The Mail-Journal, Volume 22, Number 9, Milford, Kosciusko County, 27 February 1985 — Page 8

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THE MAIL-JOURNAL — Wed., February 27,1985

Sports

Lady Warriors stopped in quest for state title

By CHRIS CAULEY Sports Editor Twenty-three times during the 1984-85 basketball season, the Wawasee Lady Warriors won as a team. Saturday night at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, the Lady Warriors lost as a team. Little went right for the Lady Warriors,- but nearly everything did for the Crown Point Lady Bulldogs: Their 48-31 victory clinched a second consecutive state championship. The difference in the game, besides Crown Point’s all-around execution, was Anne Kvachkoff. With the score deadlocked at 6-6 in the first quarter, the 5-10 senior guard took matters into her own hands, scoring 14 of her gamehigh 17 points in the last 11 minutes of the first half. Kvachkoff’s hot streak helped the Bulldogs assume a 27-14 halftime lead, and two quick buckets opening the second half all but sealed the champions’ victory. Crown Point’s domination of the game was thorough. They out-rebounded the Lady Warriors by a 36-22 margin, out-shot the Lady Warriors (51 percent to 33 percent), and, simply put, played mistake-free basketball. The Bulldogs turned the ball over only four times through the first three quarters. “I refuse to say anything negative about it because it’s

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WARRIOR ROOTERS — The Lady Warriors had a large and vocal following of fans cheering them on at Market Square Arena Saturday. Though the Warriors lost in the championship game to

Traviolia 3rd, Lantz sth at state meet

Neither Brad Traviolia or Lance Lantz returned home from New Castle High School with a state championship, but the two Wawasee wrestlers both accounted for themselves well Saturday at the IHSAA State Wrestling Meet. Traviolia, undefeated until the state meet, won three of four matches Saturday to earn a third place finish at 145 pounds, the highest-ever finish at the state meet for a Wawasee wrestler.

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SQUARING OFF — Wawasee junior Brad Traviolia, at right, squares off against one of his opponents during Saturday's State Wrestling Meet at New Castle. Traviolia won three of four matches he wrestled to earn a third place finish, the best-ever finish for a Wawasee wrestler. Traviolia finished the season with a 40-1 record. (Photo by Hal Traviolia)

been a very positive season,” said Wawasee coach Dale Brannock. “The kids gave what they had and tonight they didn’t have enough ... I’m proud of my kids. It’s a class act.’’ Wawasee’s inside game suffered a blow when junior center Lori Galloway exited with three fouls at the 2:46 mark of the first quarter, and Galloway would play only 12 minutes in the game before fouling out. Crown Point’s domination of the boards — combined with their 50 percent shooting and a defense that beat the Lady Warriors down the floor — effectively shut down Wawasee’s vaunted running game. And Crown Point’s defense handled the Lady Warriors’ halfcourt offense. The Lady Warriors struggled to find shots and had difficulty hitting them when they did. The team’s point total of 31 was easily a season low. “We wanted to go at them aggressively with a trap,” Coach Tom May said. “We wanted to make the big girls handle the ball against an aggressive woman-to-woman defense, move them away from the basket a little bit. “Also,” May continued, “we wanted the big girls to have to go up and down the floor as much as possible. That’s why I put two or three of my girls in early because i noticed that he didn’t play any, of his girls today very much, and I thought that showed. “The other key was we had to

Lantz won his first match at 167 pounds, but lost his second. It was good enough for a tie for fifth place in his weight division. Both Warrior grapplers are only juniors and figure to vie for a spot at the state meet again in 1986. Together, Traviolia and Lantz scored 16 points at the State Meet, the most points Wawasee has ever scored at that level of competition. Coach Rich Welborn viewed the results with somewhat mixed

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FAST DRIBBLER — Wawasee senior guard Sandy Payne (No. 10) dribbles down the floor on a Warrior fast break in the state championship game against Crown Point. Turning to look for the ball is teammate Michelle Harter. (Photo by Chris Cauley)

keep them off the boards.” Led by senior Sandy Grabowski, who grabbed 12 rebounds and scored nine points, the Bulldogs did a solid job in that department. “We’re not very big, but we’re

Crown Point, 48-31, they did come away with a thrilling 56-54 victory over Austin, which gave Wawasee fans something to cheer about. (Photo by Chris Cauley)

emotions, but said he was proud of the efforts of both wrestlers. “You go there to win,” he said. “I felt, without a doubt, they could win. I’m happy that they went as far as they went, but I’m not going to say I’m pleased.” From a broader standpoint, Saturday was an excellent day for wrestlers and wrestling teams from this part of Indiana, as Welborn noted: seven individual state champions came out of the Fort Wayne Semi-State,

strong for our size and we check out very well, fundamentally,” May said. Highlights for Wawasee were few. Michelle Harter led in scoring with 12 points (seven of them

and two of those were from the Northern Lakes Conference. Also, the first and third place teams at the State Meet came out of the Fort Wayne Semi-State. Delta won the state championship (for the fifth straight year) with 51M> points, five more than runner-up Muncie South. And Fort Wayne Snider captured third place. Individual state champions from the Fort Wayne Semi-State included Oliver Richmond from Elmhurst at 112 pounds (he also won the state in 1984), Troy Roe of Adams Central at 105, Craig Campbell of Delta at 119, Elbert Starks of Snider at 132, Paul Bachtel of Concord at 177, Mark Whitehead of Warsaw at 185 and John Sewell of North Side at heavyweight. Campbell’s win at 119 was an especially important one for Delta. The team led Muncie South by only half-a-point entering the championship round. Campbell, who had finished third for three years in a row, won his match by 12 points and, when Muncie South’s next wrestler was defeated, it gave Delta a point cushion heading down the stretch. Campbell also won the Mental Attitude Award. Brad Traviolia was pitted against Brett Abell (23-5) of Southridge in his first match of the day and came away with a 7-3 win. His points came on two takedowns, a two-point near-fall and an escape. “We started off slow, both our kids, and I think a lot of that is because of the pressure,” Welborn said. “Obviously, if you don’t win that first one you’re not going to advance, so I think a lot of kids wrestled very tentatively in the first round. Both of our kids, too.” Lance Lantz won a thriller over Mark Hill (25-2) of Knox in his

in the fourth quarter) and in rebounds with four. Sandy Payne enjoyed a brief hot streak early in the game, connecting on three jumpers from the perimeter in the first half. Most of the highlights belonged to Crown Point, which finished the season 25-4 in becoming the first Indiana girls’ team to repeat as state champs. Wawasee completed its season at 23-2. HARDWOOD NOTES - *’ Kvachkoff, who scored 19 points in Crown Point’s 46-42 win over Rushville and 36 points overall, was named MVP of the Final Four tourney for the second year in a row. Teammate Sandy Grabowski finished with 20 points and 25 rebounds for the two games. This year marked the third year in a row that the Bulldogs played in the championship game.. . Attendance for the title game was 14,197, breaking the record that had been set earlier in the day ... Austin’s Jodie Whitaker was named win- ■ , Milford grapplers lose The Milford Junior High wrestling team dropped its first two matches of the 1985 season this past week, losing by 58-20 in the first duel meet and losing a 60-36 decision to North Webster. " Winnersrfor Milford included Brian Bowser (pins in both his matches), Ramiro Castro, Ron Clark (by 8-1), Jeff Lervernier (7-2), and, by pin, Hector Roa, Felix Pena, Rob Clingaman, Tom Lane and Jeff Williams.

first match, 11-10. “Lance got him on condition,” Welborn said. “Cardiac kid.” Lantz was ahead by 9-8 with only about 20 seconds left in the match. Then, however, Hill scored two points with a takedown for a one-point lead. Seconds later, in boom-boom fashion, Lantz reversed the hold on Hill for two points and managed to hold on for his 11-10 victory. In his second match, Lantz lost to senior Brendon Smith (35-1) of Bloomington North, 12-4. Smith grabbed a big 7-0 lead in the first period, with Lantz scoring later on two escapes and a takedown. a Smith wound up advancing to the championship match at 167 where he lost by 3-2 in overtime to Chris Maxwell of Indianapolis “It wasn’t that Lance didn’t do too well,” Welborn said of the match with Smith. “He just met a very strong, very aggressive kid. A tough kid. He didn’t have great technique or anything, hut he was just a tough kid. He rode Lance and constantly kept the pressure on him.” Traviolia, in his second match, pinned senior Brian Buffington of Calumet in 3:48. Earlier this season, Traviolia had decisioned Buffington by 6-1 at the Mishawaka Invitational.

Gymnastics

The Wawasee Girls’ Gymnastics Sectional will be held this Saturday at the high school gymnasium. The Intermediate level competition begins at 10 a.m. with Optional events starting at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $1.50 per session. Participating schools include host Wawasee, Warsaw, Elkhart Memorial, Elkhart Central, Concord, Plymouth, North Wood and

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SAD TIME — The Lady Warrior bench was a sad one in the waning moments of the state chain pionship game Saturday night. Coach Dale Brannock substituted for his starters when it became ap parent that the Warriors would not be able to come from behind against Crown Point. Players showi in the picture, from left to right, are Belinda Whitridge, Lori Galloway, Christy Speicher, Aniti Swope and Michelle Harter. (Photo by Chris Cauley)

ner of the IHSAA’s Mental Attitude Award. Academically, Whitaker ranks ninth in her class of 107. Basketball-wise, Whitaker became the first girl in Indiana girls’ basketball history to score more than 2,000 points in her career, finishing with 2,095 ... “The score was no indication of how good Wawasee is,” Tom May said after the game. Runners up Wawasee (31) FG FT Pts Speicher i 1-3 3 Harter 4 4-6 12 Galloway 0 (Ml 0 Payne 4 0-0 8 Swope 3 0-16 Whitridge 0 0-0 0 Vitaniemi 0 0-0 0 Stichter 0 0-0 0 Stiver 1 0-0 2 Brooks 0 0-0 0 Bucher 0 0-0 0 Kleinrichert 0 0-0 0 Totals 13 5-10 31 Crown Point (48) FG FT Pts Grabowski 4 1.3 9 Thomas 2 4-8 8 Wirtz 1 0-0 2 Gabato 2 2-2 6 Kvachkoff 6 5-8 17 Wright 0 0-0 0 Tanaskoski 0 04) 0 Cebular 0 0-0 0 Roller 2 0-0 4 Hadrick 1 0-0 2 Walter 0 04) 0 Lain 0 04) 0 Totals 18 12-21 48 Wawasee 8 6 6 11 — 31 Crown Point 13 14 13 8 — 48 Fouled out — Galloway. Total fouls — Wawasee 17, Crown Point 12.

Then, however, Traviolia suffered his overtime loss to Perry Meridian’s Mike Kern. Traviolia nearly won the match at the end of regulation with a reversal, but did not get the call from the referee. As it was, the match ended in a 4-4 tie after three periods. Traviolia scored on takedowns in each of the first two periods, while Kern had two points for escapes and two points for a takedown. Neither wrestler scored in the first one-minute overtime period, but Kern, ranked No. 1 in the state by the coaches, scored two points with a reversal late in the second period. Traviolia, ranked No. 2 in the state at 145, scored on an escape just before the horn sounded to end the third period. Kern made it to the championship round where he lost by 11-9 to ‘ third-ranked Mike Langley of Tipton High School. The loss put Traviolia in the consolation match for third place, and “Trav” defeated junior Steve Farnsley of New Albany, 9-6. Traviolia and Lantz rank L 2 on the Wawasee list for most wins in one season. Traviolia wound up with a brilliant 40-1 record while Lantz finished 32-4-1.

sectional

Tippecanoe Valley. Memorial is the defending sectional champ and is one of the favorites again this year. Competition will be held in Floor Exercise, Vaulting, Beam and Bars. The top four Intermediate and Optional gymnasts in each event will qualify for regional, as well as the top team. The regional will be held on Saturday, March 9 at Valparaiso.

; 1 Jm b |Bk JBBBBBBwb r. Vb M, I B T b k i js. x , x STEADY CENTER — Junior Lori Galloway anchored the L dy Warriors’ inside game this season. She led Wawasee in scoring 15 points) and in rebounding (13 rebounds) against Austin, but foul t juble kept her on the bench for all but 12 minutes of the champion lip game against Crown Point. (Photo by Chris Cauley) W* f/ Bl JIBHB Bb TOUGH WRESTLER — Wawasee junior Lance Lanti c it-iasted Mark Hill of Knox to win his first round match at the State V nestling Meet Saturday at New Castle High School. Lantz defeated H 1,11-10, before losing to Brendon Smith of Bloomington North in th second round, 12-4. Lantz finished the season with a 32-4-1 record, (moto by Hal Traviolia) , | , I WARRIORS \ H ... In Uh SmHmhU a H i : 1/7 wO^ Ff o«'^ e WAWASEE GIRLS = JmML booster club j