Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 130, Number 46, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 15 November 2007 — Page 7

'Black Swish 9 open season with win

Mork Simpson Correspondent It's time for Indiana high school basketball, where "Hodsier Hysteria" is known around the nation. Last Thursday night the eighthranked 3-A North Wood girl's basketball team traveled to South Bend for their season opener against the Lady Eagles of John Adams high school and there was plenty of "Hysteria" for everyone in attendance. The North Wood faithful who followed their team north saw the Lady Panthers up, then down, then back up again in what proved to be a roller coaster ride of a game. The first quarter saw North Wood jump out to an early lead, hitting their first four shots from the field. The fast paced tempo of the game appeared to favor the Panthers; however the Eagles fought back, leaving North Wood leading at the end of the first quarter 13 to 12. The second quarter was all John Adams. A physical defense by the Eagles pressured North Wood into 17 first-half turnovers. Panther

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coach Steve Neff called a time out with the Eagles leading 17 to 26, but he was unable to stem the flow of errors. John Adams outscored the Panthers 7 to 26 in the second quarter for a comfortable 20 to 38 halftime lead. For the "Black Swish" the phrase, "when the going gets tough, the tough get going" was never more appropriate than at the beginning of the second half. Down by 18 points and struggling, the veterans stepped up. Senior Mackenzie Lechlitner, junior Courtney Simpson and sophomore Lindsey Steffen went to work with sleeves rolled up. Lechlitner on the boards rebounding, Steffen passing crisply to Simpson who was beating the Lady Eagle pivots down the floor for easy baskets, the comeback had started. The entire North Wood squad began pressuring the ball on defense which resulted in turnovers against the Eagles. The Lady Panthers closed the scoring gap, only trailing 35 to 42 at the end of the third period. The beginning of the fourth quarter found North Wood with only one foul while John Adams had

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already been whistled for seven, putting the Panthers in the one-and-one bonus for the entire final period. North Wood continued their intensity on both defense and offense. A blocked shot by Simpson, recovered by Lechlitner resulted in a technical foul on Alex Groves of John Adams. Sophomore Kelcie Lehman made the technical foul shots and the Panthers retook the lead 4342 with 6 minutes remaining in the game. While scoring 37 points in the second half, North Wood only allowed 8 John Adams points, resulting in a swing of 29 points from half time to final buzzer and a final score of 57 to 46. Courtney Simpson scored 16 points on seven of 10 shooting, had five rebounds and three blocks. Kelcie Lehman also scored 16 points on four of nine shooting from the field and seven of eight from the charity stripe. Lechlitner and Chelsea Yoder both had nine rebounds, Steffen and Lechlitner had six and four assists respectively and Lechlitner also added four steals on the night.

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ADVANCE NEWS PHOTO/MARK SIMPSON (Back) Alii Heeter, Courtney Simpson (front) and Amber Slone were named All-NLC for high school volleyball for the 2007 season.

Three ‘Red Slam’ named All-NLC

By Mark Simpson Correspondent The North Wood Panthers have placed three members on the 2007 All-Northern Lakes Conference volleyball squad. Representing the "Red Slam" are juniors Alii Heeter and Courtney Simpson. Rounding out the team are senior Amy Kline and junior Khristian Hildreth of Concord, seniors Alii Carithers and Ashley Hamilton of Northridge, senior Krista Spearman of Wawasee, senior Leslie Swihart of Plymouth, senior Allison Richard and junior Kate Denlinger of Warsaw. North Wood junior Amber Slone earned honorable mention all-conference along with senior Pam Ciesielski of Goshen, sophomore Courtney Eades of Concord, junior Cortnie Yoder of Northridge, junior Cassie

Girl's basketball split games

In what has become a fall ritual, North Wood girl's basketball participated in the Penn Invitational this past weekend. The "Black Swish" met the eighth-ranked, 4-A Archers of Fort Wayne South in the morning contest. The Archers came into the game sporting size and quickness as their strength. North Wood, never looking to back down from a good fight, came out strong, but ball handling and turnovers continued to plague the lady panthers as they trailed after the first quarter 14-12. Northwood's youth, sophomores Kelcie Lehman and Courtney Frantz, kept North Wood close against the larger Archers. Southside outscored North Wood 17-14 in the second quarter to take a five-point lead into the locker room at halftime, 31-26. The second half saw more of the same basketball from North Wood, flashes of the future, but more miscues than baskets. Ft. Wayne South eventually was just too much for the panthers as they fell 57 to 44. Leaders for North Wood were Frantz with 12 points,

Board of Works approves annual Thankful Four’ run/walk location

Family commemorates daughter through annual run/walk By Mandy McFarland Editor NAPPANEE The Mikel family is thankful for the few years they had with their daughter Kelsey, who was killed in a car accident in 2004 on her way to pick up a friend to go to a football game. Now, they are thankful to the city of Nappanee for allowing them to host the annual Thankful Four walk/ run Thursday morning, Nov. 22. ' At a special session of the Nappanee Board of Works Monday, Nov. 5, Mark Mikel presented information about the walk and asked to be allowed to hold it in Nappanee this year. Some last-minute difficulties the day of the

Advance News • Thursday, Nov. 15. 2007

LJotdenhowen and sophomore Brittany Anglemyer of Memorial, junior Lyzz Smitn of Plymouth and senior Laura Long of Warsaw. Memorial finished the NLC race with a 7-0 record, Northridge 6-1, Concord, North Wood and Warsaw all 4-3; Plymouth 2- Goshen 1-6 and Wawasee 0-7. Coach of the Year honors were shared this year by Jim Routhier of Concord and Jacquie Rost of Memorial. North Wood completed another successful season finishing 27-8. During the regular season the "Red Slam" won the Concord Invitational, North Wood Invitational, and the Bremen Invitational. They also won the 3- Sectional Championship, before losing to ninth-ranked Concordia Lutheran at the Wawasee 3-A Regionals.

Lehman 11 and Mackenzie Lechlitner finished with 8. Courtney Simpson fought for 10 rebounds and Lindsey Steffen had six. The consolation match paired North Wood against the Knights of Mishawaka Marian. The Lady Panthers wasted no time setting the tone for the evening. A sticky defense and hustle gave North Wood an early lead in which was never relinquished. After leading at the half 28 to 10, North Wood was able to capitalize on Marian mistakes to extend their lead and eventually win 49 to 20. A very balanced scoring attack attributed to the "Black Swish" win. Senior Chelsea Yoder led all scorers with 11 points followed by Linsey Steffen with nine, Courtney Simpson had 8, and Mackenzie Lechlitner and Kelcie Lehman, six points each. Northwood's next game will be Thursday, Nov. 15 at the Lions of Bremen in what has become known, as the "Grand Army Highway Game." The "Black Swish" will have their home opener this Saturday against New Prairie.

event will make it impossible to hold it in Wakarusa. The Thankful Four traditionally takes place on Thanksgiving morning. In past years, it has been in Wakarusa. Flowever, this year it will take place in Nappanee. Beginning at North Wood High School at the north end of Panther Drive. It will pass a number of landmarks that are consistent with Kelsey's life. It begins at the high school where she was an honor student and business manager of the Logue yearbook at the time of her death. It proceeds past McCormick Creek Golf Course, where she was a two-year letter winner for the girls' golf team. It passes Little Paws Playground, which Kelsey helped build as a yearbook staff member. The cross country line tree is also along the route. It was here that Kelsey stood time

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and again with a clipboard and stopwatch. The run finishes on the high school track, where Kelsey ran as a member of the girls' track team. The route begins at the north end of Panther Drive near die water tower and heads south toward Woodview Drive. Turning left, the route follows die bike path around the golf course, tne nature center and the, clubhouse, where it turns west into the parking lot From there, it leads onto die grass and around the memorial tree planted for Kelsey. Runners will then return to the bike path and head south toward Dirkson Drive. This takes them through Stauffer Park and along the golf course. The path angles through the parking lot between die softball diamond and basketball court arid past Little Raws Playground. Runners will Sm FOUR, pag» B 4