Squires Improve To 3-0
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
NORTH MANCHESTER - In 32 minutes of basketball Friday, it was the first eight that lifted the Manchester varsity boys team past visiting Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger.
On the strength of a 7-of-9 shooting effort from the field, the host Squires outscored the Saints 20-9 in the first quarter en route to a 43-34 win.
"(Bishop Dwenger) is awfully young, it being their first game," Manchester coach Gary Goshert said. "We got points off turnovers, and we got points off half-court execution. We were very efficient in that first quarter, obviously on defense too. That was huge, it was the difference in the game."
Manchester, a team playing without junior Todd Dale until Christmas and playing with senior Michael Sorg for the first time since breaking his arm in football, improved to 3-0 with the win. Dwenger fell to 0-1.
Junior Barry Hicks led the Squires in the first quarter Friday, scoring all eight of his points in the frame as Manchester put it to Bishop Dwenger like the Los Angeles Lakers putting it to the current Chicago Bulls.
"I'm real pleased with the direction this team is headed," Goshert said. "We weren't consistent the whole game on offense, but we did a lot of good things in spurts. I feel good about the direction we're headed. Tonight was a good opportunity to play a like Dwenger that plays hard and intense as they do."
Plain and simple, the first quarter was the difference for Manchester. After their impressive opening, the Squires managed just six points in the second quarter. The Saints, however, continued to struggle from the field and only scored four in the second stanza, trailing 26-13 at the break.
Bishop Dwenger started closing the gap in the third quarter led by Steve Zent.
The 6-foot-2 junior scored eight points in the frame as the Saints whittled the lead down to 10, 33-23, heading into the fourth.
"There was a couple situations where we played behind them in the post," Goshert said. "They got baskets in those situations and we had a lot of miscommunication. The offensive end wasn't covering for the defense like it was in the first."
Bishop Dwenger got as close as seven, 35-28, in the fourth quarter when Zent made good on a three-point play with 5:09 remaining.
But just as Zent was there for Bishop Dwenger in the third quarter, 6-3 senior Dustin Simcoe was there for Manchester in the fourth.
Simcoe scored scored eight points in the final quarter, including a basket that gave the Squires a 43-30 lead with 2:23 left.
Simcoe led the Squires with 13 points and seven rebounds, while senior Matt Stoops scored nine and Hicks eight. Dwenger's Zent led all scorers with 14 to go with his team-high nine rebounds. Junior Sean Bird and sophomore Mike Steinau scored six each for the Saints.
Manchester plays at Peru Tuesday and will not have the luxury of a home game until it hosts Three Rivers Conference rival North Miami on Jan. 5.
MANCHESTER 43, BISHOP DWENGER 34
Dwenger (0-1) 9 4 10 11 - 34
Manchester (3-0) 20 6 7 10 - 43
Dwenger FG FT R S Pts.
Ondecker (F) 2-8 0-0 2 0 4
Steinau (G) 3-5 0-0 2 1 6
Bird (F) 3-6 0-0 4 1 6
Zent (F) 6-13 2-4 9 3 14
Henry (G) 1-4 0-0 1 0 2
Coonan 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Jones 0-0 2-4 1 0 2
Totals 15-36 4-8 21 5 34
Manchester FG FT R S Pts.
Hicks (G) 2-5 2-2 2 1 8
A. Sorg (G) 0-0 2-3 1 3 2
Stoops (G) 4-10 0-0 1 2 9
Simcoe (F) 5-12 2-2 7 13
Westendorf (C) 3-7 0-0 6 1 6
Carandante 2-5 0-0 0 0 5
M. Sorg 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Garber 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Harper 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 16-39 6-7 19 7 43
Three-point goals - Dwenger 0-2 (Zent 0-1, Henry 0-1), Manchester 5-17 (Hicks 2-5, Stoops 1-5, Simcoe 1-2, Carandante 1-4). Fouls - Dwenger 12, Manchester 10. Fouled out - none.
JV - Bishop Dwenger 28, Manchester 25
Manchester scoring - Kasym Mork 7, Nick Osborne 6, Jake Erickson 4, Keaton Patrick 3, Ross Castile 2, Joel Garber 2, Kyle Brunn 1
NorthWood Tops Triton In Season Opener
By Dan Riordan, Times-Union Sports Correspondent
BOURBON - The Triton Trojans and their counterparts from Nappanee squared off in both teams' season opener. An older, physically superior Northwood squad held off a young, upstart Triton squad 76-62 Friday night.
Northwood reeled off a 10-2 run to start the game behind six points from 6-foot-3 forward Rory Clouse.
While Triton was applying a full court press, it was the Panthers who were causing turnovers. Northwood's swarming defense held the Trojans to only 3-of-8 shooting in the first quarter.
The lone bright spot for Triton was its aforementioned full court press, which gave the Panthers some fits. Four of the Trojans' nine first quarter points were created off turnovers.
A mini 5-2 run by Triton still left them with a 23-9 deficit at the end of the first quarter.
Building off of what little momentum their late first quarter gave them, the Trojans began the second period with a 14-8 edge.
Based on the play of senior guard Matt Landis, who scored nine points in the second stanza, Triton whittled Northwood's lead to seven points.
Then with 2:56 left to play Landis picked up his third foul, leaving first year head coach Mike McBride no choice but to take him out for the rest of the half.
With Triton's offensive sparkplug sidelined until the second half, the Panthers quickly pounced.
On the strength of Northwood's big frontcourt, which came down with six offensive rebounds in the final three minutes of the half, the Panthers put together a 13-2 run.
The Trojans regained some momentum when Josh Moore delighted the crowd with two straight Mutumbo-esque blocks to cool down Northwood's late charge.
With only 1:15 left in the half, however, it was not enough to close in on the Panther lead.
As the half wound down, Northwood coach Dan Gunn began to make early halftime adjustments.
His squad, which for the majority of the half struggled with Triton's full and three quarter press, began to break the press and find open players for easy baskets.
Northwood went into the locker room with a comfortable 42-25 lead.
Triton's poor perimeter shooting combined with Northwood's continual presence around the rim gave the Panthers a 17-14 advantage in the third quarter.
Trojan sophomore forward Moore's two free throws with 5:54 put the first points of the half up for Triton.
The Trojans' woes from the field wouldn't cease until later in the quarter when senior Matt Yankovich connected from from three point land.
To that point, Triton started the half 0 of 6. The Trojans' problems from the field weren't isolated to the first part of the third quarter. Triton finished 20 of 73 from the floor for the game.
Going into the final quarter Northwood's lead had swelled to 20 points.
Triton looked to cut into the Panther lead but its charges were sporadic at best.
Despite the Trojans inability to put the ball in the hoop they did show signs of life.
The full court press which gave Northwood fits in the first half reemerged from time to time as Coach McBride installed a variation of the defense. The Trojans success this season will rely squarely on a fast paced offense and a swarming full court defense. McBride knows that it's his team's ability to put that together for four quarters that really counts.
"We had some success with the press early on. You have to give Northwood credit though for figuring it out. Coach Gunn made some great adjustments at half time. We have to get more play off of our bench. Our depth factor is not real strong right now. That caused us to become pretty fatigued towards the end," said McBride
"I think we'll be a fun team to watch this year. We threw up a lot of shots. I would have liked to see more of them fall in but that will come hopefully in time."
That time may be as soon as Tuesday when the Trojans (0-1) travel to Denver to face North Miami.
NORTHWOOD 76, TRITON 62
Northwood (1-0) 21 21 17 17 - 76
Triton(0-1) 9 16 14 23 - 62
Northwood FG FT R S Pts.
Lightfoot (G) 8-10 3-4 11 0 21
Bradley (G) 6-12 3-5 7 6 16
Clouse (F) 5-7 2-4 1 1 12
Leeper (F) 3-6 1-4 14 1 7 Klotz (C) 1-2 2-4 10 1 4
Hall 2-6 4-4 0 5 8
Hill 3-9 1-1 3 3 7
Richard 0-0 1-2 0 0 1
Totals 28-52 16-26 46 17 76
Triton FG FT R S Pts.
Boyer (G) 3-16 1-2 4 1 7
Landis (G) 6-17 2-4 5 2 14
Moore (F) 5-16 7-7 11 0 17
Blackford (F) 2-13 6-8 5 0 10
Yankovich (F) 2-3 0-0 2 2 6
Nifong 1-2 2-2 2 1 5
Wanemacher 1-2 0-0 1 0 2
Barton 0-2 0-0 1 0 0
Savil 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Kuhn 0-2 0-0 1 1 0
Watkins 0-0 1-2 1 0 1
Totals 20-73 19-25 34 7 62
Three-point goals - Triton 3-20 (Yankovich 2-2, Nifong 1-1), Northwood3-10 (Lightfoot 2-4, Bradley 1-2). Fouls - Triton 22, Northwood 20. Fouled out - Blackford.
JV - Northwood 56, Triton 27
Triton leaders: Bryan Watkins 8, Kyle Bell 5
Northwood leaders: Wes BeMiller 15, Josh Sabo 6, Toby Mast 6, Michael Bechtel 6.
Zolman Moves To Third On Scoring List As Wawasee Tops CGA
By Mike Madison, Times-Union Sports Correspondent
SYRACUSE -ÊAt about 7:45 p.m. Friday with about three minutes remaining in the first quarter of Wawasee's girls basketball game versus the Culver Girls Academy, the Warriors' Shanna Zolman made another entry in the history books of Indiana high school basketball when she passed North Judson's Debbie Bolen to move into the third spot on the list of career scoring leaders.
About an hour later Zolman left the court with 3:22 remaining in the fourth period. She finished with 31 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and eight steals in her 22 minutes of play.
This was the kind of performance that Wawasee's fans have gotten accustomed to as Zolman has now scored 208 points this season in six games. That's good for a 34.7 scoring average. She now stands with 2,447 career points, 422 points shy of the total set by Seeger's Stephanie White in 1995.
In the end the Warriors defeated CGA 83-47 but it wasn't necessarily a thing of beauty.
The Warriors appeared a bit flat right from the beginning, but that was probably to be expected as Wawasee is scheduled to play Crown Point Saturday in the Roundball Classic in Hammond and the girls were scheduled to leave by bus for that game within an hour after the finish of Friday's game.
With CGA coming in with a 1-5 record even Wawasee's coach Kem Zolman admitted that it was hard for his girls not to be thinking of Saturday's game.
"It was awful difficult for the girls to keep concentration in light of what we have to do tomorrow and we know we have a game now," Zolman said. "But to win a sectional you have to win on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. We called this our sectional week. It's something we have to do...it's good for us. You can't look by anybody."
Friday's game saw the Warriors come out hot, hitting their first six field goals from inside the three-point arc. The Warriors remained hot for the remainder of the game, at least from two-point range as they finished the game 34 of 50 from inside the arc. The bad news came from three-point range where the Warriors finished the game with a dismal 4 of 22.
Coach Zolman's biggest concern though came from under the basket on the defensive end as CGA's post player, Vanessa Jackson finished the night with 26 points, many of those coming on offensive rebounds and put backs.
"Well I think you saw where our weak point is," said Zolman. "She (Jackson) is obviously a very good post player. Anyone who can score 26 points against us... that's the most anyone has scored against us this year. That is something we better get better at in 24 hours because Crown Point has a very good post player as well."
Wawasee's retuning post player, Jessica Leach tore her ACL earlier this year and if there was any question as to how the Warriors might miss her then Friday showed that.
"We need to be more physical inside," said Zolman. "We react after the fact and we can't afford to do that. We have to anticipate better.
"This group still has to learn to play with each other. We are still defining roles."
Wawasee will undoubtedly get their hardest test so far this season when it takes the court Saturday evening against Crown Point.
Eaton Drops 31, Valley Downs Elmhurst
Times-Union Staff Report
FORT WAYNE - Tippecanoe Valley's varsity boys basketball team improved to 2-1 on the season with a 63-53 win at Fort Wayne Elmhurst Friday.
Led by junior frontliner Trey Eaton, the Vikings broke open a 41-all game, outscoring Elmhurst 22-12 in the fourth quarter en rout to the 10-point win.
Eaton scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and led all scorers with 31, including an 11-of-11 performance at the charity stripe.
To go with his 31 points, Eaton also pulled down 14 rebounds.
Also scoring in double figures for the Vikings was sophomore David Beyers with 12.
Alex Frantz and Brandon Harmon had nine points each for the Vikings, who will host Plymouth Tuesday.
Sophomore forward James Hardy led Elmhurst with 15 points, junior Steven Driver scored nine and senior Nathan Murray eight.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 63
FORT WAYNE ELMHURST 53
Valley 16 8 17 22 - 63
Elmhurst 6 19 16 12 - 53
Valley - Harmon 4 1-3 9, Hartzler 1 0-2 2, Beyers 4 3-5 12, Wise 0 0-0 0, Eaton 10 11-11 31, Frantz 2 5-5 9, Stutzman 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 20-26 63.
Elmhurst - Hardy 7 0-0 15, Pondeffer 3 1-2 7, Parrish 2 1-2 5, Kennedy 1 2-2 5, Murray 3 1-2 8, Driver 2 4-4 9, Love 0 0-0 0, Stiffel 0 2-2 2, Rogers 0 0-0 0, Kimmel 1 0-0 2, Smith 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 11-14 53.
Three-point goals - Valley 1 (Beyers), Elmhurst 4 (Hardy 1, Kennedy 1, Murray 1, Driver 1). Fouls - Valley 14, Elmhurst 22. Fouled out - Stiffel.
JV - TIPPECANOE VALLEY 56
FORT WAYNE ELMHURST 54, OT
Third-Ranked Barons Smash Wawasee
Times-Union Staff Report
WATERLOO - After scoring just four points in the opening quarter Friday, Wawasee's boys basketball team was drilled 75-38 at Class 4A No. 3 DeKalb.
The Warriors, who are now 1-2 on the season, trailed 14-4 after the first quarter and 39-15 at the half en rout to the 37-point loss.
The Barons, who went through the regular season unblemished a year ago, got double-figure scoring from Alex Kock (20), Will Turner (13) and Adam Liddell (12).
Clint Custer paced Wawasee with 16 points, while Steve Conrad had seven and Kyle Lantz four.
The Warriors will play at West Noble Tuesday.
NO. 3 (4A) DEKALB 75, WAWASEE 38
Wawasee 4 11 8 15 - 38
DeKalb 14 25 19 17 - 75
Wawasee - Conrad 2 3-3 7, Ko. Lantz 1 0-0 3, Rosten Trobaugh 1 0-0 2, Ky. Lantz 2 2-2 6, Stichter 0 0-0 0, Custer 4 8-10 16, Knisely 2 0-0 4. Totals 12 13-15 38.
DeKalb - Liddell 5 0-0 12, Brinkman 1 0-0 2, Bunch 3 0-0 7, Turner 5 2-2 13, Kock 10 0-1 20, Knapp 2 0-0 5, Kleenman 2 0-0 4, Knowles 0 0-0 0, Sutton 0 1-2 1, Mlunovic 2 0-0 5, Christlieb 3 0-0 6. Totals 33 3-5 75.
Three-point goals - Wawasee 1 (Ko. Lantz), DeKalb 6 (Liddell 2, Bunch 1, Turner 1, Knapp 1, Mlunovic 1). Fouls - Wawasee 11, DeKalb 18. Fouled out - none. [[In-content Ad]]
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NORTH MANCHESTER - In 32 minutes of basketball Friday, it was the first eight that lifted the Manchester varsity boys team past visiting Fort Wayne Bishop Dwenger.
On the strength of a 7-of-9 shooting effort from the field, the host Squires outscored the Saints 20-9 in the first quarter en route to a 43-34 win.
"(Bishop Dwenger) is awfully young, it being their first game," Manchester coach Gary Goshert said. "We got points off turnovers, and we got points off half-court execution. We were very efficient in that first quarter, obviously on defense too. That was huge, it was the difference in the game."
Manchester, a team playing without junior Todd Dale until Christmas and playing with senior Michael Sorg for the first time since breaking his arm in football, improved to 3-0 with the win. Dwenger fell to 0-1.
Junior Barry Hicks led the Squires in the first quarter Friday, scoring all eight of his points in the frame as Manchester put it to Bishop Dwenger like the Los Angeles Lakers putting it to the current Chicago Bulls.
"I'm real pleased with the direction this team is headed," Goshert said. "We weren't consistent the whole game on offense, but we did a lot of good things in spurts. I feel good about the direction we're headed. Tonight was a good opportunity to play a like Dwenger that plays hard and intense as they do."
Plain and simple, the first quarter was the difference for Manchester. After their impressive opening, the Squires managed just six points in the second quarter. The Saints, however, continued to struggle from the field and only scored four in the second stanza, trailing 26-13 at the break.
Bishop Dwenger started closing the gap in the third quarter led by Steve Zent.
The 6-foot-2 junior scored eight points in the frame as the Saints whittled the lead down to 10, 33-23, heading into the fourth.
"There was a couple situations where we played behind them in the post," Goshert said. "They got baskets in those situations and we had a lot of miscommunication. The offensive end wasn't covering for the defense like it was in the first."
Bishop Dwenger got as close as seven, 35-28, in the fourth quarter when Zent made good on a three-point play with 5:09 remaining.
But just as Zent was there for Bishop Dwenger in the third quarter, 6-3 senior Dustin Simcoe was there for Manchester in the fourth.
Simcoe scored scored eight points in the final quarter, including a basket that gave the Squires a 43-30 lead with 2:23 left.
Simcoe led the Squires with 13 points and seven rebounds, while senior Matt Stoops scored nine and Hicks eight. Dwenger's Zent led all scorers with 14 to go with his team-high nine rebounds. Junior Sean Bird and sophomore Mike Steinau scored six each for the Saints.
Manchester plays at Peru Tuesday and will not have the luxury of a home game until it hosts Three Rivers Conference rival North Miami on Jan. 5.
MANCHESTER 43, BISHOP DWENGER 34
Dwenger (0-1) 9 4 10 11 - 34
Manchester (3-0) 20 6 7 10 - 43
Dwenger FG FT R S Pts.
Ondecker (F) 2-8 0-0 2 0 4
Steinau (G) 3-5 0-0 2 1 6
Bird (F) 3-6 0-0 4 1 6
Zent (F) 6-13 2-4 9 3 14
Henry (G) 1-4 0-0 1 0 2
Coonan 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Jones 0-0 2-4 1 0 2
Totals 15-36 4-8 21 5 34
Manchester FG FT R S Pts.
Hicks (G) 2-5 2-2 2 1 8
A. Sorg (G) 0-0 2-3 1 3 2
Stoops (G) 4-10 0-0 1 2 9
Simcoe (F) 5-12 2-2 7 13
Westendorf (C) 3-7 0-0 6 1 6
Carandante 2-5 0-0 0 0 5
M. Sorg 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Garber 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Harper 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 16-39 6-7 19 7 43
Three-point goals - Dwenger 0-2 (Zent 0-1, Henry 0-1), Manchester 5-17 (Hicks 2-5, Stoops 1-5, Simcoe 1-2, Carandante 1-4). Fouls - Dwenger 12, Manchester 10. Fouled out - none.
JV - Bishop Dwenger 28, Manchester 25
Manchester scoring - Kasym Mork 7, Nick Osborne 6, Jake Erickson 4, Keaton Patrick 3, Ross Castile 2, Joel Garber 2, Kyle Brunn 1
NorthWood Tops Triton In Season Opener
By Dan Riordan, Times-Union Sports Correspondent
BOURBON - The Triton Trojans and their counterparts from Nappanee squared off in both teams' season opener. An older, physically superior Northwood squad held off a young, upstart Triton squad 76-62 Friday night.
Northwood reeled off a 10-2 run to start the game behind six points from 6-foot-3 forward Rory Clouse.
While Triton was applying a full court press, it was the Panthers who were causing turnovers. Northwood's swarming defense held the Trojans to only 3-of-8 shooting in the first quarter.
The lone bright spot for Triton was its aforementioned full court press, which gave the Panthers some fits. Four of the Trojans' nine first quarter points were created off turnovers.
A mini 5-2 run by Triton still left them with a 23-9 deficit at the end of the first quarter.
Building off of what little momentum their late first quarter gave them, the Trojans began the second period with a 14-8 edge.
Based on the play of senior guard Matt Landis, who scored nine points in the second stanza, Triton whittled Northwood's lead to seven points.
Then with 2:56 left to play Landis picked up his third foul, leaving first year head coach Mike McBride no choice but to take him out for the rest of the half.
With Triton's offensive sparkplug sidelined until the second half, the Panthers quickly pounced.
On the strength of Northwood's big frontcourt, which came down with six offensive rebounds in the final three minutes of the half, the Panthers put together a 13-2 run.
The Trojans regained some momentum when Josh Moore delighted the crowd with two straight Mutumbo-esque blocks to cool down Northwood's late charge.
With only 1:15 left in the half, however, it was not enough to close in on the Panther lead.
As the half wound down, Northwood coach Dan Gunn began to make early halftime adjustments.
His squad, which for the majority of the half struggled with Triton's full and three quarter press, began to break the press and find open players for easy baskets.
Northwood went into the locker room with a comfortable 42-25 lead.
Triton's poor perimeter shooting combined with Northwood's continual presence around the rim gave the Panthers a 17-14 advantage in the third quarter.
Trojan sophomore forward Moore's two free throws with 5:54 put the first points of the half up for Triton.
The Trojans' woes from the field wouldn't cease until later in the quarter when senior Matt Yankovich connected from from three point land.
To that point, Triton started the half 0 of 6. The Trojans' problems from the field weren't isolated to the first part of the third quarter. Triton finished 20 of 73 from the floor for the game.
Going into the final quarter Northwood's lead had swelled to 20 points.
Triton looked to cut into the Panther lead but its charges were sporadic at best.
Despite the Trojans inability to put the ball in the hoop they did show signs of life.
The full court press which gave Northwood fits in the first half reemerged from time to time as Coach McBride installed a variation of the defense. The Trojans success this season will rely squarely on a fast paced offense and a swarming full court defense. McBride knows that it's his team's ability to put that together for four quarters that really counts.
"We had some success with the press early on. You have to give Northwood credit though for figuring it out. Coach Gunn made some great adjustments at half time. We have to get more play off of our bench. Our depth factor is not real strong right now. That caused us to become pretty fatigued towards the end," said McBride
"I think we'll be a fun team to watch this year. We threw up a lot of shots. I would have liked to see more of them fall in but that will come hopefully in time."
That time may be as soon as Tuesday when the Trojans (0-1) travel to Denver to face North Miami.
NORTHWOOD 76, TRITON 62
Northwood (1-0) 21 21 17 17 - 76
Triton(0-1) 9 16 14 23 - 62
Northwood FG FT R S Pts.
Lightfoot (G) 8-10 3-4 11 0 21
Bradley (G) 6-12 3-5 7 6 16
Clouse (F) 5-7 2-4 1 1 12
Leeper (F) 3-6 1-4 14 1 7 Klotz (C) 1-2 2-4 10 1 4
Hall 2-6 4-4 0 5 8
Hill 3-9 1-1 3 3 7
Richard 0-0 1-2 0 0 1
Totals 28-52 16-26 46 17 76
Triton FG FT R S Pts.
Boyer (G) 3-16 1-2 4 1 7
Landis (G) 6-17 2-4 5 2 14
Moore (F) 5-16 7-7 11 0 17
Blackford (F) 2-13 6-8 5 0 10
Yankovich (F) 2-3 0-0 2 2 6
Nifong 1-2 2-2 2 1 5
Wanemacher 1-2 0-0 1 0 2
Barton 0-2 0-0 1 0 0
Savil 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Kuhn 0-2 0-0 1 1 0
Watkins 0-0 1-2 1 0 1
Totals 20-73 19-25 34 7 62
Three-point goals - Triton 3-20 (Yankovich 2-2, Nifong 1-1), Northwood3-10 (Lightfoot 2-4, Bradley 1-2). Fouls - Triton 22, Northwood 20. Fouled out - Blackford.
JV - Northwood 56, Triton 27
Triton leaders: Bryan Watkins 8, Kyle Bell 5
Northwood leaders: Wes BeMiller 15, Josh Sabo 6, Toby Mast 6, Michael Bechtel 6.
Zolman Moves To Third On Scoring List As Wawasee Tops CGA
By Mike Madison, Times-Union Sports Correspondent
SYRACUSE -ÊAt about 7:45 p.m. Friday with about three minutes remaining in the first quarter of Wawasee's girls basketball game versus the Culver Girls Academy, the Warriors' Shanna Zolman made another entry in the history books of Indiana high school basketball when she passed North Judson's Debbie Bolen to move into the third spot on the list of career scoring leaders.
About an hour later Zolman left the court with 3:22 remaining in the fourth period. She finished with 31 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and eight steals in her 22 minutes of play.
This was the kind of performance that Wawasee's fans have gotten accustomed to as Zolman has now scored 208 points this season in six games. That's good for a 34.7 scoring average. She now stands with 2,447 career points, 422 points shy of the total set by Seeger's Stephanie White in 1995.
In the end the Warriors defeated CGA 83-47 but it wasn't necessarily a thing of beauty.
The Warriors appeared a bit flat right from the beginning, but that was probably to be expected as Wawasee is scheduled to play Crown Point Saturday in the Roundball Classic in Hammond and the girls were scheduled to leave by bus for that game within an hour after the finish of Friday's game.
With CGA coming in with a 1-5 record even Wawasee's coach Kem Zolman admitted that it was hard for his girls not to be thinking of Saturday's game.
"It was awful difficult for the girls to keep concentration in light of what we have to do tomorrow and we know we have a game now," Zolman said. "But to win a sectional you have to win on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. We called this our sectional week. It's something we have to do...it's good for us. You can't look by anybody."
Friday's game saw the Warriors come out hot, hitting their first six field goals from inside the three-point arc. The Warriors remained hot for the remainder of the game, at least from two-point range as they finished the game 34 of 50 from inside the arc. The bad news came from three-point range where the Warriors finished the game with a dismal 4 of 22.
Coach Zolman's biggest concern though came from under the basket on the defensive end as CGA's post player, Vanessa Jackson finished the night with 26 points, many of those coming on offensive rebounds and put backs.
"Well I think you saw where our weak point is," said Zolman. "She (Jackson) is obviously a very good post player. Anyone who can score 26 points against us... that's the most anyone has scored against us this year. That is something we better get better at in 24 hours because Crown Point has a very good post player as well."
Wawasee's retuning post player, Jessica Leach tore her ACL earlier this year and if there was any question as to how the Warriors might miss her then Friday showed that.
"We need to be more physical inside," said Zolman. "We react after the fact and we can't afford to do that. We have to anticipate better.
"This group still has to learn to play with each other. We are still defining roles."
Wawasee will undoubtedly get their hardest test so far this season when it takes the court Saturday evening against Crown Point.
Eaton Drops 31, Valley Downs Elmhurst
Times-Union Staff Report
FORT WAYNE - Tippecanoe Valley's varsity boys basketball team improved to 2-1 on the season with a 63-53 win at Fort Wayne Elmhurst Friday.
Led by junior frontliner Trey Eaton, the Vikings broke open a 41-all game, outscoring Elmhurst 22-12 in the fourth quarter en rout to the 10-point win.
Eaton scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and led all scorers with 31, including an 11-of-11 performance at the charity stripe.
To go with his 31 points, Eaton also pulled down 14 rebounds.
Also scoring in double figures for the Vikings was sophomore David Beyers with 12.
Alex Frantz and Brandon Harmon had nine points each for the Vikings, who will host Plymouth Tuesday.
Sophomore forward James Hardy led Elmhurst with 15 points, junior Steven Driver scored nine and senior Nathan Murray eight.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 63
FORT WAYNE ELMHURST 53
Valley 16 8 17 22 - 63
Elmhurst 6 19 16 12 - 53
Valley - Harmon 4 1-3 9, Hartzler 1 0-2 2, Beyers 4 3-5 12, Wise 0 0-0 0, Eaton 10 11-11 31, Frantz 2 5-5 9, Stutzman 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 20-26 63.
Elmhurst - Hardy 7 0-0 15, Pondeffer 3 1-2 7, Parrish 2 1-2 5, Kennedy 1 2-2 5, Murray 3 1-2 8, Driver 2 4-4 9, Love 0 0-0 0, Stiffel 0 2-2 2, Rogers 0 0-0 0, Kimmel 1 0-0 2, Smith 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 11-14 53.
Three-point goals - Valley 1 (Beyers), Elmhurst 4 (Hardy 1, Kennedy 1, Murray 1, Driver 1). Fouls - Valley 14, Elmhurst 22. Fouled out - Stiffel.
JV - TIPPECANOE VALLEY 56
FORT WAYNE ELMHURST 54, OT
Third-Ranked Barons Smash Wawasee
Times-Union Staff Report
WATERLOO - After scoring just four points in the opening quarter Friday, Wawasee's boys basketball team was drilled 75-38 at Class 4A No. 3 DeKalb.
The Warriors, who are now 1-2 on the season, trailed 14-4 after the first quarter and 39-15 at the half en rout to the 37-point loss.
The Barons, who went through the regular season unblemished a year ago, got double-figure scoring from Alex Kock (20), Will Turner (13) and Adam Liddell (12).
Clint Custer paced Wawasee with 16 points, while Steve Conrad had seven and Kyle Lantz four.
The Warriors will play at West Noble Tuesday.
NO. 3 (4A) DEKALB 75, WAWASEE 38
Wawasee 4 11 8 15 - 38
DeKalb 14 25 19 17 - 75
Wawasee - Conrad 2 3-3 7, Ko. Lantz 1 0-0 3, Rosten Trobaugh 1 0-0 2, Ky. Lantz 2 2-2 6, Stichter 0 0-0 0, Custer 4 8-10 16, Knisely 2 0-0 4. Totals 12 13-15 38.
DeKalb - Liddell 5 0-0 12, Brinkman 1 0-0 2, Bunch 3 0-0 7, Turner 5 2-2 13, Kock 10 0-1 20, Knapp 2 0-0 5, Kleenman 2 0-0 4, Knowles 0 0-0 0, Sutton 0 1-2 1, Mlunovic 2 0-0 5, Christlieb 3 0-0 6. Totals 33 3-5 75.
Three-point goals - Wawasee 1 (Ko. Lantz), DeKalb 6 (Liddell 2, Bunch 1, Turner 1, Knapp 1, Mlunovic 1). Fouls - Wawasee 11, DeKalb 18. Fouled out - none. [[In-content Ad]]