Warriors Hit 92 In Win Over West Noble

SYRACUSE -ÊBefore the girls basketball season started at Wawasee, coach Kem Zolman expected Jocelyn Higginbotham to be the 'junk lady' for the Wawasee team, the girl who picked up the offensive rebounds and got an occasional shot under the basket. However, Higginbotham has proved to be much more than just a 'junk lady' for the Warriors. In Wawasee's 92-66 Tuesday win over West Noble, Higginbotham scored 22 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for the Warriors. "I can't say enough about Jocelyn," said Zolman."She is playing with tremendous confidence, and that is wonderful for her.She is not the aggressive type, on the court or off.She is more laid back.

Wawasee Boys Still Unbeaten

SOUTH WHITLEY - The Wawasee boy's basketball team traveled to Whitko to face the Wildcats Saturday.The undefeated Warriors held off a fourth quarter challenge by the Wildcats to come away with a 61-44 win. The Warriors, sparked by an early 7-2 run, jumped out to an 18-11 first quarter lead. Joe Leach of Wawasee led all scorers by scoring ten points in the quarter.Brandon Gieger added five.A full court press was installed by the Warriors from the start, leading to turnovers by the Wildcats. Whitko battled back a number of times in the first to keep the score close. Cory Snep finished the first by going 2 of 2 from beyond the three point stripe.Camron Walter also added a three-point shot to keep the Warriors from running away with the game early.

Young Warriors Show Poise, Open Season With Win

BENTON - With just one senior on the roster and a freshman already in the starting lineup, Wawasee's varsity boys basketball team played beyond its years in Tuesday's season opener at Fairfield. While young teams often times fold under pressure, the Warriors showed poise, hitting key free throws down the stretch and picking up a 54-47 win. After Broc Borntrager's three cut Wawasee's lead to 50-47 with 16 seconds left, Warrior junior Stephen Conrad made good on two free throws.With 11 seconds left, classmate Ben Knisely iced the game with two more charity tosses. In all, the Warriors were 18 of 22 at the free throw line, including a 12-of-13 performance in the fourth quarter.

Triton Looks To Rebuild After Recent Success

BOURBON - Triton boys head basketball coach Mike McBride isn't afraid of the word "rebuilding."Most high school programs go through it.Especially 1A schools like Triton. "I think we're doing some rebuilding right now.You can't say we're reloading," said McBride."But we do have some good kids to try and rebuild with." Of the 10 players listed on the 2004-2005 Trojan roster, only two are seniors. "We're very young right now.Last year we graduated five seniors from a team that won 13 games.The year before we graduated five seniors from a team that won 14 games," Gone from last year's squad are departed seniors Todd Blackford, Josh Moore, Braxton Barton and Kyle Bell.That group comprised Triton's four leading scorers with Blackford leading the team at 16.3 points per game. Blackford and Co.led the Trojans to last year's sectional final before falling 64-61 to Argos.

Manchester Falls To Taller Generals

NORTH MANCHESTER - When Gary Goshert came to Manchester he knew he would be taking over a team that would be small, something he was used to at Wawasee, his former school. Well, the Fort Wayne Wayne Generals should him just how small his new team is in beating up the Squires 62-49 Wednesday. Wayne jumped out to an early 6-point lead using the inside play of 6-foot-4 Ben Corley.Early on, Corley hit two inside layups and assisted on a 3-pointer as he dominated early. Manchester jumped back into it with a 6-point run, mixing up the play and using scrappy defense to make key steals to keep the larger Generals at bay. The Squires came out with more strong defense in the second quarter containing Wayne and forcing them to be pateint. Manchester's defense seemed to fold in the last minutes of the second half allowing Wayne to open up and go on a 4-point run and take a 7-point halftime lead.

No.3 Bellmont Wins Title

Coming into their own Classic, the Wawasee wrestling squad knew they would have to go through No.3 Bellmont in order to return the title. The Warriors also knew they would have to forfeit in two weight classes.They took this all in stride, and gave the Braves a run for their money in the final match of the afternoon losing out 42-30.Wawasee gave up 12 points on forfeits. "We challenged them (the Warrior wrestlers)," Wawasee coach Scott DeHart said."We told them this is our house, and people are coming into our house, and it's time we defended it.The kids stepped up, and they accepted the challenge, and we're real pleased with that.I'm tickled to death.

Tigers Win Season Opener Over Tippecanoe Valley

A series as lopsided as a two-wheeled tricycle, the outcome of Warsaw's girls basketball game with county rival Tippecanoe Valley Friday was the same as it has been for 20-plus years. With a 57-43 season-opening win, the Tigers upped their dominance of the Vikings to 30 straight games.Warsaw is now 37-1 all-time against Valley, which downed the Tigers in 1981. After playing Warsaw to the wire a year ago, only to lose by 10 in the final minute, Valley coach Gary Teel said he thought his team could get it done this year as Warsaw had limited experience and the Vikings were loaded with it. That wasn't the case, as a young Tiger team - one that started two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman - shot 50 percent from the floor and had three scorers in double figures.The experienced Vikings, on the other hand, shot 31 percent from the floor, including 1 of 11 from three-point range one game after dismantling Wabash with their long-range shooting.

Ogle, Tiger Boys Win Opener

The first one, it's been said, is always the toughest to get. Though visiting Gary Wirt later made a run and eventually got within three, Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team made it look easy at times during Doug Ogle's varsity coaching debut Wednesday. Jumping out to a 20-point lead midway through the second quarter, the Tigers had enough to overcome a poor third quarter as well as some outside shooting from the Troopers en route to a 50-44 win in the opener for both teams. After coaching the Warsaw JV program to an impressive 270-30 record over the past 15 years, Ogle took over for the retired Al Rhodes, who was on hand to support his former understudy. "It feels good," Ogle said when asked about winning his varsity coaching debut. Along with Rhodes, several former players were on hand in the Tiger Den Wednesday, including 1996 Mr.Basketball and Warsaw all-time leading scorer Kevin Ault.

Warsaw Dominates Valley 75-37

On a night Warsaw's girls basketball players unveiled their new uniforms, they unveiled their new style of play. The same old results occurred. Warsaw beat Tippecanoe Valley 75-37, the 28th win in a row for the Tigers against the Vikings.Warsaw improved to 35-1 overall against Valley, which beat Warsaw in 1981. Because the home uniforms were ruined in the dryer last season, the Tigers bought new ones.Along with the new uniforms, for the first time since the early 1990s, Warsaw coach Will Wienhorst has his team playing full-court, run-and-gun basketball. The Tigers ran Valley out of the gym in the first quarter.

Wrestlers Grappling For Success

WARSAW TIGERS Tony Boley begins his first year as Warsaw's head wrestling coach, replacing Rich Welborn, who resigned. Boley's track record indicates he know's two things: wrestling and success.He coached at Madison-Grant from 1980 through 1985, where his teams had a 24-17 record.He then coached at Elwood from 1985 through last year, where his teams were a combined 180-64. His overall record is 204-81-2.He won eight straight Central Indiana Conference titles at Elwood.His teams have won six sectionals. His teams have gone 87-12 the last six years. He talked about his goals at Warsaw.

Clay Beats Buzzer, Tigers

SOUTH BEND - At times it resembled that old McDonald's commercial with Larry Bird and Michael Jordan where the two legends hit increasingly ridiculous shots in a game of horse. Warsaw and host South Bend Clay exchanged all manner of circus shots and long-range bombs Tuesday night as the Colonials escaped with a 62-59 win on a buzzer beater by senior Nick Vail. After a Warsaw timeout with 1.6 seconds left in regulation, Clay's Matt King found Vail streaking to the left corner of the Colonial basket. Without setting his feet, Vail launched a teardrop three pointer over the outstretched arm of Shaun Cabrera that went in as time expired. Vail's shot was indicative of the Colonials' night from the field.Clay shot a whopping 64 percent (23 of 36) from the field and missed just one shot in the fourth quarter. And that one shot, a missed jumper by reserve Evan Youngquist, was quickly atoned for as 6-foot-5 senior Daniel Payne put the rebound back with a thunderous dunk.

City's High Screens Lower Boom On Whitko

COLUMBIA CITY - The basketball game ended, and as the fans walked toward the exits, they repeated the same question over and over. The only difference was the wording and the tone. "When is the last time we beat Whitko?" you heard an overjoyed Eagles fan ask. "When is the last time we lost to Columbia City?" you overheard a disgusted Whitko fan grumble. That was 1990, but it happened again in 1996, the day before Thanksgiving.Columbia City 66, Whitko 57 the scoreboard showed. Whitko had one lead: 2-0.The Eagles (1-0) led the Wildcats (0-1) the rest of the way.And one thing is certain: the new coaching staff of Chris Benedict, Chad Christman and John Snyder have breathed life into a Columbia City program that had been mired in mediocrity.

Hot-Handed Tigers Thrash Gary Wirt

Second-year Warsaw boys basketball coach Doug Ogle wants the word to get around. He wants community members to know the Tiger Den is going to be an exciting place to be this year. The team certainly did its job in delivering the message Wednesday, opening the season with a 59-29 thrashing of the visiting Gary Wirt Troopers. If the gang from ESPN's SportsCenter were to describe the game with one of their catchy phrases, it might be something like "release-rotation-splash." Fueled by a plethora of hot-handed shooters, and the rebounding prowess of senior Todd Braddock, the Tigers never trailed in their season opener and were simply too much for Gary Wirt. Warsaw finished the game 24 of 44 (54.5 percent) from the field and 9 of 16 (56.3 percent) from three-point range, and outrebounded Gary Wirt 28-15.

Warriors Move To 3-0

GOSHEN - The Wawasee girls basketball improved its record to 3-0 after traveling to and defeating Fairfield 76-44 Saturday. Shanna Zolman led the Warriors with 32 points, 10 rebounds and seven steals. Wawasee, now 3-0, hosts East Noble Friday. Wawasee 76, Fairfield 44 Wawasee (3-0) - Dusty Krull 3-8 2-2 8, Bria Pletcher 1-1 0-0 2, Mandie Sawyer 0-3 0-0 0, Shanna Zolman 10-17 9-10 32, Viki Hunziker 2-5 5-5 9, Keisha Hunt 0-0 0-0 0, Crystal Fawley 1-4 1-3 3, Annette Lamb 0-1 1-2 1, Meagan Wallen 1-4 5-8 7, Jessica Leach 5-17 2-4 12, Shanna Krull 1-3 0-0 2, Jessica Henderson DNP, Tara Hymer DNP.Totals -Ê24-63 25-34 76. Fairfield totals (individual stats not available -Ê24-56 25-34 44.

Valley Opens Season With 53-50 Overtime Win

AKRON -ÊThe first game of the new basketball season is a chance for coaches and players to get a feel for some of the strengths and weaknesses of the ball club.But the season opener can also give a team a sense of character that can define a team throughout the year. Tippecanoe Valley learned a lot about the character of its team Wednesday night as the Vikings hosted South Bend St.Joseph's in the 2003 boys basketball season opener.The Vikings had to come back from seven points down midway through the fourth quarter to capture a 53-50 win in overtime.

Warsaw Offense Resurfaces

Warsaw's girls basketball team scored 177 points in its first two games, wins over Bremen and Tippecanoe Valley. The Tigers scored 89 in the next two, losses to Crown Point and Huntington North.Warsaw made but 15 of 50 field goals (30 percent) against Crown Point and 17 of 61 (28 percent) against Huntington North. The offense returned Wednesday night against Fort Wayne Northrop.Spurred by a blazing first half, the Tigers (3-2) ran by Northrop (2-3) 73-56. For the second straight game, junior guard Kara Kesler led Warsaw in scoring, pouring in a career-high 18.Senior forward Jenna Rooney added 13 points and nine rebounds, and sophomore guard Hilary O'Connell delivered 10 points, four rebounds and four assists.

IU Has Its Way With Boise State

For Indiana University's men's basketball team, the Indiana Classic has been, well, two free victories before the team takes a short break for final exams. You see, the Hoosiers have lost zero games in the 25-year history of the tournament. This year, there's nothing new to report as No.11 Indiana (9-2) downed Boise State (5-2) 90-66. Before the game Boise State was touted as a team that could give the Hoosiers some trouble and possibly break that 48-game Indiana Classic win streak.But Indiana quickly put to rest any notion that the Broncos would knock off another top 25 team.

On The Court Basketball Previews

Love Paces Valley Past North Miami

DENVER - Tippecanoe Valley fans just had to love what they saw Saturday night at North Miami. Love, as in Eric Love, that is. Love, a junior, cashed 8 of 10 three-point shots and 10 of 13 attempts overall en route to a season and career high 32 points. With the help of Love's hot hand, Tippecanoe Valley broke open its biggest win of the young season in an 81-59 drilling of North Miami. The 81 points ties a record high for points in the six-year Gregg Sciarra era. Tippecanoe Valley led just 29-26 with two minutes left in the first half, as North Miami managed to keep pace with the veteran Vikes. Valley, with senior scorers Jeffrey Brown and Nick Stutzman struggling from the field, needed a boost from another source to go into halftime on a strong note.The Vikings got it thanks to some beyond the arc-shooting.

Valley Goes 2-0 In Basketball Jamboree

Dean Foster was there, sitting up in the stands, scrawling notes.His Elkhart Central team plays Warsaw to open the season, so he was scouting the Tigers while he had the chance. Al Rhodes had the tie on, the one with basketballs on it, the one worn every game. And the last quarter, the one between Tippecanoe Valley and Warsaw, seemed more like a regular season game than eight minutes of a jamboree.That quarter by far caused the loudest crowd reactions of the evening, just because, well, it was Valley and Warsaw. Basketball is back. Warsaw hosted its jamboree Saturday evening.Tippecanoe Valley went 2-0, Warsaw 1-1, Whitko 1-1 and Wawasee 0-2. Warsaw 25, Whitko 13 Six-foot-four forward Tom Krizmanich scored 11 points and grabbed four rebounds to lead Warsaw past Whitko.The Tigers cruised from start to finish, jumping ahead 14-2.