Warsaw No Match For No. 10 NorthWood

The NorthWood basketball team roared into Warsaw Tuesday evening boasting an undefeated record and a No.10 ranking. And once these trumped up Panthers stepped onto the Tiger Den floor, they did what they have done the last three years. They tamed the Tigers. For the fourth straight year, the NorthWood girls' basketball team beat Warsaw, this time 55-33.Warsaw knocked Wawasee out of the running for the Northern Lakes Conference title Saturday.Now NorthWood has probably kicked Warsaw out of the race. NorthWood improved to 17-0 overall and 5-0 in the NLC.Warsaw fell to 11-6 and 4-1.Each team has one conference game left.NorthWood faces Concord, who has struggled this season.

On The Court

TRITON AT VALLEY Tipoff: 8 p.m.at Mentone Coaches: Kevin O'Rourke (Triton), Gregg Sciarra (Valley) Records: Triton 4-11, Tippecanoe Valley 5-10 Last game: Bremen 71, Triton 44; Valley 77, Wabash 67 Matchup: Triton has lost six of its last seven.Valley gives teams problems defensively, because the Vikings have three players who can score different ways.Eric Love, who is averaging 12.7 points, scores from the perimeter.JayDee Parker, who is averaging 14.1 points, scores inside.Brandon Eaton, who is averaging ?? points, can score inside or outside.

Independence Requires Vigilance

As we celebrate the July 4 holiday - Independence Day - I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the history surrounding that momentous document. Here are some details about the Declaration of Independence compiled by staffers at the Library of Congress. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall), approved the Declaration of Independence. Its purpose was to set forth the principles upon which the Congress had acted two days earlier when it voted in favor of Richard Henry Lee's motion to declare the freedom and independence of the 13 American colonies from England. The Declaration was designed to influence public opinion and gain support both among the new states and abroad - especially in France, from which the new "United States" sought military assistance.

Kevin, Darrell Carr Win Semistate Titles

FORT WAYNE - The Wawasee wrestlers are beginning to make people stand up and notice what kind of team they have this year - both together and apart. The Warriors will get the chance to show as individuals what they can do with three wrestlers going to next Saturday's state meet, two of whom won their weight classes at the Fort Wayne Semistate Saturday. Brothers Kevin (125) and Darrell (135) Carr, along with Shaun Belin (152), will be making the trip to Market Square Arena to strut their stuff.The Carrs won their weight classes, while Belin was third. Wawasee sent eight wrestlers to the semistate, including four regional champions.

It's Tough To Migrate To The U.S.

I suppose I should weigh in the issue of immigration since that seems to be the hot issue of the day. I wonder who gets to decide what the hot issue is. I mean, is immigration a bigger problem now than it was in 2005? 2000? 1990? 1980? I seem to remember immigration being a big issue during Reagan's presidency. But why all the attention on it now? Sometimes I think our government officials try to divert our attention from other issues. I think they'd rather have the media doing stories on immigration instead of the Iraq war, gas prices, the deficit, nukes in Iran, Hamas vs.Israel or a whole list of other issues. But since immigration is the hot issue, here's my two cents. Seems to me part of the problem is the degree of difficulty involved in becoming a U.S.citizen. Looks to me like immigration laws were written to discourage people from coming here.

Wawasee Girls Step To Forefront

SYRACUSE - Surprisingly, the coach picks up the phone. The state swim finals are more than 100 miles away but less than 12 hours away.But Wawasee coach Roger Karns' baritone voice is on the other end of the line in a rare free moment. And he does mean moment.When asked if he has time to answer a few questions about the upcoming state finals, Karns says, "Yeah, about a minute." The Wawasee Warriors scored 404 points and nabbed eight of 12 first places in last Saturday's Warsaw Sectional.The 404 points doubled second-place Plymouth.

Tigers Fall Out After First Sectional Game

GOSHEN - Who would have known that a small, furry animal would determine how far Warsaw's girls basketball team would last into the postseason? "Before you ask your questions, I'll say the bottom line was all our missed bunnies," Warsaw coach Will Wienhorst said. In football, a 22-yard field goal is a chip shot.In baseball, a routine fly ball out is a can of corn. The bunnies Wienhorst refers to in basketball are shots close to the basket.They would not fall often enough early enough, leading Elkhart Memorial (12-9) to send Warsaw (14-7) home with a 73-62 loss on the first night of the sectional. Guard Chakiea Jackson led Memorial with 22 points, while forward Latasha Wolfe added 18 and 10 rebounds.Center Liz Lewis scored 16. Center Katie Elliott paced Warsaw with 27 points and 11 rebounds, while forward Jenna Rooney added 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Marchesano Shoots Down Whitko Wildcats

MENTONE - In the past week Whitko's girls basketball team has faced two of the best young players in the northern part of the state. Last Thursday Shanna Zolman, Wawasee freshman and Indiana's scoring leader, pulled out a 30-point effort with the flu.Tuesday night Maria Marchesano, Fort Wayne Elmhurst sophomore, connected on 6 of 9 three-point attempts in the first half. The Wildcats lost the first of the aforementioned contests 54-50, and they lost the second 73-48 last night in the first round of the 3A Tippecanoe Valley Sectional, to finish with a season record of 10-11.Elmhurst moves to 13-8 and will play Fort Wayne Concordia at 6 p.m.Thursday.Concordia earned a trip to the semifinals with a 77-51 win over Peru.

Triton Trips Up Tippecanoe Valley

MENTONE - Valley had the height and inside muscle, Triton had the quickness and outside shooting ability.Quickness and dead-eye accuracy won out.Saturday night, the Triton Trojans salvaged a 1-1 weekend by making eight three-pointers in coming from behind in the second half to knock off Valley 56-51. The Trojans made the comeback on the shoulders of senior guard Andy Westafer.He scored 23 points, 16 in the second half, and knocked down four three-pointers as Triton came from seven down in the third quarter for win number five on the season.Westafer added six rebounds and a pair of steals during the game.

Golf Disaster Begins Before Tragedy Strikes

I have been a little disconcerted lately about the stuff I normally write about. You know, the usual suspects - prisoner abuse, a retaliatory beheading, huge federal deficits, a nastily partisan presidential campaign, soaring gas prices. In the news business, one is always immersed in, well, news.CNN is on all the time in the newsroom.And these days, the news just doesn't seem to be all that bright. I don't think it's a case of looking at the glass half full or half empty, either.The whole Iraq mess makes things look a tad bit bleak. So when things seem bleak, it's time to do something fun.It's time for a diversion.I have a couple diversions.One is music.The other is golf. So Wednesday afternoon I took off a little early and headed to Maxwelton Golf Club. There is a Wednesday game there.It's kind of intimidating for me because the guys in the Wednesday game are good.

W's Still Elusive For Wawasee

At 0-16, the Warrior boys basketball team was starving for its first win against NLC foe NorthWood, but in the end, the Wawasee squad would leave the gym hungry once again as the Panthers were victorious 63-60. The Panthers started the game with a spark as Nic Bradley netted a three-pointer to give NorthWood the first lead of the game, but Wawasee came back to take a 4-2 lead with 6:38 left in the first. That would be the last time Wawasee would hold the lead as NorthWood scored two straight baskets to take the lead once again.At one point, NorthWood held a 15-8 lead, but the Warriors battled back in the final two minutes of the quarter to get within four, 19-15, going into the second. The second frame started the same way the first ended, with NorthWood holding a small advantage and Wawasee fighting to take the lead.

Warsaw Senior Overcomes Obstacles

On the football field, he excels with good technique, speed and quickness. On the basketball court, as the starting point guard, he shoots 50 percent from the field and averages four assists and four rebounds per game. In life, however, it's a pair of broad shoulders that have helped 5-foot-11, 220-pound Warsaw Community High School senior Shaun Cabrera. While he appears to do things effortlessly in athletics, life hasn't been as easy. Don't tell Cabrera that, though, he doesn't come across as the kind of guy who wants a sympathy vote. "It's happened, it's in the past," Cabrera said of some of the trials he's gone through."Everything happens for a reason.There's a lot of people that have it worse than I do.Things could always be a lot worse." This coming from a high school kid who "never had a relationship with" his father.

On The Court Basketball Previews

Panthers Win NLC Crown

NAPPANEE -ÊThe NorthWood boy basketball team made history Friday night in Nappanee when the Panthers secured their first solo Northern Lakes Conference title.The Panthers defeated Wawasee 70-41 to earn the championship. Although NorthWood shared the NLC title with Warsaw in 1972, the Panthers had never won the conference title outright. NorthWood jumped out to a 14-2 lead after one quarter, and held a 32-14 lead at the half. Four Panthers scored in double figures in the game.Ian Reed led all scores with 18 points, while Charlie Roeder added 14.Rory Clouse had a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds, and Brock Doty added 10 in the winning effort. Jeremy High was the lone Warrior in double figures with 14 points.He also pulled down eight rebounds. NorthWood improves 13-3 and 5-1 in the NLC, to while Wawasee falls to 5-11 overall and 2-4 in the NLC.

Rose Window In Bloom Again At Camp Mack

MILFORD - Every year people come from across the United States to see the Church of the Brethren historical murals in Quinter-Miller auditorium at Camp Alexander Mack.Now, after nearly a third of a century, visitors to Camp Mack may again see the round, 11-foot diameter stained glass window high above the altar in the auditorium. For years this large Rose Window at the front of Quinter-Miller was covered as its deteriorated condition was precarious.Some thought the glass may have fallen down between the wall and the outside of the building.Many had almost given up hope of ever again seeing the sun streaming through that magnificent stained glass window.People visiting the camp during the last 30 years never experienced this rose. Occasionally someone would dream of repairing the window, but the feeling was that even if a way could be found to restore the window, the cost would likely be prohibitive.And so year after year, the window remained covered.

Vikings Advance To Sectional Final

PLYMOUTH -ÊThe Tippecanoe Valley girls basketball team took one step closer to meeting its goal of becoming the Plymouth Sectional champion by defeating Whitko 65-22 Friday night. "We want to keep the streak alive," said Valley coach Gary Teel."We want to be the sectional champions." Although the Vikings were listed as the visitors on the scoreboard, they made themselves at home in Plymouth's gym.Valley jumped out to an early lead as Rebekah Parker, Sherise Denny and Kara Kramer combined for the first 10 points of the game. But the Vikings did not stop there. Abby Shafer scored baskets at the 1:55 mark and the 1:28 mark to put the Vikings up 14-0 going into the second frame. Valley's Holly Green, Kramer and Denny continued the assault early in the second quarter of play, building a 23-0 lead. Whitko's first score of the game came at the hands of Dana Sellers.She hit a basket with 5:21 left in the second frame to make the score 23-2.

Wawasee Girls Nail Northridge

SYRACUSE - It wasn't supposed to be so easy for the Wawasee Warriors girls basketball team in the first round of the sectional Tuesday night.The first time Wawasee and Northridge tangled, the game went down to the wire, and this one was expected to be the same. This time, the game was never really in doubt as the Warriors stifling defense held the Raiders to 25-percent shooting from the floor and just one three-pointer in 17 attempts.That translated into a 43-29 Wawasee victory and the right to advance to the semifinal round on Friday. "We had that attitude that you get when you just expect to win," Wawasee head coach Mark Sumpter said."There was no doubt in their mind that they were going to win tonight." The Warriors got production from almost everyone that stepped on the floor Friday night whether starter or backup.

Valley Win Streak Hits 10

AKRON -ÊAll good things must end, and Saturday night the Triton Trojans learned that the hard way. For the Trojans, the good thing was their five-game win streak.And the end was caused by the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings. The Vikings defeated the Trojans 70-61 Saturday night in Akron. The win marks Valley's 10th consecutive win, and this is the first time the Vikings have beat Triton in three years. Triton struck first offensively in this matchup of streaking teams.However, Valley was not down for long.Triton's Brandon Zeider hit 1 of 2 free throws to start the game and give the Trojans a 1-0 advantages.Then Valley moved down the court and Noah Silveus sank a three-pointer to put the Vikings up 3-1. At the 5:30 point in the first frame, the score was knotted at 5-5.But not for long. In the last five minutes of the first quarter, Valley went on a 12-4 run to build an 18-9 lead going into the second stanza.

SYRACUSE - Kem Zolman sat on the bench, watching his players cut down the basketball net while Katina and The Wave's "Walking On Sunshine" blared through speakers hanging in the gym.

Wawasee's varsity girls basketball team, led by freshmen and sophomores, beat Angola 45-39 in Saturday's Wawasee 3A Sectional championship.More than 2,000 fans watched the Warriors win their first sectional title since 1986. Early last week, Zolman thought his Warriors needed "divine intervention" to win the sectional.But here they were, and he may have been as surprised as anyone that the title came in 2000.

When The Klan Comes Calling

What a week. Friday's Ku Klux Klan march in front of Syracuse Elementary School was one of the most bizarre occurrences I have ever witnessed. Grown men and women, some wearing robes and hoods - marching up and down the street as a couple hundred onlookers berated them. Only in America. The KKK has an absolute right to do what they did.No question.I guess, in a twisted sort of way, I'm glad they have that right.If they didn't, I wouldn't have the right to write this column in this newspaper. Places where rights like this are suppressed by the government are generally not very fun places to live. But this Klan march posed a dilemma.How do we cover it? What do we put in the newspaper? We decided not to pull any punches - to print what they said.To give as accurate a representation of the event as possible.