The Mail-Journal, Volume 22, Number 11, Milford, Kosciusko County, 13 March 1985 — Page 8
THE MAIL-JOURNAL — Wed., March 13,1985
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Warsaw repeats
By CHRIS CAULEY Sports Editor East Noble played one quarter of near-perfect basketball and two quarters of above average basketball Friday night. But three quarters of good basketball do not a victory make. That’s the painful lesson that the Knights learned in dropping a 61-52 decision to the Warsaw Tigers in the semi-finals of the Elkhart Regional. The Knights led by as much as six points in the third quarter before going cold — downright frigid, actually — down the stretch. They scored only two points in the last two minutes of the third quarter, then did not score in the final stanza until only 2:24 remained in the game. A basket with 13 seconds left gave jtfem six points in 10 minutes. “We came in with confidence and «determination,” Knights’ coach Denny Foster said. “The kids really wanted it, and they gave it their best efforts We did a super job on offense and on the boards. Our offense just broke down in the fourth quarter. We weren’t patient enough, really.” Two free throws by Jeff Grose with two seconds left in the third quarter knotted the score at 48-all. Going into the fourth quarter it was evident that the game weuld become one of “keepaway” for whichever team was able to take the lead. The Knights hoped to score first in the fourth quarter so that they could employ their halfcourt trap defense, which had given Warsaw some problems early in the game. However, as Foster said, “We couldn’t score to get in our half-court trap.” Jeff Grose connected from the perimeter with 5:37 left in the final stanza, ending some 2‘ 2 minutes of scoreless futility by the two clubs. The Tigers then
All-NIC girls named
Four Wawasee Lady Warriors were named recently to the AllNorthern Lakes Conference Girls’ Basketball team. Wawasee seniors Anita Swbpe and Sandy Payne were unanimous first team selections
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UNSTOPPABLE — Jeff Grose was his usual unstoppable self in. the regional tournament, scoring 34 points in the Tigers’ 61-52 victory over upset-minded East Noble on Friday night, then coming back with 28 points in Warsaw’s 72-57 win over LaVille in the championship game.
took advantage of an East Noble miss to run two more minutes off the clock before Grose scored again from outside. After East Noble finally got on the board in the fourth quarter, Warsaw came back with seven more unanswered points to nail closed the Knights’ coffin. “We went up 48-46 and then we
on the All-NLC honor squad. Senior Christy Speicher also made the first team, and junior Michelle Harter was named to the second team. Voting was done by the conference coaches, who could not vote for a player on their own team. Other unanimous first team selections include Marcy Bixler of Goshen, Tina Manns of Warsaw,. Deb Brownsberger of Concord and Beth Feldman of Bremen. Bremen’s Katie DeSantis, Rochester’s Mindy Shelburne and Northwood’s Kami Gessinger round out the 10-player first ‘team. In addition to Michelle Harter, the All-NLC Second Team includes Carrie Luttman of Bremen, Shana Hand of North Wood, Vicki Morr and Lisa Weaver of Concord, Roxanne Gibson of Plymouth, Teri Cohagen oPHochester and Rachel Jeffreys, Angie Ryman and Stacy Grow, all of Warsaw. Following is a list of the allconference players and their statistics, which are for conference games only: FIRST TEAM SANDY PAYNE. Wawasee. The 5-6 senior guard shot 52 percent from the floor in conference games, scoring 75 points, an average of 10.7 per game. She also dealt out 34 assists and made 15 steals. ANITA SWOPE, Wawasee. Also a 5-4 senior guard, Swope was the Lady Warriors' leading scorer in NLC contests with 84 points, an average of 12 pg. Also- had 37 assists and 15 steals. CHRISTY SPEICHER, Wawasee. Thes-10 senior forward shot a blistering 4$ percent from the field in conference action (30-for-44) in scoring 77 points. Was Wawasee's leading rebounder against NLC foes with 40. BETH FELDMAN, Bremen. The Lady Lions' center scored 45 points in league action and hauled down 41 rebounds. KATIE DESANTIS, Bremen. Scored 43 points and dealt out 14 assists. TINA MANNS, Warsaw. The senior guard
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simply stuck,” Foster said. “We just quit running our offense. We were making one pass-OF no passes there for a goodly spell. The kids all wanted to do it themselves.” One who did do it all by himself in the early going was Jeff Platt, EN’s 6-3 junior forward. Platt was a one-man blitzkrieg in the first quarter, scoring 15 points as
lod the ill points, an average of 15.9. Also made 43 assists, 14 steals and grabbed 31 rebounds. DEB BROWNSBERGER, Concord. The senior four-year starter shot over 51 percent from the floor in NLC games, scored 112 points (14 pg), hauled down 59 boards and made 33 steals. MINDY SHELBURNE, Rochester. The junior guard scored 89 points for the Lady Zebras and also led in steals (19) and assists (25). KAMI GESSINGER, North Wood. Fiftythree points and 35 rebounds for this senior, three-year letterwinner. MARCY BIXLER, Goshen. The senior frontcourter canned 55 of her 89 shots from the floor for a red-hot 41.7 percent and 124 points. Also hauled down 85 boards for the Lady 'Skins and finished as the team's career rebound leader with 570. SECONDTEAM MICHELLE HARTER, Wawasee. The junior forward scored 78 points in NLC play (11.1 pg) and also grabbed 35 rebounds. CARRIE LUTTMAN, Bremen. Played guard and forward for Bremen and scored 58 points, grabbed 24 rebounds. ANGIE RYMAN, Warsaw. The senior guard paced Warsaw in steals with 21 and in assists with 32 and also hauled down 42 rebounds while averaging 4.7 points. RACHEL JEFFREYS, Warsaw. The junior guard-forward led the Tigs in rebounds with 54 and also scored 82 points. STACY GROW, Warsaw. The sophomore point guard was the Tigers' most accurate shooter in conference play (49.2 percent) as she averaged 10.9 points. VICKI MORR, Concord. Shot 49 percent from the floor and averaged 4.5 ppg, grabbed 34 rebounds, made 24 steals. LISA WEAVER, Concord. Shot 48.7 per cent from her guard position, averaged 4 ppg, and led the Minutewomen in assists (27) and steals (34). TERRI COHAGEN, Rochester. The senior center was the Zebras' leader on the boards this season with 57 and averaged 8 ppg. SHANA HAND, North Wood. Led the Panthers in rebounds with 52. ROXANNE GIBSON, Plymouth. A fouryear starter, she led the Lady Pilgrims in scoring with 44 and in rebounding with 38. FINAL NLC STANDINGS Team W-L 1. Wawasee 4-1 I.Bremen 4-1 3. 5-2 4. - 4-3 5. North Wood 3-4 4. Rochester 2-5 7. Plymouth 1-4 7.Geshen 1-8
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as Elkhart Regionalchamps
the Knights jumped to a 21-17 lead. Thereafter, however, Platt missed his only four shots from the field and did not score in the last three periods. “Platt played a great first quarter,” Warsaw coach Al Rhodes observed. “Give credit to Joe Sands and Jeff Tucker for doing an excellent job on him the rest of the way.” Led by Platt, the Knights blistered the nets throughout the first half, making 16 of 27 shots""' from the floor. Many of the shore came from 15 to 18 feet. /<, Denny Foster said that the Knights’ hot shooting was no fluke. “Our last five ballgames of the year we shot over 50 percent,” he said. “We’re basically an outside team. “I think it’s an indication of how pumped up the kids were, too,” Foster added. “That kind of caught up with us in the second half, though.” ' The Tigers used some good shooting of their own — 22-for-40 from the floor and 17-for-23 from the foul line — to stay in it until they could take control late in the game. The Tigers’ scoring was also especially timely — several times in the first three quarters East Noble pulled out to leads of five or six points, within a basket or so of a possible runaway. Each time, the Tigers managed to get the critical field goal. “I thought we played well,” Al Rhodes said. “We shot the ball well and we handled the ball well. “In the first quarter, we took some shots when we weren’t yet ■ in our offense,” the coach added. “The kids were rushing the ball a little bit during that stretch/Once we settled down, we were alright.” East Noble bowed out of the tournament with a 14-11 record while Warsaw improved to 22-2. , HARDWOOD NOTES - LaVille upset Concord in the other regional semi-final, 65-53. Attendance for the two games was 8,148... Jeff Grose led* all scorers in game two with 34 points, making 11 of 20 from the floor and 12 of 15 from the stripe... Rick Fox sat out much of the second half after picking up his fourth personal with 5:28 left in the third quarter, but Rhodes felt that the Tigers didn’t lose much with his substitute, senior Robert Johnson. “Robert’s a little quicker and is able to deny (the ball) a little bit better, and during that one stretch that was what we needed,” Rhodes said, adding, “I told Robert at the beginning of the year he deserved to be a starter, but that he was doing just too good a job for us coming off the bench.”... “I’m very pleased with the way we played defensively and on the boards,” Denny Foster Said. “The boards were my main concern coming in, and I don’t think they hurt us on the boards at all.” Warsaw (41) FG FT Ms Tucker 3 2-3 8 Hollar 3 1-2 7 Sands 2 00 4 Grose 11 - 12-15 34 Fox 3 23 8 Bair 0 0-0 0 Henn 0 0-0 0 Johnson 0 0-0 0 Hall 0 00 0 Wilson 0 0-0 0 Totals 22 17-23 41 East Noble (57) FG FT Ms Dove t 4 3-3 11 Axel 4 0-0 8 Shank 4 0-0 8 Desormeaux 0 0-0 0 Platt 7 .1-2 15 Weimer 4 0-1 8 Gienger 0 0-0 0 Marzion 0 0-0 0 McCoy 0 0-0 o Ritchie 10-0 2 Wolfrum 0 0-0 0 Sowers 0 0-0 0 Totals 24 4-4 52 Warsaw 17 14 15 13 — 41 East Noble 21 13 14 4 — 52 Fouled out — None. Total fouls — Warsaw 11, East Noble 18. SATURDAY NIGHT GAME The clock at North Side Gym in Elkhart may not have been ticking Saturday night, but that didn’t stop the Warsaw Tigers from clicking. The Tigers’ clock was ticking — ticking away like a time bomb. Leading by only a field goal going into halftime, the Tigers exploded in the third quarter to turn a close game into a rout. They outscored the Ville Lancers 18-6 in the period to take a 14-point lead and finished with a 72-57 victory in the championship game of the Elkhart Boys’ Basketball Regional. About the only thing Warsaw did not do right in the second half was keep the clock running — or the hourglass, egg-timer or whatever was being used to keep time. Personal fouls by the Tigers resulted in the Lancers stepping to the free throw line 11 times in the second half. It not only prolonged the game, but LaVille
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ASSIST MAN — Senior guard Steve Hollar was an integral part of Warsaw’s attack Saturday night, scoring 8 points and dishing out numerous assists in the Tigers’ 72-57 victory over LaVille. (Photos by Chris Cauley)
tallied 20 of its 30 second half points from the charity stripe. While the Tiger defense was a little over-zealous at times, their relentless pursuit of the ball did serve to almost completely bottle up the LaVille offense. The Tigers, for thdir part, were as hot from the field LaVille was cold, shooting oyer 50 percent in the second half. Jeff Grose finished the evening with 28 points, Jeff Tucker chipped in with 11, Rick Fox 10, and Steve Hollar scored 8 points in addition to parceling out a bushel basket full of assists, especially in the latter half. “A lot of guys got into the scoring column for us tonight,” Jeff Grose said. “That’s what we’re booking for.” ■< • 1 ( “There’s no selfishness on this team,” said Steve Hollar. “Yes, we have Jeff Grose on the team, but that doesn’t matter. Everybody plays as a team.” The sixth-ranked Tigers, now 23-2, appeared to be much sharper in the second half of the championship game than they’d been in the sectional or in earlier regional action. “I thought our concentration was very good,” Coach Al Rhodes said. “Any time you put ‘championship’ in front of our seniors, they really do a great job.” “Coach has been telling us all through the tournament to have respect for every opponent we play,” Hollar said. “We know that most teams are going to come out and play one of their best games of the season against us,” * The difference in the second half, according to Rhodes, was defense. “We played well on offense the whole game, but defensively we were half-a-step behind in the first half,” he said. “We turned the ball over a couple times in the second half,” said LaVille coach Larry Radecki, “and they were two key turnovers, I thought. It got their offense going.” The Tigers scored the first eight points of the third quarter to expand their two-point halftime lead to 37-27. Sophomore Rick Fox accounted for four of the eight, hitting a turnaround jumper in the paint and connecting on a short baseline jumper. Fox also blocked two LaVille shots in the early going of the half. Senior ' guard Jeff Tucker scored six of his 11 points in the third quarter. Two of his baskets came when Hollar spotted him wide open for back-door layups. Hollar had two more assists later in the quarter, setting up baskets by Fox and Jeff Grose as Warsaw started to dominate the Lancers close to the basket. Four points each from Grose and Hollar early in the fourth quarter stretched the Tigers’ advantage to 55-40, and Rhodes substituted liberally down the stretch. Grose scored 15 of his 28 points to provide the bulk of the Tigers’
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scoring in the first half. Pat Adkins scored 16 points, Troy Gurtner 15 for the Lancers, who finished the season 19-6. Nineteen is the most wins ever for a LaVille team in one season. Warsaw’s path to the Final Four isn’t any easier this year than it was last year. Last year the Tigers had to defeat unbeaten and top-ranked Michigan City Rogers at the Fort Wayne SemiState. This year the Tigers must first beat top-ranked and unbeaten Marion on Friday night. Secondranked Northrop is also in the semi-state. As well as the Tigers played in the second half Saturday night, they know they’ll have to play at least as well this weekend. “We can always improve/’ Jeff Grose said. “I don’t think any team ever peaks. I don’t believe in that.” Warsaw (72) FG FT Ms Tucker 3 5 6 11 Hollar 3 2£ 8 Sands 2 1% 5 Grose 12 4 4 28 Fox , 5 01 10 Bair 1 0-0 2 Henn 0 2-2 2 Johnson 3 00 6 Totals 29 14-19 72 Warsaw 14 15 18 25 - 72 LaVille 14 11 i 6 24 - 57 Fouled out — Adkins, Zartman. Total fouls - Warsaw 21, LaVille 19. LaVille (57) FG FT Ms Snyder 1 5-5 7 Adkins j 5 6-6 16 ’ Zartman 10-0 2 Herbster 4 3-5 11 Gurtner 3 911 15 M. Sauer 2 2 2 4 D Sauer 0 2 2 2 Totals 15 27-32 57
Swope in tourney
Anita Swope of Wawasee has been selected to play in the third annual Nancy Rehm IndianaOhio all-star basketball game at Bishop Luers High School in Fort Wayne on Sunday, March 24. The event, sponsored by the Fort Wayne Women’s Bureau and WOWO Radio, is played in honor of Nancy Rehm, the former Bishop Luers basketball star who was shot to death in Ij’ort Wayne in 1982. Swope, a guard, is one of 12 senior all-stars who will represent Indiana against a contingent of Ohio All-Stars. Joining Swope on the Indiana team are Tina Manns of Warsaw, Heidi Lawrence of Columbia City, Cindy Vorndran of Bishop Dwenger, Jane Weaver of Snider, Terri Lydy and Julie Grotrian of Heritage, Sara Noll of Harding, Tina McKowen of Lakeland, Joni Smith of Woodlan, Sherri Schaffer of Jay County and Mary Hum-: phrey of Northrop. j Tickets will be $3.50 for adults and $2.50 for students. Children under the age of 12 will be admitted at no charge. The game will be preceded at 2
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SCORING UNDERNEATH — Warsaw senior Robert Johnson scores underneath during the Elkhart Regional championship game Saturday night. Johnson, off the bench, scored 6 points to help the Tigers beat LaVille, 72-57.
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POSTING UP — Senior guard Jeff Tucker, No. 24, battles for position Saturday night against LaVille’s No. 41, Troy Gurtner. Tucker enjoyed a fine game, scoring 11 points as the Tigers captured the Elkhart Regional championship for the second straight year with a 72-57 win over the Lancers.
p.m. by a women’s college allstar game between a squad of former area standouts and Indiana Tech. Also, Swope is one of several Wawasee basketball players named as honorable mention on the Indiana Basketball Coaches Association Academic All-State
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basketball teams. Swope and Wawasee teammates Sandy Payne and Christy Speicher were named to the girls’ honorable mention team, and Warrior players Brooks Koble, John Hapner and Seth Swihart made honorable mention on the boys’ academic all-state team.