Warrior Season Stopped Short

SYRACUSE -Ê"Tomorrow morning, the sun will come up, we'll get together, and everything will be all right." Wawasee girls basketball coach Kem Zolman summed it all up after a stunning 75-69 loss to Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran in the Wawasee 3A Regional Wednesday night.Watching the game was University of Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, on hand to see junior Shanna Zolman, who's verbally committed to her school. The Warriors, who were undefeated going into the regional, found themselves down by four at the half and then dug themselves into a 17-point hole midway through the third frame. However, behind a gutty performance from several young players, Wawasee clawed its way back through the fourth quarter. Shanna Zolman started the fourth by outscoring Concordia 8-2 and put Wawasee back in the hunt, cutting the lead to seven, 62-55.

On The Court Basketball Preview

BOURBON -ÊThe Triton girls basketball team made history Wednesday night by winning the Triton Regional over Kouts. This Saturday the Trojans will try to rewrite the record books again when they p

"Well, I don't really know anything about Triton at this point," said Clinton Prairie coach Connie Garrett on Thursday."We have a tape coming (Friday), so at least we will have seen them by Saturday.At this point, I haven't even seen a roster.But I guess if we're not ready at this point it's not meant to be." "Well I know Clinton Prairie is the defending state champion," said Triton coach Mark Heeter."They are obviously a very good ball club." Although Clinton Prairie is the defending Class A state champion, the road to this year's state championship will not be a cakewalk.Gone from last year's team are five seniors.Two of those seniors were starters and the other three contributed to the team with their play off the bench.

Economic Development Is A Good Thing

Last Saturday we ran a small story about Columbia City attracting an automotive plant that will employ some 250 to 300 people. That same town a few months back collected another automotive plant. I think Columbia City is doing a good job of expanding its tax base. That's important. You see, when you expand your tax base and increase your assessed valuation, it tends to dilute the property tax burden for everybody in the county. It's really quite simple.In Indiana, the tax rate is applied to the assessed valuation to generate tax revenue. If the assessed valuation is $1,000 and the tax rate is $2 per hundred of assessed valuation the tax generated is $20. If the assessed valuation goes up to $1,500 and the rate stays at $2, it would generate $30 in property taxes. But in Indiana, there's this frozen levy thing happening.It's an involved process, but generally it limits the amount of taxes that can be collected.

Warsaw Gymnasts Pick Up Win On Senior Night

Senior Night for the Warsaw gymnastics team was extra special for Tiger Andrea Calhoun. Not only did her team win the meet, she earned her first first-place finish of the year with an 8.35 on the floor exercise. Impressive by itself, the performance takes on more meaning after learning that Calhoun was unable to practice over the summer after ankle stabilization surgery. "I just came back in November, and this is the first first-place finish I have had all season," said Calhoun."I was excited to get an 8.3 on the floor." The Tigers overcame the emotions of senior night to pick up a 94.0-85.55 win over Lakeland.Prairie Heights, which had only two competitors, scored 43.05 points.

Lancers Split With Tri-State

WINONA LAKE - Following a 17-5 loss to Tri-State in the opener of Saturday's doubleheader, the Grace College baseball team bounced back with a 6-1 win in the second game thanks to the left arm of Nick Tribby. Tribby, a sophomore, pitched six shutout innings, scattering five hits and shutting down a Tri-State attempt at a rally in the sixth.The Thunder had the bases loaded with no outs, but Tribby pitched out of the jam by getting a fly out to right, a force out at the plate and a ground out to third. Doug Evans and Caleb Brown each had home runs in the win. In the opener, Tri-State pounded out 18 hits and the Lancers committed six errors as the Thunder scored in every inning but the third and the sixth.Grace scored five times in the third as Steve Walta hit a three-run homer and Mike Ross drove home two runs. Tri-State moves to 2-5 on the season, while Grace is now 1-3.The Lancers play at Indiana Tech today.

No. 9 North Central Downs Warsaw

INDIANAPOLIS - The Achilles' heel of this year's Warsaw boys' basketball team has included two areas - playing on the road and turnovers. Both of those areas seem to be involved when the Tigers lose, and both played a big part Thursday. Warsaw committed 27 turnovers in dropping a 72-59 decision to No.9 North Central to end the regular season.The Tigers (16-4) finished 3-4 on the road this regular season after going 13-0 in the friendly confines of the Tiger Den. The Tigers led 17-15 after the first quarter, but hit a dry spell in the second quarter.Warsaw opened up the second with three quick turnovers and found itself down 21-17 with just over five minutes left in the stanza.Tom Krizmanich's layup with 5:30 left would break an almost five-minute scoring drought for Warsaw and bring the Tigers to within 21-19.It would, however, be the only field goal the Tigers would hit in the second as they trailed 30-20 at halftime.

Manchester Gets Physical For Its Semistate Game

NORTH MANCHESTER -ÊTo prepare for Saturday's semistate game against Bishop Luers, Manchester's girls basketball team will break out ...football shield pads? That's what Manchester coach Jody Shewman's plan on Wednesday was, anyway.Her Squires are going to face something unlike they've faced before this season: a defense that likes to run players through the ringer. Thinking the game may resemble a football game as far as contact, Shewman will break out the pads in Friday's practice.Players will hold the pads and use them to body other players around. "(Luers) is very, very rough, very physical," Shewman said."Kind of all over you.If you have refs who let it go, they can cause a lot of trouble.That's what happened to Prairie Heights.

I Don't Miss The NBA

I have never been a huge fan of the National Basketball Association. I would watch portions of a few regular season games each year and then a little bit more of the playoffs.I rarely if ever sat through a whole game. So I really don't miss the NBA.I prefer college basketball.Of all sports to watch on TV, I like college hoops the best.I guess it's because the players are still students - albeit pampered, full-ride scholarship students.Most of the players in college never will play in the NBA.They're in it mainly because they really love to play.I bet most of them would play for nothing if they had to. Compare and contrast that to the guys in the NBA.These guys are making zillions of dollars and are still complaining they aren't getting a big enough cut.

Wouldn't It Be Nice If They'd Just Be Honest?

It's always fun to watch politics, isn't it? Like the CIA leaks thing, for example.Yeah, it might be about national security.It might be about crimes.But it's definitely about politics. On the one hand you have Republicans who were screaming for an independent counsel to investigate President Clinton and Monica.Now they say the Justice Department can handle the CIA leak investigation just fine, thank you. On the other hand you have Democrats - most notably the honorable Senator from New York, Hillary Clinton - who absolutely decried and denigrated the use of an independent counsel during the Clinton years and eventually led the charge to allow the independent counsel law to expire.Now they say an independent counsel is needed to investigate the CIA leaks. How can they all be such hypocrites? I mean, really. It's hard to respect elected officials when they are so overtly disingenuous.They don't even try to hide it.

Warsaw, Columbia City Will Win Sectional Titles

Pick a slogan, any slogan. Up for grabs. Flip a coin. Anything can happen. Idle, tired phrases? Perhaps. At the Columbia City basketball sectional, you can add one more word: idle, tired and true phrases. This sectional seemed balanced last year with 15-5 Whitko, 14-6 Manchester, 11-9 Tippecanoe Valley, 9-10 Columbia City, 9-11 Central Noble and 2-18 Churubusco.Whitko ended up winning the title. Then you look at that sectional this year: 12-7 Central Noble, 12-8 Manchester, 10-10 Tippecanoe Valley, 10-10 Whitko, 9-10 Columbia City and 6-13 Churubusco. Now that's balance.If these teams were ice cream, they'd be vanilla. Their combined records? 59-58. One game over .500.Yeah, the teams were a combined 60-59 the year before.The difference is the parity.Thirteen wins separated Whitko and Churubusco last year. Six wins separate Central Noble and Churubusco this season.

Ejection Sparks Tigers

Momentum is sometimes gained in the most unique ways.It can almost be given to you. With a fragile four-point lead in the fourth quarter against Gary Wirt, Warsaw got a gift when Trooper coach Omar Vazquez disagreed with a foul call by an official. Then he disagreed again. The result was two technicals and an ejection for Vazquez.Steve Siebenmorgen hit 1 of 2 free throws after being fouled, and Andy Plank hit 3 of 4 on the technicals to send Warsaw on a 16-2 run and eventually a 57-43 win over Gary Wirt Friday at the Tiger Den. "I didn't really see it," Warsaw coach Al Rhodes said."Coach Vazquez said something that the official didn't like.We got some free throws and the ball.That kind of started it off.Their kids came back hard, but we did a good job of breaking the press and the halfcourt trap and getting some shots." Warsaw hit 6 of 7 from the field and 9 of 13 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.

NorthWood Girls Keep On Winning

INDIANAPOLIS -ÊThe officials were the story of the night as NorthWood (3A) defeated Fort Wayne Luers (2A) 62-61 in the first round of the tournament of champions Friday night. When asked about the game's officiating, NorthWood girls basketball coach Steve Neff quickly answered, "No comment."But Luers coach Gary Andrews had a bit more to say about the whole situation. "We really got screwed," said Andrews."The officiating in this game was a travesty.You would think they would have officials worthy of a tournament of champions.I was upset with the obvious fouls. "When somebody gets their arm ripped off, it is usually a foul, but apparently not tonight.

Valley Vikings Edge Norwell For Sectional Title

AKRON - The 3A No.22 Tippecanoe Valley Sectional Championship Saturday night with the host Vikings and Norwell, turned out to be one that will be forever remembered in the fans' and players' minds. Neither team could run away from the other in an old-fashioned Indiana high school Championship game. With coolness at the line from Valley's sophomore Chad Hoffer, he hit two free throws with 19.4 seconds left in the game to give Valley a 32-31 lead and Bryce Kelley secured the win with 1.4 seconds left when he picked up a loose ball. "I knew this would be a close ball game tonight.I figured we would be lucky to get 20 possessions with the way Norwell plays their game," coach Bill Patrick said. Norwell took the opening tip-off and scored on a layup to go up 2-0.The lead would be Norwell's last for most of the game.

New Wawasee Grid Boss Does His Homework

SYRACUSE - So excited was tall, slender 33-year-old Joseph Rietveld over being named Wawasee High School's new football coach that he broke into his thank-you speech before the board "officially" accepted the motion to hire him. But Rietveld was in -Êsuperintendent Mark Stock had already handed him a green and gold Wawasee shirt and cap - so all his eagerness did was cause board members sitting in the front of the room to burst out laughing. Make no mistake, Wawasee is glad to have this guy, and he is glad to have the school. "Professionally, this is the most exciting day of my life," is what Rietveld said right before the board "officially" presented him with a two-year contract.Rietveld will teach three or four periods of math and share lunch room supervising duties with principal Alan Frank.

Softball Lancers Need Togetherness

WINONA LAKE - Teamwork will be the key to the Lady Lancer softball team's success in 1997, according to coaches Stephen Liebsch and Candace Moats.With seven new freshmen and just six returning players from last year's squad, Grace College must work together to find a winning mixture. "We really don't have one dominant player who will win it all for us," Liebsch said."What we do have is a great combination of good players who want to excel and work hard.Everyone will play a vital role on this team." Offensively, the Lady Lancers will be led by the big bats of senior Trish Dament and juniors Liz and Lauralea Thomas.Last year, Dament sat out with a knee injury, but in 1995, she provided a powerful offensive threat.Liz Thomas batted .358 last season and led the team in extra-base hits (11) and home runs (2).Laura Thomas added a .304 average with 12 RBIs.

Triton Captures Third Straight Sectional

BOURBON - South Central's boys basketball team had the top 10 ranking. Triton was unranked. South Central carried a 19-4 record.Triton was 14-7. But Triton, not South Central, had won two consecutive sectionals.South Central last won a sectional in 1982. The Trojans won their third sectional in a row by beating No.8 South Central 39-38 in Saturday's Triton 1A Sectional game. Third-year Triton coach Joe Bennett maintained his perfect sectional pace. "I don't know if you can put a measure to that," Bennett said of the experience of having won two straight sectionals."There's something about having confidence and expecting to win. "We went to the Final Four last year, and we lost six seniors and three starters.Expectations weren't too high, other than what I expected of them and they expected of themselves." Senior forward Joey Potter delivered a big-game performance in Triton's big game.Potter hit 7 of 7 field goals and led Triton with 15 points.

Parker, Peden Are Wanted, Needed

NORTH MANCHESTER - The signs in Manchester High School's hallway say the two girls are wanted. One has a picture of 5-foot-5 senior guard Katie Parker and reads: Wanted ...Katie Parker ...For grand theft auto ...Known for driving the lane.Another has a picture of 5-6 senior guard Jodie Peden and reads: Wanted ...Jodie Peden ...For grand larceny theft ...Known to steal from opponents. To Manchester coach Jody Shewman, these two guards - known as "Park" and "Pedo" by their teammates - are the two most unheralded reasons the Squires are 20-3 and competing in Saturday's Logansport 2A Semistate. Manchester forward Megan Eckert has always gotten attention for scoring nearly 20 points per game.And recently the story line of choice has been Jessica Hicks, a 5-10 freshman who went from averaging six points per game in the regular season to 19.7 in the postseason. But it's Parker and Peden who allow Eckert and Hicks to score by getting them the ball when they're open.

Warsaw's Season Ends With Regional Loss

MARION - A week after extending its season with the program's first sectional title in six years, Warsaw's varsity boys basketball team saw its season end Saturday with its first losing record in nearly 20 years. The Tigers looked like a different team last Saturday in knocking off Columbia City to win the East Noble Sectional. Against defending Class 4A state runner-up Muncie Central in the first semifinal game of the Marion Regional Saturday at Bill Green Athletic Arena, the Tigers looked like the team they have so many times this season. The end result was a 56-42 loss to the Bearcats, who went on to beat Fort Wayne Snider 56-43 in the championship game Saturday night.Snider advanced to the title game by beating McCutcheon 56-47. "We didn't play the way we can, but that doesn't take away from being sectional champs and getting here," said fourth-year Warsaw coach Doug Ogle, whose team ended the season with an 11-12 record.

Carrs Tuned Up

SYRACUSE - To understand why Darrell and Kevin Carr are wrestling in tonight's state finals, you have to go back a year. February 19, 1996, to be exact.That was the day. Three Carr brothers advanced to the state finals last season, held on Feb.17.Freshman Kevin placed fifth and finished with a 40-9 record.Sophomore Jason did not place but finished with a 29-7 record.Junior Darrell placed seventh and went 39-8. It was here, on the mats at Market Square Arena, that the Carr boys bolted down their future.The next time we get back here - next season - we will win championships, the Wawasee Warrior grapplers decided. "All three made a pact they would return to the state finals," says Darrell Carr Sr., father and Wawasee assistant wrestling coach. Darrell and Jason and Kevin's 1997 season started Feb.19, 1996, two days after last year's state championship.They took the day after, Sunday, off.That Monday, training for today's state finals began.