On The Court Basketball Previews

Tiger Girls Overcome First Quarter, Win Outright NLC Title

While Meat Loaf had a hit song with Two Out of Three Ain't Bad, for Warsaw's varsity girls basketball team it was more like three out of four. Trailing visiting Northern Lakes Conference foe Elkhart Memorial 15-9 after the first quarter Thursday evening, the Class 4A second-ranked Tigers overcame their shooting woes and emotions of senior night to post a 60-41 win. The 19-point win was the 19th straight conference victory for the Tigers, who wrapped up their second consecutive undefeated NLC season and conference title with a 7-0 record. Warsaw has won 20 of its last 21 conference games, and sits at 105-10 in NLC regular season contests in the 18-year tenure of Will Wienhorst.

Warsaw, Concord Hook Up In 3 OT Thriller

Call it just another thrilling, action-packed night in the Northern Lakes Conference. Concord and Warsaw hooked up in an NLC clash Friday that didn't conclude until the Tigers finally took control in the third overtime session for an 81-73 win. With the win, Warsaw put itself in the driver's seat in the NLC race with a 4-0 record.The Tigers are the lone remaining team without a conference loss, after Northridge upset Plymouth Friday, and only have to beat Plymouth Feb.7 and NorthWood Feb.12 for unblemished NLC record and their fourth straight NLC title.

Panthers Force Tigers To Share NLC Title

NAPPANEE -ÊA basketball game was being played, but when halftime arrived, NorthWood girls coach Steve Neff decided it was time for class. Neff grades his basketball team, and during halftime of Tuesday's Northern Lakes Conference game against Warsaw, he scrawled an 'F' on the chalkboard. The Panthers would finish the game with a 'C.' Thanks to an 'A' in the second half, the Panthers more than made up for the way they sleepwalked through the first half.NorthWood (14-3) rallied to beat Warsaw (11-7) 50-43. "We didn't pass," Neff said."We didn't make the honor roll at halftime.We had the long lecture and barely made it out for the second half." For the Panthers, this win was more special than other wins this season.

Take My Property, Please

Sometimes, I don't get things. It's true. Ask my wife.I don't know how many times she's said to me, "You just don't get it, do you?" But I really don't get what the U.S.Supreme Court was thinking with this week's ruling on a property rights case. I don't pretend to possess the same level of legal expertise as our Supreme Court justices, but to me the property rights thing was just plain wrong. Wilhelmina Dery lives in New London, Conn.In fact, she lived in the house where her family lived for more than 100 years.She was born in the house and lived there with her husband for 59 years. One would think she could feel secure in her home.One would be wrong. Along comes Pfizer Inc.to propose a new, 90-acre development that would employ, literally, thousands of people. Of course, woe the dozens of families in a working-class neighborhood - including Wilhelmina - who were in the way.

On The Court

No.10 (4A) WARSAW AT No.7 (3A) PLYMOUTH Tip-off: 6:15 p.m.Friday in Plymouth Coaches: Al Rhodes (Warsaw), Jack Edison (Plymouth) Records: Warsaw 13-2, 5-0 NLC; Plymouth 12-3, 2-2 NLC Last game: Warsaw 77, Elk.Memorial 51; LaPorte 68, Plymouth 62 Last year: Warsaw 51, Plymouth 48 Matchup: Combined these two coaches have 744 wins (Rhodes 344, Edison 400) ...This game had received much hoopla earlier in the year, but Plymouth's two losses in the conference have the Pilgrims out of the race for the NLC title ...Warsaw is led in scoring by Steve Siebenmorgen's 15 points per game.Chris Wiggins and Zach Nelson contribute close to 13 points each ...The Pilgrims' offensive attack is spearheaded by Joel Grindle's 16.5 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.Nick Chaney, who has battled illness, adds 13.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

Valley Tops Manchester In Parker's Return

NORTH MANCHESTER -ÊCookies and milk.Peanut butter and jelly.Hamburgers and french fries. All themselves, but better when they are together. Much like Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball players Rebekah Parker and Abby Shafer.In Parker's first game back from a knee injury, Shafer led the 3A No.4 Vikings in scoring with 21 points. "Abby and Rebekah work very well together," said Valley coach Gary Teel."Abby had a tremendous game.She was the catalyst in the game tonight.Whe both abby and Rebekah are on the court together, it is a totally different ball game." The duo of Shafer and Parker helped lead the Vikings to a 61-50 win over Three Rivers Conference rival Manchester Saturday night in North Manchester. In her first game back, Parker made her presence known early, scoring the first basket of the game at the 7:31 mark. Karak Kramer followed with a three-pointer, and the Vikings were up 5-0.

Warriors Dominate Competition

KENDALLVILLE - The last match of the day ended, and Shaun Belin sought out Jamie Salazar. When Belin found him at the edge of the wrestling mat, he threw himself into the heavyweight's big arms, slapped him on the back and said, "Jamie...Jamie." Few words were needed then, and even fewer during the five hours before that.From 10 a.m.to about 3 p.m., Belin and Salazar and fellow Wawasee wrestlers let their moves on the mat speak for themselves. Central Noble, DeKalb, East Noble, West Noble and Westview - the other teams that grappled in Saturday's East Noble Sectional - got the message, delivered with the subtlety of a Dennis Rodman kick to the groin. These Wawasee wrestlers are good.No, make that more than good.Down right dominating. Yep, that's what they were Saturday, from the time 103-pound livewire Chet Wortinger started the work on the mats until Salazar finished it.

Tigers Regroup In 77-51 Win Over E. Memorial

Steve Johnson predicted Saturday night would be rough because of what happened Friday night. What happened Friday night was Warsaw's basketball team lost at Marion 73-41.Johnson coaches Elkhart Memorial.Elkhart Memorial had to play Warsaw Saturday after that 32-point loss. This is what Johnson's 6-7 Crimson Chargers faced: A mad and refocused team.A mad and refocused 12-2 team.A mad and refocused 12-2 team playing on its home floor. Add to that Johnson was missing starting senior forward Aaron Maurer, who averages 14 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, to a viral infection.Another part-time starter, sophomore guard Keidrick Stout, hurt his ankle and would see little playing time against Warsaw. The game smelled like a mismatch before it started, and it was a mismatch as Warsaw, ranked ninth in 4A, won 77-51.

Tiger Girls Fall To Barons

COLUMBIA CITY - After giving DeKalb too many second-chance points Friday, Warsaw's varsity girls basketball team won't get the opportunity for a second chance against Carroll tonight. The Tigers, who struggled from the field and fell 45-40 to Carroll Jan.27, could have played the Chargers for the Columbia City 4A Sectional championship but lost a six-point lead to DeKalb and bowed out of the state tournament with a 52-50 semifinal loss to the Barons. Carroll, which fell to Warsaw in last year's sectional championship at the Tiger Den, advanced to tonight's title tilt with a 43-32 win over host Columbia City. After shooting just above 30 percent from the floor against Carroll in late Jan., first-year Warsaw coach John Snyder said his team could play better than that and was hoping for another chance at the Chargers in the sectional. Because of the second-chance points Warsaw gave up to DeKalb, the Tigers won't get their second chance at Carroll.

Area Wrestlers Advance From Regional Competition

ROCHESTER -ÊThree area wrestlers advanced from Saturday's fog-delayed regional competition, two from Warsaw and one from Wawasee. Warsaw had a couple of runners-up in the Elvidge brothers, Matt (130 pounds) and Chris (135), while Wawasee had one second-place finish in Chase Davis at 103. Matt Elvidge (130) wound up with second place after a hard-fought loss to Benji Dolly ofMishawaka.ÊPeriod one was scoreless, but in the second stanza Dolly scored a reversal and nearfall to take a 5-0 lead.ÊElvidge responded with an escape and then was awarded a penalty point in the third period.ÊDolly was nearly able to execute a "guillotine" but Elvidge managed to extricate himself.Twice the official declared a stalemate when it appeared that Elvidge was on the verge of a score, but the final score stood at 5-2.

Warriors Wrestle Away Title

CHURUBUSCO - There was no jumping up and down, no loud cheers, no extended celebration.Five minutes after Wawasee's wrestling team captured its second straight Churubusco Regional team title, the Warriors had walked off the gym floor and into the locker room. Sure, they had just beaten Carroll 43-24 in the championship match.But Wawasee coach Scott DeHart said there was a reason for his wrestlers being subdued. "They know their job is not done," he said."They have next week to go." The Chargers tested Wawasee early.Carroll's Kyle Brown (103 pounds), Kevin Eubanks (125), Tim Sloffer (130) and Aaron Schinbeckler (140) won four of the first eight matches to put the Chargers up 16-13 entering the 145-pound match. But Carroll coach Ed Fox knew what lay ahead.His team led Homestead 34-4 after the 145 match in the first round; the Chargers ended up beating Homestead 34-31.

Strong Fourth Quarter Fuels Tigers To Win

PLYMOUTH - Normally Warsaw coach Al Rhodes teaches math class, but in Friday night's 50-47 come-from-behind win over conference nemesis Plymouth that gave the Tigers an outright Northern Lakes Conference championship, his team opened up the history books. Three years ago in the Warsaw Regional, the Tigers faced a double-digit deficit for much of three quarters before then senior Matt Taylor tipped a rebound to Kevin Ault, whose game-winning shot fell as time expired, giving them a regional championship en route to a final four appearance. Taylor, in attendance Friday night, was asked if last night's game could compare or if it even crossed the minds of the current Tigers.

Liberal Bias Permeates 'The Media'

I get the sense that everybody in this business gets painted with a broad brush of bias, and that's troubling. I don't think it's so much an issue with local news at small dailies like this one.I mean, it's hard to detect bias in coverage of the town council. But I watch network and cable news.I listen to National Public Radio every day.I read stories on the Associated Press wire and the Scripps Howard News Service. It is really easy for me to find examples of bias. Some of my liberal colleagues think I'm crazy - except, of course, when it comes to Fox News Channel. My liberal friends have no problem pointing out that Fox leans to the right. And I agree with them.Fox does lean to the right. But in the same breath they are able to say with great conviction - amid mountains of evidence to the contrary - that network news and CNN are completely fair and balanced. What nonsense.

Wawasee Gymnasts Defeat Warsaw

SYRACUSE - Like any other sport at Wawasee and Warsaw High Schools, the gymnastics teams at these respective schools are rivals. A green and gold sign hanging in the auxiliary gym at Wawasee High School has each year they've won a gymnastics sectional championship painted on it.Dating back to 1973 there are six years missing, most recently 1998, the year they lost to Warsaw. Last night the Warriors avenged a loss to the Tigers with a 91.85-90.9 victory that moved their record to 4-0.Warsaw falls to 2-2 on the season.

On The Court Basketball Preview

Sheffer Goes The Distance In Fight Against Leukemia

Leukemia strikes thousands of men, women and children each year, and after working with some people stricken with the disease, Warsaw's Mary Sheffer wants to do something about it. On April 9, Sheffer will run a 26.2-mile marathon to raise funds for the Leukemia Society of America. "I don't think of it as 26.2 miles," said Sheffer."I think of it as running one mile 26.2 times." But how does one get the idea to run a marathon? "Basically, I have been running off and on my whole life," said Sheffer."I ran track in high school, and I have been running since.But I never really knew how to run correctly." Then Sheffer learned about Leukemia's Team-In-Training program.The Team-In-Training program is the No.1 endurance program in the world.

Bremen Wins Warsaw Sectional Swim Title

To say swim coaches are animated at meets during the regular season is putting it mildly.They jump up and down, walk the length of the pool as their swimmers compete, flail their arms as if swimming in air and yell "Hup! Hup!" to signal how fast their girls should be swimming. Well, multiply that by about a thousand and it might come close to describing their actions at a sectional. For example, Saturday at the Warsaw Girls Swim Sectional, both of Bremen's coaches were dressed in camouflage and kept their team's spirits up by jumping up and down, flailing their arms and barking instructions to their swimmers in the pool. But the coaches were not the only ones who got into the excitement at Saturday's sectional.Several swimmers wore brightly colored tights or old ripped up swimsuits over their school's suits while warming up.Some girls donned animal print cowboy hats or pajama pants when not competing.

All I Want Is A Little Honesty And Integrity

If the polls even remotely reflect the mood in America these days, President Bill Clinton will become the first Democrat elected to a second term since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The polls show Clinton ahead in double digits.Even in Indiana - the first state to go to George Bush in the last presidential election - a poll shows Clinton ahead by six points. Supporters called Ronald Reagan "The Great Communicator."Clinton makes Reagan look tongue-tied.Detractors called Ronald Reagan "The Teflon President."Clinton makes Reagan look like Velcro. Another Roosevelt, Theodore, said: "The most successful politician is he who says what the people are thinking most often in the loudest voice." That is President Bill Clinton.

The Decade Of Greed Is Ongoing

Everybody has heard of Martha Stewart. You probably have never heard of John Youngdahl. Stewart's the one who created a homemaking empire called Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. But then she got involved in an insider trading scandal. Back in June, she had to resign as chairman and CEO of the company she founded. The resignation followed a federal indictment that claimed she and her former stockbroker lied to investigators who were probing her profitable sale of ImClone stock. So the case is about lying to Securities Exchange Commission investigators. The indictment came a year after it was revealed that Stewart sold 3,928 shares of ImClone, which netted Stewart about $229,000. The sale came one day before a federal regulatory ruling that sent ImClone shares tumbling. The U.S.Food and Drug Administration rejected ImClone's application for a cancer drug called Erbitux.