Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 133, Number 9, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 3 March 2011 — Page 6

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Advance News* Thursday, March 3,2011

Panthers fell to Whitko in regubraeason finale

I UGONIER/ NAPPANEE North Wood senior Cameron Williams sooted 14 points and classmate Michael Paul added 13 in their last game in the Pit but it wasn't enough to overcome the one-two punch of Logan Irwin and Zac VanDeWater of Whitko as t}ie Wildcats defeated the Panthers 51-44 in die regu-lar-season finale. , It was an emotional night for both teams as North Wood honoredseniors Williams, Paid, Kyle Heckaman, Aaron Rhoade, Tyler Rollins, Ryan Lincoln, and manager Greg Perrin, while Whitko welcomed head coach Rob Irwin back to the bench after die fiery VVildcat mentor missed the last several weeks while battling leukemia. North Wood finished the regular season dt 14-6 while Whitko was one game better at 15-5. The two teams did battle again on Tuesday night in the opening round of the Class 3A sectional at Wawasee in a game which was played after press time for this week's Advance News. After VanDeWater lit up the visiting crowd by driving baseline and flushing a dunk on Whitko's opening possession, the game turned into a defensive struggle with neither team able to make much headway on the other. Paul and Whitko's Mitch Yeager provided most of the limited opening-stan-za fireworks with two 3pointers apiece as the Wildcats took a one-point l€ad at 12-11 after one pericid of play. i Nothing changed much in the second quarter as the high-level defensive intensity continued on both sides, while neither team did themselves any favors with pioor shooting when opportunities did arise. North Wood managed just a pair of field goals in the quarter while the Wildcats sank just three buckets, leading to a 21-19 halftime for the visitors. ; Both teams turned up the qffense in the third quarter With Williams pouring in sfcven points in the period for North Wood as the game bbgan to get increasingly physical. Whitko's Irwin matched him with seven points of his own, however, and the Wildcats increased their narrow lead to three points at 35-32 with eight minutes remaining. As has been the case in the last several games between the two squads, the physical play intensified until midway through the fourth quarter when Irwin drew a technical foul for scuffling with gritty Panther point guard Derek Yoder. "Apparently Irwin didn't leam his lesson from two years ago when (former

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Fifth-graders win tournament The fifth-grade boys basketball team from Wakarusa Elementary School won the North Wood Youth Basketball Tournament Feb. 19. The team beat four area squads to reach the championship game, which it won 4s-26 over .Goshen. The team is coached by Eric Delio and Rod Lung. Team members are (front, from left) Jordan BeMiller, Caleb Glick, Brad Delio, (back, from left) Luke Holland,Trevor Wotz, Corbin Taylor, Jared Hoffman and Caleb Lung.

North Wood player) John (Sitder) cracked him in the head with an dhow", said Yoder during a break from signing autographs after die game, "but this time die referees jumped in and stopped us before I could do any damage and he (Irwin) ended up with die T." Irwin calmed down quickly, however; and after a short stint on die bench, returned to die Wildcat lineup and sank six consecutive free throws in die final two minutes to steal the win and spoil the Panthers' Senior Night Irwin finished with a game-high 17 points and VanDeWater added 13, offr setting die 14 and 13 from Williams and Paul of North Wood. North Wood 73, West Noble 53 Earlier in the week, the Panthers used a 12-0 run to end the third quarter en route to a 73-53 thrashing of West Noble in their final regular-season road game. Paul led four Panthers in double figures with 14 points, while Williams added 13, Jakyah Qaiyim 12, and Rhoade 10. Lincoln added four points off the bench for North Wood, including a spectacular steal and coast-to-coast drive for a basket that sparked the third quarter rally. Ted Fulk had 13 points to pace West Noble while Nick Thomas added 10 points and Dirk Ormsby eight in the loss. JV Update The North Wood JV team completed a stellar season by hammering West Noble 59-37 and Whitko 63-40 to finish the campaign with a sparking 17-3 record. Freshman Zach Zurcher scored 17 points in the win at West Noble while classmate Jonathan Wilkinson added 11 and junior Ryan Gerber 10 for the Panthers. Against Whitko, Zurcher was again the high-point man with 18 and Wilkinson chipped in with 16, including four 3-pointers. • WHITKO 51, NORTHWOOD 44 At The Pit, Nappanee Score by quarters Whitko: 12 21 35 51 North Wood: 11 19 32 44 WHITKO (51): Logan Irwin 4 9-12 17, Mitch Yeager 2 0-0 6, Zac VanDeWater 5 3-3 13, Alex Stoddard 0 0-0 0, Max Elder 3 0-0 6, Derek Snep 3 1-1 7, Scott Skiles 0 0-0 0, Kory Wood 0 0-1 0, Kolten Kroll 0 OO 0. TOTALS 17 13-17 51 NORTHWOOD (44): Michael Paul 3 4-6 13, Cam Williams 5 4-5 14, Derek Yoder 0 04) 0. Zac Coleman 1 0-0 2, Aaron Rhoade 0 35 3, Kyle Heckaman 2 0-0 6, Tyler Rollins 0 0-0 0, Jakyah Qaiyim 2 2-5 6. TOTALS 1313-21 44 3-Point goals: North Wood 5 (Paul 3. Heckaman 2); Whitko 2 (Yeager 2) • NORTHWOOD 73, WEST NOBLE 53 At Ligonier Score by quarters North Wood: 14 34 53 73 West Noble: 14 27 37 53 NORTHWOOD (73): Michael

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Paul 5 4-6 16, Cam Williams 5 3-5 13. Derek Yoder 1 0-1 2, Zac Coleman 1 04) 2, Aaron Rhoade 3 33 10. Zach Zurcher 1 2-2 4, Kyle Heckaman 1 0-0 2, Jonathan Wilkinson 20-1 4, Ryan Gerberoo--0, Tyler Rollins 200 4, Ryan Lincoln 2 04) 4, Jakyah Qaiyim 5 24 12. TOTALS 2S 14-22 73 WEST NOBLE (53): Ted Fulk 5 34 13, Drew Schermerhom 2 4-4 9, Nick Thomas 4 1-2 10. Skylar Spencer 1 2-2 5, Nate Baker 0 04) 0, Anthony Salazar 0 1-2 1, Dirk Ormsby 31-28, Isaias Homister 0 00 0, Nick Noe 2 2-2 7. TOTALS 17 14-1853 3-Point Goals: North Wood 3 (Paul 2, Rhoade); West Noble 5 (Schermerhom. Thomas, Spencer, Ormsby, Noe).

DAT file photos Top: North Wood's Cameron Williams, second jrom right, takes the ball to the basket against Concord's Anthony Yoder (14) and 6-foot-8 Jason Spriggs (54) Feb. 12 at The Pit. Also pictured is Concord's Seth Huxford, right Williams scored a teamhigh 14 points in the Panthers' Senior Night loss to Whitko last Friday. Right: North Wood's Aaron Rhoade looks for a shot against Concord Feb. 12.

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Scoreboard JR. HIGH GIRLS BASKETBALL North Wood Bth wins big North Wood's eighth grade girls basketball team annihilated Elkhart West Side 61-5 Thursday. Tori Schwartz scored a game-high 13 points for the Panthers, followed by Ashley Yoder with 11 points. Haley Roe and Jordyn Frantz added eight points apiece. Also scoring for North Wood were Mackenzie Swihart (7), Morgan Resler (4), Lexi Bergman (4), Blakely Lengacher (4) and Hannah Rohrer (2). North Wood stands at 12-1. Roe leads North Wood Bth Haley Roe scored 20 points and personally doubled up Pierre Moran in North Wood's 42-10 eighth grade girls basketball win last fuesday. Jordyn Erantz added 10 points and four rebounds for North Wood. Blakely Lengacher contributed five points, and Ashley Yoder added four points and five rebounds. Also for the Panthers, Mackenzie Swihart finished with two points, and Lexi Bergman hit a free throw. North Wood 7th slips past Pierre Moran North Wood's seventh grade girls basketball team slipped past Pierre Moran 27-23 last Tuesday. Kaylee Haynes and McKayla Fielstra scored six points apiece to lead the Panthers. Bailie Lehman added three points for North Wood, and Arika Flickinger, Sydney Wysong, Gabi Glass, Andrea Tuttle and Roni Hochstetler scored two points each. North Wood Bth B4eam stays perfect Shyla Southern recorded 16 points, six rebounds and three assists to lead North Wood to a 40-14 eighth grade girls See Scoraboanl, Page A 7