Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 133, Number 20, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 23 January 2014 — Page 6

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Advance News » Thursday, Jan. 23, 2014

Black Swish gels past Tippy Valley

It wasn't pretty, but die Black Swish was still able to pull out a 52-38 victory over Tippecanoe Valley last Tuesday, January 14 at the Panther Pit "It was an ugly win, but that's ok," head coach Steve Neff uttered after the game. "It's another sectional team, and we have something to fire up for for next time The Lady Vikings came out quick looking to push the ball up the floor any time they nad the chance. This turned into a quick 4-0 lead before anybody was able to sit down. North Wood struggled early with the interior presence of Tippy. Starting two ladies standing 6'l", the inside was tough to penetrate as the Lady Panthers missed numerous shots inside five feet of the basket. North Wood finally settled down and started driving to the basket and kicking out for wide-open jump shots or drawing fouls from the Lady Vikings. Taking a 12-7 lead at the end of the first quar-

Panthers fall to Northridge for Ist loss of season

NEW CARLISLE/ NAPPANEE - In a battle of Northern Lakes Conference (NLC) unbeatens, the North Wood Panther boys' basketball team dropped a hard-fought 54-52 contest to the visiting Northridge Raiders in front of a capacity crowd at The Pit. The loss was the first of the season for North Wood (9-1, 2-1 NLC), while the Raiders (101, 3-0 NLC) remained atop the conference along with Elkhart Memorial. Earlier in the week, the Panthers picked up an easy road win, PtSifte 71-49. NorttrUgs 54, iwnnwood oz With first place in the NLC on the line and the annual baseball chili supper as an added attraction, a huge crowd gathered at The Pit on January 17th for what proved to be every bit the battle that was anticipated. Both teams came out hot in the first period, trading baskets on nearly every possession. Jonathan Willdnson and Will Stueve scored seven points each in the period for North Wood, while Pete Smith, Brock Downey, and Nate Ritchie combined for 13 points as the visitors held a 17-16 lead at the first stop. In the second quarter, the aggressive Raiders began to hurt North Wood on the offensive glass, as Ritchie picked up a pair of rebound buckets to widen the Northridge lead. North Wood countered with burly sophomore Dakiyron Fox, who came off the bench and sparked a Panther rally with two power layups, and Tanner Farmwald wno converted a huge three-point play to tie the game late in the period. Zach Zurcher also rose above the crowd for a three-pointer and a pair of conventional baskets as the teams continued to trade punches, and the score was tied at 32 all going to the locker room. Northridge continued to pound the glass in the third quarter; taking a four-point lead, but a steal and assist by Fox to Wilkinson, followed by a Wilkinson feed to Stueve tied the game at 44 with 1:06 remaining in the period. After Tom Morrison nit one of two free throws for the Raiders, Sam Ahonen stole the ball back and Northridge held it for the final minute before Ahonen nailed his only shot of five night at the buzzer to give the viators a 47-44 lead with eight minutes remaining. The final stanza saw both teams beginning to tire; as neither squad scored a point until North Wood's Braxton Linville tied file game on a conventional three-point

ter is what the Black Swish needed. The Lady Panthers opened the second stanza with a 9-4 run sparked by junior Tori Schwartz's trey from the left wing. The helped North Wood stretch the lead to 21-11. North Wood senior Morgan Olson picked up her second foul early in the second quarter that put her on the bench. She didn't return again until after halftime. The Lady Panthers were able to pick up their teammate and take a 29-17 lead into the locker room. Even though shots weren't falling, the Black Swish converted at the free throw line;. They were 16-19 in the first half from the charity stripe compared to Tippy's 2-4. Neff commented about his team's free throw shooting, "I will take that! I'm happy about that." The Lady Vikings opened up the second half with a 9-4 run to close the gap to five points. The four points for North Wood came from

play at the 5:05 mark. After Northridge regained the lead, the Panthers got into the 1-and-l with just over two minutes remaining and had a chance to tie but a missed free throw left the Raiders in front 51-50. Morrison then nailed a three to make it 54-50 Northridge, but Zurcher answered quickly with a basket to cut the lead to 54-52 with just over a minute to play. North Wood then had two chances to tie the game but missed the front end of back-to-back 1-and-l's, the last Finally, with four seconds remaining, Northridge gave the Panthers one last chance by missing a charity toss of their own, but Wilkinson's desperation running threepointer at the buzzer was off the front edge of the rim and the visitors escaped with the win. North Wood placed three players in double figures, led by 14 from Willdnson who iso added four assists. Zurcher and Stueve had 13 points apiece and combined for 13 rebounds and four blocked shots. Ritchie had a game-high 16 points to lead Northridge, while Smith added 15 and Morrison 12 for the winners. nunnvvMß # if New PpM 48 Led by the "Big Three" of Stueve, Wilkinson, and Zurcher, who combined for 64 of the Panthers' 71 points, North Wood pummeled New Prairie 71-49 in New Carlisle on January 14th. The Panthers scorched the twine for 65 percent shooting from the field, their best percentage of the season, while holding the Cougars to just 35 percent and dominating the glass for good measure. Wilkinson and Zurcher did most of the damage in file opening period, pouring in nine points each to lead North Wood to a 21-9 first-period advantage. The Panthers continued to pour it on in the second stanza, scoring 20 more points with all but one point coming from the Big Three as North Wood took 4 41-18 lead to the locker room. To their credit, file Cougars did not go quietly, rallying to outscore North Wood 17-14 in the third quarter; but the hosts still trailed by 20 points at 55-35 with eight minutes remaining. Stueve that dominated the final stanza, scoring eigjht paints including a par of dunks on feeds from Wilkinson, as the Panthers cruised to the easy win. Zurcher led North Wood with 25 points while Wilkinson added 22 points, five rebounds and five assists

SPORTS

Olson, which hit her first field goal of file night at the 6:27 mark of the quarter. The Black Swish did just enough to keep Tippy from striking distance. North Wood stretched their lead to 39-29 at the end of the third. With 3:57 left in the game, Tippy Valley pulls bade within five points of North Wood. After a timeout, junior Jordyn Frantz hits a big shot to keep the visitors at bay. Frantz scored the last seven points for North Wood sealing the victory hitting 3-4 from the foul line. Leading the Lady Panthers in scoring was Frantz with 18, Olson 12, Tis Alexander 11, and Schwartz 5. The Black Swish will be back in action Saturday against Northern Lakes Conference rival Goshen, and then Tuesday, January 28 against South Bend Riley. Both games are at home in the Panther Pit. The junior varsity contest will tip at 6:15 with the varsity to fol-

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Photos by Dale Tobias ABOVE: The long right arm of Panther senior Will Stueve (33) reaches to block the shot attempt of Northridge junior Tom Morrison (34) in the Raiders's4-52 win over North Wood at The Pit. RIGHT: North Wood's Dakiyron Fox powers to the hoop over Northridge's Christian Bach (50) in the Panthers' 54-52 loss to the Raiders. Fox provided a huge spark off the bench for North Wood with four key second-quarter points

for the winners. Stueve contributed 17 points and six boards, while Farmwald dished out four assists and freshman guard Vincent Miranda scored the first two of what will likely be many points of his young varsity career. Jared Monhaut led New Prairie with 22 points, the only Cougar in double figures. North Wood (9-1, 2-1 NLC) hosts Lakeland (3-6) on January 21st, then travels to Goshen (4-7) for an NLC battle with the Redskins on January 24th. emm .fV/-' ' The North Wood JV team picked up two more victories, trampling New Prairie 49-24 and downing Northridge 52-43. Against file Cougars, Fox led file way witn 15 points while freshman Trey Bilinslu scored a season-high 11 and Miranda added eignt points and four assists. Miranda th® put up a season-high 2&

low tipping around 7:30. • NORTHWOOD 52, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 38 Tippecanoe Valley Taylor Trippiedi 0-4 1-2 1, Karis Tucker 0-6 2-2 2, Meredith Brouyette 0-1 OO 0. Cara Hoffman 6-15 1-4 15. Robyn Dunnuck 0-0 OO 0, Madison Strong 04)04)0, Cay lee Teel 2-6 2-2 6, Brynda Krueger 0-0 OO 0, Kelsey Ball 1-1 0-2 2, Anne Secrest 5-6 2-612 Totals: 14-39 8-19 38 North Wood Tori Schwartz 1-1 2- 5, Jordyn Frantz 3-13 12-14 18, Haley Roe 1-5 0-0 2, Inger Yoder 0-4 2-2 2, Taylor Fielstra -6 0-2 0, Tis Alexander 5-11 1-2 11, Morgan Olson 4-10 4-4 12, Shyla Southern 1-3 0-1 2 Totals: 15-53 21-27 52 Scoring By Quarters Tippecanoe Valley 7 1012 938 North Wood 12 17 1013 3- goals: Tippecanoe Valley (2) Hoffman 2; North Wood (1) Schwartz. Rebounds: Tippecanoe Valley (30) Secrest 13; North Wood (41)— Olson 12, Alexander 8. Steals: Tippecanoe Valley (2); North Wood (8) Frantz 5. Turnovers: Tippecanoe Valley 19, North Wood 8. Total fouls: Tippecanoe Valley 21, North Wood 16. Fouled out Ticker, Teel. Records: North Wood 13-3, Tippecanoe Valley 7-5. JV: North Wood 42, Tippecanoe Valley 23. Leading scorers: North Wood Kaylee Haines 11. JV record: North Wood 14-0.

points, including a perfect 9 of 9 from the free throw line, as North Wood rolled over the visiting Raiders at The Pit. Fox added 10 points before fouling out, while gritty sophomore guard David Eshelman, he of the sharp elbows, contributed eight points including a pair of treys. The JV squad improved to 9-1/on the year, 2- in the NLC. VARSITY BOX SCORES • NORTHRIDGE 54, NORTHWOOD 52 At The Pit, Nappanee Northridge 17 32 47 54 North Wood 16 32 44 52 NORTHWOOD (52): Braxton Linville 1 1-1 3, Zach Zurcher 6 0-0 13, Tanner Farmwald 2 1-2 5, Kyle McCoy 00-00, Dakiyron Fox 2 04) 4, Jonathan Wilkinson 6 2-3 14, Will Stueve 61-3 13 TOTALS 23 5-9 52 NORTHRIDGE (54): Collin Utley 0 04) 0, Sam Ahonen 1 2-2 4, Payton Cmon 004)0, Pete Smith 5 3-415. Kurtis Hochstetler 0 04) 0, Brock Downey 3 04)6, Tom Morrison 51-3 12, Nate Ritchie 6 3-3 16. Christian BachO 1-21 TOTALS 20 10-14 54 3- Goals: North Wood 1 (Zurcher); Northridge 4 (Smith 2 Morrison, Ritchie) At New Carlisle

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Photo by Dale Tobia North Wood's Morgan Olson is fouled while going to th rack during a recent girls basketball game.

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North Wood 21 41 55 71 New Prairie 9 18 35 49 NORTHWOOD (71 y. Braxton Linville 0 1-3 1, Zach Zurcher II 2-4 25, Vincent Miranda 1 0-0 2, Turner Farmwald 0 04) 0, Kyle McCoy 0 04) 0, Dakiyron Fox 1 2-4 4, Jonathan Wilkinson 9 3-4 22, Travis Bear 0 04) 0, Zach Schwartz 0 04) 0, Ttey Bilinski 0 0-2 0, Cam Simpson 0 04) 0, Will Stueve 8 1-5 17 TOTALS 309-22 71

NEW PRAIRIE (49): Tyler Weller 004)0, Jasen Webb 2 2-2 8, Dylan Kegley 0 04) 0, Jared Monhaut 8 1-222, Luke Ketterer 30-1 6, Ryan Citron 004)0, Conner Scott 004)0 Noah Shail 4 04) 9, Chad Swain 2 04) 4 TOTALS 19 3-5*9 3-Point Goals: North Wood 2