The Mail-Journal, Volume 20, Number 48, Milford, Kosciusko County, 14 December 1983 — Page 10

10

THE MAIL-JOURNAL — Wed., December 14,1963

Sports

Maintain perfect record —

lady Warriors dump Squires, Panthers

By TOM CHARLES J Sports Writer North Wood came prepared to play on Monday night at Wawasee and gave the Lady Warriors their stiffest test thus far this season. In the end, Marcia Sorensen’s three-point play with one second remaining proved to be the difference in the 45-42 win. The eighth win without a loss did not come easily for Wawasee. North Wood jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the opening minutes. From that point on it was a seesaw affair. Thanks to the Lady Warriors usual slow first quarter, the Panthers were able to complete the opening stanza with a 12-7 lead. Only three of 17 Wawasee shots found the mark in the opening eight minutes. Dale Brannocks squad managed to close the gap in the second period and took a 20-19 lead into the dressing room. Shooting woes continued to plague the team in the second quarter. In the first half, Wawasee was 8-30, 26.7 percent. The game was close for the entire second half. North Wood pulled out to a four-point lead mid-

Cagers split week end with Warsaw , Triton

By MARK WEINSTEIN Sports Writer, Wawasees boys basketball team used all the energy it had left over from Friday’s emotional 65-54 loss to Warsaw, to turn back a stubborn group of Triton jans, 72-67, in the Warrior gym. Licking their wounds from the night before, Wawasee opened the contest with an improved Trojan team, as if they were going to blow Coach Ned Wicker’s squad out of the gym. Scoring quickly, Wawasee held an eight point advantage throughout the period, but Triton capatalized on some Wawasee mistakes as it sliced the Warriors lead before the initial quarter ended. Throughout the contest, Wawasee seemed to lose its concentration allowing the Trojans to remain close for the entire contest. \ Jon Vitaniemi provided the spark at the outset as Wawasee built as much as a 10 point lead throughout the first half. But just when the Warriors had a chance to blow Triton out, they let down and the Trojans cordially walked back into the contest. “I am really glad for the win, but the way it was achieved, I didn’t like,” said Wysong. “What we wanted to do when we built the

Mr m r I : ?■ ijHßr * r | jy ■ Jit " w 'M ls 4 mi & '‘WiKSSatmm BATTLE OF THE BOARDS — Wawasee’s Jon Vitaniemi gets position on Warsaw's Marty Lehmann to snare one of his 17 rebounds in action at Warsaw on Friday night. Lehmann, and teammate Jeff Grose (43) combined for 32 points as the Tigers downed the Warriors hy U, 65-34. Vitaniemi notched 19 points for Wawasee. (Photo hy Tom Charles)

way through the fourth quarter, but could not maintain the advantage. Wawasee tied the score with 44 seconds left and then sat on the ball until Sorensen got her last-second shot. “The kids really hung tough,” said Brannock. “We didn’t roll over and play dead although there were plenty of times we could have. North Wood was well prepared and they did a nice job.” The Panthers presented Wawasee with a new defensive look as they stuck with an aggressive man-to-man for the entire contest. The defense caused a few shooting problems, especially from the perimeter. “Our execution was not what I wanted. We were kind of impatient to shoot instead of waiting for the good shot,” Brannock noted. “We shot the ball before the opportunity developed. We were getting some good shots inside, but we rushed them and weren’t getting set.” When the team did have success inside it was due to the penetration of Sandy Payne. The junior playmaker found her through the defense for several inside shots on the way to a 17-point night.

lead was shut them down, work for a good shot, and be in control. But instead, we let them pass the ball wherever they wanted, and then score. ” Wysong’s diagnosis of his teams performance allowed the Trojans to peck away at a 10 point Wawasee lead late in the second quarter, and knot the score at 34-34 at the intermission. “When they came back just before half, I knew we were in for a dog fight all the way to the end,” informed Wysong. “Triton played a very good ball game, and have nothing to be ashamed about. Looking at where they are now bompared to last year, you can see coach Wicker has done a fine job” With the Warriors clinging to a 48-44 lead after three periods, the green and gold expanded their margin to eight midway in the final frame. But with Triton’s Ryan Meister scoring six points in the final quarter from the perimeter, and Curt Anders adding 10, the Trojans made one final run at the Warriors. With two-and-one half minutes remaining, and the game on the line, Triton had a couple of opportunities to take the lead, but key defensive plays by Wawasee spelled doom for the Trojans. “Finally someone took charge for us,” said Wysong about the

“Sanely is starting to do exactly what I want her to do,” Brannock said. “She is starting to penetrate more. She also did a nice job of posting up last night.” Payne’s backcourt mate Dee Stump, who was cold from the Held, notched three assists to give her the school’s career record in that category. She now has a total of 95, which beats the old record of 92 set by Kathi Repogle. Brannock was pleased with his team’s patience and composure in the tense contest. The Lady Warriors commited only five turnovers which is the lowest number of misques in any game thus far. Anita Swope, Christy Speicher and Michelle Harter each chipped in with seven points. Harter came off the bench to lead the team in rebounds with 8. However, North Wood held a 33-32 team advantage in that statistic. As a team, Wawasee was 18-57 from the field for 31.6 percent. From the line, the team connected on 9 of 17 shots for 53 percent. The win pushed Wawasee’s Northern Lakes Conference record to a league-leading 4-0. The Lady Warriors have yet to

play of Vitaniemi late in the game. Vitaniemi scored nine points in the fourth quarter, along with grabbing several of his game high 15 rebounds to pave the way for the Wawasee win. Along with Vitaniemi’s efforts, Brooks Kobie poured in 22 points, while dishing out five assists from his backcourt position. Triton’s high flying Curt Anders paced the Trojan attack with 30 points, while Meister added 18. The night before, Wysong and his basketball team stumbled through its worst two quarters of play enroute to their unimpressive loss. Facing its biggest basketball game of the year, Wawasee tangled with the Tigers for the top spot in the Northern Lakes Conference. But by games end, Warsaw had taken the fight out of the Warriors in handing Wawasee its first loss of the year, 65-54. “We weren’t prepared and ready to play,” said Wawasee’s John Wysong. “I think we were a bit timid over there, except for Vitaniemi.” Vitaniemi, who has turned in steady performances all year, paced the Warriors lethargic showing with 19 points and 17 rebounds, but received little help from his teammates. With Warsaw’s Marty Lehmann shutting down the Warriors inside game early, Warsaw scored at will from inside the paint, as the Tigers rolled to a 18-14 lead at the first break. The Tigers, now 3-0 in the NLC, padded their lead after the second period to 37-22 with assistance from Wawasee’s poor passing, lack of rebounding and poor shot selection. Despite Wawasee’s unimpressive showing in the second quarter, 15 points from a fine shooting team, with outstanding defense isn’t insurmountable. But the Warriors continued to slide backwards in the opening moments of the third quarter. With the Tigers scoring the first eight points of th third quarter, Warsaw expanded their lead to 45-22. “When Warsaw scored the first eight points to go up 23, it was all over then,” concluded Wysong. “We had a nice run at them in the fourth quarter, but Warsaw won’t be missing free throws like that all year.” Wawasee closed the one time 25-point lead by the Tigers to its final H point difference, but never was the game in doubt. “Warsaw has a good basketball team,” said Wysong, “But what they need is a new principal.” Wysong’s remarks, regarding a new administration came to light in a monday interview when. he felt the Warrior fans and team were treated poorly. The Tiger’s had a sign hanging in the gym comparing a ’quality’ school (referring to Warsaw) to Wawasee. In addition, Warsaw’s student body took it upon themselves to harass the Warrior players instead of ‘rootug’ for their team. “I remember years past when we played at Ply mouth, and were whipped, we still respected them,” said Wysai* “But we don’t respect Warsaw Maybe we won’t he able to make them eat crow, hut someone will.”

face Goshen, Plymouth and Bremen in conference action. Barb Brouwer’s junior varsity dub staged a dramatic 23-21 win to raise its record to 7-2. Lori Galloway netted seven points and pulled down six rebounds in the winning effort. Ann Vitaniemi added nine rebounds. North Manchester Last Thursday’s matchup with the Lady Squires was a game of scoring streaks, emotional peaks and clutch performances. In the end, Wawasee fought off a North Manchester comeback bid to capture a 59-49 victory. The Lady Warriors came out of the gate on fire. They gave up the first basket of the game and then proceeded to shred the Lady Squires’ 2-3 zone for 18 consecutive prints. Stump, Payne and Swope confidently popped jumpers over the top and picked off several passes as they keyed the onslaught. Riding the crest of a 22-8 lead at the end of the opening period, Wawasee seemed to lose some aggressiveness in the second quarter. North Manchester’s front line duo of Michelle Wise and Amy Williams kept the visitors close with good position underneath. At the half, Wawasee’s lead had been cut to 11. With Wawasee’s insiders, Sorensen, Speicher and Galloway, in foul trouble, the Lady Squires continued to look under the boards to chip away at the lead. They narrowed the gap to seven, 39-32, before two technical fouls ended their hopes for a comeback. North Manchester coach Jerry Holderman was whistled for the technicals and was ejected when he came off the bench to protest an official's call. Dee Stump calmly stepped to the line and hit all four foul shots to extended the lead to 15. As if those technicals weren’t enough, the officials whistled another one on the visitors’ bench 30 seconds later. Stump also hit those two shots and the lead was 17 points. On the ensuing posession, Stump was fouled and converted one of her two charities. Thus, in the span of less than U 2 minutes, a seven point Wawasee lead had grown to 18 and the Lady Squires could not recover, j North Manchester did make a run at the Lady Warriors who were playing passive defense in order to keep from fouling. However, the final score was as close as they got. “We came to play,” Brannock

Sports comment — Calling the shots <&s

DALE BRANNOCK, DR. HOWARD HULL AND HAL TRAVIOLA all showed that they are still quick on their feet last Thursday when they interceeded to prevent an upset Manchester fan from pursuing an official following Wawasee’s 59-49 win. The trio succeeded in calming the fan, who was upset over the four technicals whistled on the Manchester bench. Nice going! (see Cruzin around ’Cuse for more information) ALL AREA WRESTLING FANS should be sure to attend the Wawasee Wrestling Invitational this Saturday at the high school. Action is set to begin at 9 a.m. and the finals are slated for 4 p.m. Eight schools, Chesterton, Elkhart Central, Ft. Wayne Elmhurst, Ft. Wayne Northrop, Ft. Wayne North Side, Plymouth, West Noble and Wawasee will be involved. THEY’RE NO LONGER WEARING GREEN AND GOLD but several Wawasee High School graduates are still playing basketball. Here’s a brief rundown on how some of them are doing Maude Packer: She’s playing at William Penn College in Oskaloosa, lowa. According to Dale Brannock, Maude has been dressing with the varsity and is on the traveling team. She is also playing with the JV and scored 12 points to go with her 15 rebounds in her first game. As of December 7, the Lady Statesmen (see below) held a 2-4 record. Worth Packer: Worth, after taking a short break from school, is seeing action at Grace College. The “second half” of the Packer basketball duo has been a regular starter for coach Jim Kessler’s squad which currently sports a 9-3 record. He has a 15.6 points per game average and is also averaging 6 rebounds per contest. Jeff Long: Jeff is the second WHS alumnus on the Grace team this winter. He is seeing action as the Lancers’ first guard off the bench. Currently, he is averaging 4 points and 4 assists per contest. Ron Spuaar: “Spoon” is pursuing his education and basketball career at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La. No further information was available on his progress at press time today. We’ll keep you posted. LADY STATESMEN? (see above) Hmm. Travesty of the Week. This nickname only goes to show that women’s athletics were nonexistent at the time when most colleges and universities decided on their “athletic identities. The attempt to accomodate women’s teams by adapting school nicknames has provided us with some humorous results. And this is no exception. JOANN BOYER PULLED A SNOW JOB on

said, “but the kids played in spurts. The final score doesn’t really indicate the distance betwean the two teams." Wawasee held a statistical edge in every category except for rebounds. Michelle Wise, who grabbed nine rebounds, and Amy Williams, who hauled down 16, dominated play inside die paint. Wise added 20 points and Williams tossed in 12 to pace North Manchester. “Wise and Williams worked the boards well," Brannock said. “We have to work at getting better position inside." On the perimeter, Wawasee suffered through a few cold spells to wind up shooting 45 percent. Swope finished the night with 18 points, 12 of them in the first half. Stump tossed in 16 points and Payne added 10 to round out the players in double figures. “Right now our strengths are outside shooting, good defense and our steals,” Brannock said in reference to his outstanding guard trio. “I would like to develop more of an inside game, though. We have the people who are capable of doing it. We just have to work on it." The junior varsity blasted to a 23-1 lead at the half and coasted to a 29-7 win. Lori Galloway and Dawn Coy each had eight prints to lead the team. Belinda Whitridge and Ann Vitaniemi each grabbed four rebounds. “We lost our intensity and played poorly in the second half," commented coach Barb Brouwer, who saw her team rise to 5-1 with the win.

Around The NLC

Boys Cons. Total Warsaw 3-0 5-1 Wawasee l-i 6-1 Concord 1-2 1-5 Plymouth 0-0 3-2 North Wood 0-0 1-3 Rochester 0-0 1-4 Bremen 0-1 4-3 Goshen 0-1 0-5 Last week’s resalts* Concord 57 Bremen 51 Fairfield 62 Goshen 57 Warsaw 65 Wawasee 54 Plymouth 73 Triton 53 Tippe Valley 75 Northwood 73 Games of the week Plymouth at Bremen Warsaw at Rochester North Wood at Concord West Noble at Goshen Wawasee at Columbia City

•Results listed are only for games of the week.

our panel last week by claiming that she is a “non-sports” parson. Her 6 for 8 mark topped the list of our expert predictors. She was the wily panel member to predict a Warsaw win in the county showdown last Friday. Last week’s results were: Warsaw 65, Wawasee 54; Wawasee 72, Triton 67; Wawasee 59, Manchester 49, Wawasee 45, North Wood 42; Northwestern 40, Notre Dame 36 (ot); Louisville 79, lowa 58; Grace 78, Wooster 55; St. Francis 84, Goshen 73. A challenging list of area high school and college games awaits our soothsayers who a e attempting to bounce back from a poor performance last week. The high school games on tap are Plymouth at Bremen, Wawasee at Columbia City, North Wood at Concord, Tippe Valley at Warsaw, West Noble at Goshen and Fairfield at Lakeland. This week’s college games are Purdue at Evansville and Butler at Ball State. The guest picker this week is Phil Payne. Phil, who formerly held the county 100 yard dash record, is the vice-president of the Lakeland School Board. He also owns Metcalf and Payne Plumbing and Heating in North Webster. He can often be seen, along with his wife, Eve, at Wawasee basketball games. Charles (.714) — The Goshen native could see his percentage drop below TOO unless he improves on last week’s showing. Winners: Plymouth, Wawasee, North Wood, Warsaw, West NoMe, Fairfield, Purdue and Ball State. Kuhn (.679) — Kuhn was sufficiently impressed with the Tigers on Friday night to claim that Warsaw “won’t have a letdown against Tippe Valley. The Tigers may be the best team in the state.” Is he serious 9 Winners: Plymouth, Wawasee, North Wood, West NoMe. Fairfield. Purdue and Ball State. Rhodes (.s7l) — Rich is inching his way up towards the elusive .669 math. If he goes 7 for 8 this week, he can reach that goal. Winners: Plymouth, Wawasee, North Wood, Warsaw, Goshen, Lakeland, Purdue and Ball State. Weinstein (.625) — Watch out Warrior fai»! The Weinstein jinx is in effect He picked the Warriors to win last week and they lost. He’s giving them the nod again this time . — Winners: Plymouth, North Wood, Warsaw, West NoMe, Lakeland, Purdue and Butler. Guest (.659) — Payne claims that “it takes a lot to get me embarrassed.” That’s a good attitude to have in the predicting business! His winners: Plymouth, Wawasee, North Wood, Warsaw, West Noble, Fairfield. Purdue and Ball State.

El IHI EMEMEMifc, i. j <*, "JfH Mg GUARD DUEL Wawasee’s Sandy Payne takes the hal around Norik Manchester ’s Mia Brown during Wawasee’s 5949 win last Thursday. Payne rustled the nets for it points in the contest which was marred by 40 fouls and the ejection of North Manchester’s coach hy the officials. Pavne also tossed in 17 points in Monday night’s 45-42 win over NLC rival North Wood. (Photo hy Toni Charles)

Boys' swimmers drop season record to 2-3

By MARK WEINSTEIN Sports Writer Wawasee’s boys’ swim team dropped its record to 2-3 with a 97-75 loss Tuesday night at Elkhart Central. “We could have won the meet if we would of swam really well,” said Wawasee coach Tim

Girls Cons. Total Wawasee 4-0 8-0 Warsaw 3-1 6-2 Bremen 2-1 8-1 North Wood 1-2 4-3 Goshen 0-0 7-1 Plymouth 0-2 3-4 Rochester 0-2 2-4 Concord 0-3 5-4 Last week’s results* Wawasee 45 North Wood 42 Warsaw 63 Plymouth 25 Warsaw 88 Rochester 28 Goshen 84 Northridge 49 Triton 42 North Wood 40 Games of the week Triton at Bremen Columbia City at Warsaw Wawasee at Penn Plymouth at S.B. Riley Wawasee at Northridge

Caldwell. “They didn’t swim their best, but neither did we. We had our chances, but we still lost.” In the meet, Wawasee received strong performances from Brent Hite and John Shoemaker. Hite finished second in the 100 yard butterfly, while Shoemaker placed second in the 50 yard freestyle and 100 yard freestyle. “Both Shoemaker and Hite swam well for us,” said Caldwell. “If everyone else would have swam like they could have, I think We would have won.” Wawasee’s Phil Zachary continued to dominate from the diving board, despite a mediocre performance. Anthony Beer finished third behind the senior. Bob Galloway was slower than his school record in the 200 individual medley, but the senior still captured first place. In addition, he finished first in the 100 yard breastroke. Rochester Last week, the Warriors reached the .500 level as they easily defeated Rochester 125-47 on December 8. The Warriors, with the lopsided triumph, never were threatened as they recorded 10 out of 11 first place finishes. It was only in the 100 butterfly that the Zebras took honors in the entire meet. “We really swam well, but then again, they didn’t give us any competition,” said Caldwell. “We weren’t pushed, but still had a school record set.” Bob Galloway, this week’s recipient of the “Athlete of the Week”, smashed Greg Carpenter’s school record of 2:07.6 by two seconds, 2:05.6. In addition to breaking the school’s record, he also eliminated the former pool mark of 2:06.8, set in 1983 by Goshen’s Mart; Ahonen. The Warriors now travel to LaPorte for their relays Saturday, before returning home for a Monday night affair with the Penn Kingsmen. “Looking ahead, the meet with Penn will really be tough, but the LaPorte relays will be difficult too,” said Caldwell. “Penn only lost to Elkhart Central by one point, so it should be a good meet.” Central Summary 260 Medley Relay — Elkhart Central (Mason, Rydson, Greener, Wright) 1:48.8; Wawasee, Wawasee. 266 Freestyle — Wright (E), 1:55.6; Overmyer (W); Juicen (W). 56 Freesttye — Wright (E), 24.1; Shoemaker (W), 24.18; Rydson (E). Diving — Zachary (W) 216.1; Miller (E); Beer (W). 166 Butterfly — Greener (E), 58.8; Hite (W); Landrum (E). 166 Freestyle — Wright (E), 52.4; Shoemaker (W); Knight (E).

Athlete of the week

Following impressive meets which included a new school and pool record. Bob Galloway has been named “athlete of the week.” Galloway rewrote Wawasee records during his outstanding week in the 288 individual medley. His 2:05.6 clocking eclipsed Greg Carpenter’s school record by two seconds, while edging Goshen’s Mark Ahonen who held the pool mark with his 2.06.8 time.

566 Freestyle — Wright (E), Landrum (W). 166 Backstroke — Mason (E), 57.0; Reed (W); Clark (E). 166 Breaststoke — Galloway (W), 1:65.3: Rydson (E>. 466 Freestyle Relay - Elkhart (Landrum, Greener, Knight, Wright), 3:37 4; Wawasee; Wawasee. Girls JV places third at Bremen The Lady Warriors JV tallied a win and a loss on its way to third place in the Bremen tournament last Saturday. Wawasee dropped a 33-32 squeaker to Bremen in the opening contest and rallied to defeat Concord 36-26 in the consolation clash. Coach Barb Brouwer saw her team lose a seven-point halftime lead in the first game. The Lady Warriors fell short at the charity stripe where they were only 6-14 in the second half. “We played a good game, but we didn’t shoot our free throws well in the second half,” Brouwer noted. “We also had a bad third quarter in which we were outscored by eight.” Chris Troup sank eight points to lead the team in the loss. Lori Galloway and Kelly Brooks added six points each. The team shared the work load under the boards. Galloway led the team with six caroms while Ann Vitaniemi and Dawn Coy pulled down five apiece. Wawasee had a 32-14 overall edge in rebounds. The poor foul shooting continued into the second contest with Concord. Although the Lady Warriors came away with a 36-26 win, they were a woeful 6-25 (24 percent) from the line. Jama Roose poured in eight points in the winning effort. Amy Bucher and Becca Stiver each contributed six points. Galloway tallied six rebounds to earn team honors in that category. “We didn’t play real well,” Brouwer said. “It is tough to come off a one-point loss and play well in the consolation. ” “There are definitely things we need to work on,” she added. “The two major things we have to improve are getting the ball down the floor and rebounding. We have to improve our boxing out and our speed in getting the ball up the court.” The JV, which won the Bremen tournament last year, moved its record to 6-2 with the win and the loss.

808 GALLOWAY