4. Steals: NW - «sfer 5, Bechtel 4. Lechlitner 2; TV KmarS NW 20-4; Tjv 11-11.
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