Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 134, Number 51, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 20 December 2012 — Page 7

Panthers stay unbeaten with OT win at Plymouth

By Steve Srmn CORKESPONDENT JIMTOWN / PLYMOUTH - Jonathan Wilkinson scored 22 points and Zach Zurcher added 14 as the North Wood Panthers boys basketball team rallied from a ninepoint fourth-quarter deficit to defeat Northern Lakes Conference (NLC) rival Plymouth 69-63 in overtime. The victory improved the Panthers to 5-0 on the season (1-0 NLC), after they hammered Jimtown 69-39 earlier in the week. NORTHWOOD 69, PLYMOUTH 63, OT In a battle of unbeatens and in the NLC opener to boot, the Panthers started the game against Plymouth ice cold, but poor ball handling by the host Pilgrims kept the contest close, and Wilkinson finally drained a three late in the opening quarter to push North Wood to an 11-5 advantage. In the second period, the superior size of 6'9" Plymouth junior center Mack Mercer began to take a toll on the Panthers, especially when Zurcher went to the bench with his second foul just a minute into the period. Mercer picked up seven points in the quarter and coupled with a pair of threes from senior guard Ike Kastner, boosted the Pilgrims to a 23-22 lead at the half. Mercer continued to pour it on in the third period, dominating in the paint and even venturing outside to drain a 3-pointer, while the Panthers continued to struggle from the field. Zurcher kept his team close with seven third-quarter points, but Plymouth increased

Olson, Black Swish dominate Jimtown

By Jeremy Mast CORRESPONDED NAPPANEE NorthWood's defense was on top of its game most of the night as the Black Swish beat Jimtown 53-28 in non-con-ference action last Thursday night. Between pressure defense and the Lady Jimmies cold shooting resulted in a first quarter shutout for the Black Swish. Senior Maddie Sch wartz and junior Morgan Olson led the defensive effort in the first quarter with two steals a piece. Swartz and junior Taylor Fielstra got the offonse rolling scoring the first, two baskets of the game m uch to the delight of North Wood Head Coach Steve Neff.. "I've been trying to tell them we've got 'to get those kinds of shots," coach Neff said referring to needing a scoring threat other than Olson and senior Savannah Bley. Olson contributed in all aspects of the. game that first quarter scoring 13 points, 6-7 from the field and 1-1 from the charity stripe, pulling down four rebounds and handing out two assists to go along with the steals. This along with the defensive effort gave North Wood (5-2) a 19-0 lead after one period. It was midway through the second quarter before Jimtown was able to break the seal. Two free throws by junior Joy Moore got Jimto’wn (3-7) on the board. Having no seniors on the roster, the Lady Jimmies showed their inexperience throughout the game; however they were a perfect 6-6 frerm the free throw line on the evening. Jimtown managed only erne field the entire first half as the Black Swish took a 25-6 halftime lead. 'NorthWood caused 10 Lady Jimmie turnovers in the first half with the tenacious defense. The Lady Panthers cranked up the offense once

their lead to 41-35 with right minutes remaining. In what would prove to be a critical factor in the final outcome, North Wood reached die one-and-bonus just a minute into the final stanza and the double bonus at the 5:12 mark, but Mercer remained nearly unstoppable for the Pilgrims, who led 52-43 with 3:30 remaining in the game. "I think the momentum possibly swung in our direction, which, in high school basketball, can be huge. We were in the same defenses; we were just fortunate to get our hands on some balls,* said North Wood head coach Aaron Wolfe. "Any time that you play a Northern Lakes Conference game and you come away with the win, you feel like you've accomplished something because we have that much respect for our conference," he added. "Especially because Plymoutn has always been a storied program throughout Indiana, and just to have the opportunity to come here and compete, I think that we relish tnat challenge." From that point on, however, it was pretty much all North Wood as Wilkinson rallied his troops with 12 fourth-q uarter points. A 9-0 run by the Panthers, capped by a pair of free throws by Kyle McCoy finally tied the game at 52 all with 1:52 remaining and after another basket by Mercer, senior Tommy Klem canned a jumper from the free-throw line with 11 seconds left to force overtime. Plymouth got the tip in the extra session but the feisty McCoy stole the ball from Mercer, drove the

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Photo by James Costello North Wood’s Maddie Schwartz looks down court during a Northern Lakes Conference game at home in Nappanee Saturday night.

again scoring another 19 points in the third quarter. Olson once again led the charge scoring 11 of her game high 30 points during the quarter. With a 44-10 lead heading into the fourth quarter, Coach Neff had the luxury of getting everyone playing time. "We got to play a lot of people; the last few games we got to play a lot of girls," coach Neff said about being without sophomore guard Jordyn Frantz. She missed the last two games with a concussion but will return for their game Saturday against NLC foe Plymouth. Jimtown, although young, continued to play Raid until the final buzzer as the last quarter was their best. Hitting both of their three pointers for the game the Lady Jimmies enjoyed an 18-point quarter. "Gene Johnson has a. young team," Neff said of Jimtowit's youngsters. "They are working hard. They came back well that fourth quarter, they played tough, and they didn't quit' Coach Neff said he was pleased with the majority of the game though the last quarter was a bit of a letdown for the Blade Swish.

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DAT photo North Wood’s Kyle McCoy (12) scores the first basket of overtime in the Panthers’ 69-63 OT victory over the Plymouth Pilgrims. McCoy was fouled on the play and converted the free throw, part of a clutch 9 for 9 performance at the line by North Wood in the extra session.

length of the court for a layup and was fouled in the process, converting the three-point play to make it 57-54 North Wood. The Panthers continued their thievery, with McCoy and Klem each making steals, and North Wood drained nine of nine free throws down the stretch, pulling away in the final minute of overtime for the win. In addition to the combined 36 points from Wilkinson and Zurcher,

"Overall it was a nice game, a nice road win," coach Neff said after the game. "We lost our intensity in that fourth quarter." The Black Swish will be in action again Friday, Dec. 21 at home against South Bend Washington starting at 7:30 p.m. The ladies will play over Christmas break in the Banker's Classic held at Northridge High School in Middlebury Thursday, Dec. 27 and Friday, Dec. 28. Tip times for those two games are scheduled for 10 a.m. • North Wood 53, Jimtown 28 North Wood Maddie Schwartz 3-4 0-1 7. Savannah Bley 3-8 1-2 7, Inger Yoder 0-5 04) 0, Ashley Yoder 0-3 0-2 0, Taylor Fielstra 2-7 1-1 5, Taylor Stutzman 2-5 0-0 4, Morgan Olson 12-17 6-8 30 Jimtown Logan Trosper 0-2 0-0 0, Joy Moore 0-2 2-2 2, Tori Henkler 1-2 0-0 2, Shawntel James 0-0 0-0 0, Ally Vicsik 4-9 2-2 11. Lindsey Store 0-0 0-0 0, Maddi Beadles 3-6 0-0 7, Heather Bozman 0-2 2-2 2, Ali Brothers 2-3 0-0 4 Scoring By Quarters North Wood 196 199 Jimtown 06418 3-point goals: North Wood (1) M. Schwartz; Jimtown (2) Vicsik, Beadles. Rebounds: North Wood (30) - Olson 13; Jimtown (10) Beadles 3. Sleds: North Wood (10) - Olson 4; Jimtown (3) —Vicsik 2. Records: North Wood 5-2, Jimtown JV: North Wood 43, Jimtown 16. Ibp scorers: North Wood Andrea limfell, Haley Roe 9; Jimtown Shawntel James 6.

McCoy added 11 points and six steals, while Klem and Tanner Farmwald added 9 points each, with Klem also contributing six boards. Plymouth's Mercer led all scorers with 27 points, while Kastner tossed in 13 and Joe Knapp 12 in the loss. "Jonathan is playing at a very high level for us right now," said Wolfe. "He knocked down some shots down the stretch that were important, which gave us momentum in that fourth

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Girls JV basketball team Photo provided North Wood’s JV girls basketball players are (from left): front row Lexi Bergman, Tori Schwartz, Mackenzie Swihart, Kaylee Haynes, Haley Roe and Morgan Resler; middle row Miriam Rangel, coach Adam Yoder, Andrea Tuttle, Bethany Bridenthal and Haley Schultz; and back row McKayla Fielstra, Shyla Southern, Ashley Yoder and Karen Holmes.

SCOREBOARD

HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING Panthers fall to Goshen North Wood’s wrestling team lost a 69-7 Northern Lakes Conference meet with Goshen last week. The Panthers lost 11 of 14 matches by pinfall. Complete results were unavailable for the meet. • GOSHEN 69, NORTHWOOD 7 Complete results unavailable. BOYS FRESHMAN BASKETBALL North Wood 9th beats Glenn, Plymouth North Wood's boys freshman basketball team recently earned a pair of wins over John Glenn and Plymouth. The freshman Panthers beat Glenn 38-26 and topped Plymouth 43-34. Clayton Sheets scored a combined 20 points with 15 rebounds at the two games, while Chad Sellers finished with 23 points in the two games and tallied four rebounds and three assists in the win vs. Plymouth.

Advance News • Thursday, December 20, 2012

quarter. I think that he's now starting to be able to create offense for his teammates, which is something that can really bode well for us in the future." "He gets down the floor extremely well; he covers a lot of ground, and their guards do a great job looking down the floor for him," Plymouth coach Ryan Bales said of Wilkinson. "But there were times where we saw it from the sideline where if we put our heads down and do what we're supposed to do and find him in the paint initially then that takes care of a lot of it. "They wanted it more. He wanted it and when he gets a head of steam going to the basket or he can shoot it in and shoot in space, he's one of the best players in the conference." Sports Editor James Costello contributed to this report. NORTHWOOD 69, JIMTOWN 39 Earlier in the week, the Panthers mauled the hapless Jimmies in a game that was pretty much over by halftime. Jimtown struggled with North Wood's pressure defense from the opening tip, and Klem and Wilkinson each scored four points to push the Panthers to a 14-7 lead at the first stop. Things got worse from there for the Jimmies, as Zurcher poured in eight points and Wilkinson five in a 17-7 blitz that pushed the Panther lead to 31-14 at the half. North Wood continued to pull away in the third quarter, thanks to five points from McCoy and four each from Wilkinson and Zurcher, leading to a

Ryan Knepper scored 11 points against Plymouth, and David Eshelman passed out three assists against Glenn. The freshmen now stand at 6-1 on the season. JUNIOR HIGH BASKETBALL • Panthers tame the Tigers The North Wood eighth grade basketball team ventured to Warsaw last Monday night and came home with a 62-34 win over Edgewood. After a tight first quarter, the Panthers outscored the Tigers 17-4 in the second quarter to go into halftime with a 29-13 lead. Trey Bilinski and Vincent Miranda combined for 27 points in the first half. Miranda ended up with 21 and Bilinski 18 for the game. r. Luke Zurcher had a full all around performance with 6 points, four rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Drew Minnich and Travis Stephenson each scored 6 and Minnich pulled down a game high 7 boards. Spencer Sheline tossed in

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48-25 advantage going to the final period. North Wood coach Aaron Wolfe cleared the bench with more than six minutes remaining and the Panther reserves outscored the Jimmie starters 16-11 down the stretch, with the highlight being a thunderous dunk by junior Will Stueve following a steal that sent the North Wood student section into a frenzied "Stueve Wonder!" chant. Zurcher led the scoring for the Panthers with 16 points, followed by Wilkinson with 13 and McCoy with 9. Klem added six points and six rebounds, while freshman guard Braxton Linville tallied five points and handed out four assists. Jimtown was paced by 12 points each from senior Michael Hobbs and freshman Adam DeShone, the latest in a line of excellent ballplayers from the DeShone family. North Wood plays in the Tippecanoe Valley holiday tournament Dec. 21-22, taking on Rochester in the opening game Friday night at 6 p.m. The second contest features Valley against Fairfield, with legendary coach Bill Patrick going for his 700th career win. When the victory comes, Patrick will be only the second man among active coaches and fifth all time to reach the 700 mark. The winners will battle for the tournament title Saturday at 7:45 p.m., preceded by the consolation game. JV UPDATE The North Wood JV team also continued their winning ways, picking up a pair of three-point See Unbeaten, Page A 9

3 points and Cody Cripe 2. The team's record is 12-1. • 'A' team defeats Schmucker The North Wood Panthers' seventh grade "A" basketball team defeated Schmucker 49-23. Leading scorers for the Panthers were Caleb Lung and Brant Mast with 10 and Brayton Yoder with 6. • Panthers top Discovery The North Wood Panthers seventh grade "A" basketball team defeated Discovery 44-35. Leading scorers for the Panthers were Caleb Lung with 12, Brayton Yoder with 10 and Brant Mast with 8. • North Wood wins over John Young The North Wood Panthers' seventh grade "A" basketball team defeated John Young 58-18. Leading scorers for the Panthers were Brayton Yoder with 22, Caleb Lung with 10 and Landon Gessinger with 10. This win places the Panthers in the championship game of the Big 11 tournament.