Published: December 11, 2005 12:41 am      

Panthers pull out win over Cougars

From Staff Reports

Heading into the Pioneer-Carroll girls basketball game Saturday afternoon, both coaches had a plan.

Pioneer coach Shawn Kimmell wanted to foul certain Carroll players when they got the ball, exploiting poor foul shooting. Carroll coach Clay Hanna wanted to get the ball inside.

Both plans worked well, but Pioneer’s was slighly more successful in the Lady Panthers’ 44-39 victory.

The Lady Cougars got the ball inside but struggled with layups and were horrendous at the free throw line, which played right into Pioneer’s hands. Carroll finished 8-for-27 from the free throw line which irked Hanna.

“When we got the ball into the post we’d do one of two things: We’d miss a layup, or we’d miss two free throws,” Hanna said. “We’ve definitely had free throw problem all year but we’ve never gotten to the line this many times. We just couldn’t convert.”

Led by Tara Herd’s 11 points and Ashley Ide’s 10, Pioneer was able to spread the ball around and get good looks. Herd hit three triples in the game while Katelin Magee added five points and 12 rebounds for the Lady Panthers (4-5).

“We told Tara, you’re not a shooter until you hit three shots in a row,” Kimmel said. “Tonight, she hit three three-pointers in a row.”

Krystal Brazel scored a game-high 17 points to lead Carroll (1-5), including five three-pointers, despite Pioneer playing a box-and-one on her for the entire game. Many of her shots, including a 26-footer that banked in off the glass, came late in the game to make the score closer than the game really was, Hanna said.

Maconaquah 51, Lewis Cass 41

Maconaquah broke loose late in the first half to take a big lead into halftime, then went on to claim victory at home in the meeting of Mid-Indiana Conference opponents. Deja Mattox led Maconaquah with 22 points and helped spark the decisive run.

“With 2:30 (to go before halftime) it was a pretty tight game and boy, they just went on a barrage where Mattox hit two 3s and they score 18 for the quarter, but a number of those points came (in the late run) and they took a 30-15 halftime lead,” Cass coach Steve Ford said.

Ford credited the Kings (4-5, 1-1 MIC) for pulling close with a strong second half but, Maconaquah’s lead was too much to overcome.

Jessica Schwartz scored 11 for Maconaquah while Mattox grabbed eight rebounds.

Taylor DeHaven led Cass with 11 points, while Kayla Allison added 10. McCall Kitchel scored nine and took 10 boards for Cass, earning Ford’s praise for her play in the second half.

The Kings won the JV game 46-24 to improve to 8-1. Kayla Austin led the way with 16 points while Emily Watkins added 10.

Cass plays at Delphi on Tuesday.

Winamac 44, Tri-County 42

Steph Malott picked a great night to score a season-high 14 points.

Despite trailing by eight points in the third quarter, Winamac rallied late to pull off a big road victory.

Malott hit two of her four three-pointers in the last 2 1/2 minutes which were complimented by Kara Crawford’s three-point play and Erika Redweik’s base-line jumper.

“Those were monster plays in a tight game,” Winamac coach Jim Swaney said.

Lisa Good hit the go-ahead jumper with 17 seconds to play and Tri-County could only heave a prayer at the end of the game.

Crawford scored 15 points to lead the Lady Warriors (6-4, 3-0 MWC) while Good added nine. DeWitt scored 18 points to lead Tri-County (6-3, 3-1 MWC).

Tippecanoe Valley 38, North Miami 23

Stellar defense and a great night from Lora Rohrer was all the Lady Vikings needed.

Rohrer scored a game-high 17 points and teammate Hannah Krueger added 11 — including three triples — and the Tippecanoe Valley defense held North Miami to just 17.7 percent shooting from the field (8-for-47).

Krueger was one rebound shy of a double-double, as she had nine boards and three assists in the game.

The Lady Vikings improved to 4-5 and 1-1 in the TRC with the victory.



BOYS BASKETBALL

Logansport 58, Mishawaka Marian 46

David Tribbett poured in a game-high 19 points and K.C. Victor added 18 as the Berries picked up a victory in their first road game of the season.

Following the postponement of Friday’s game against Frankfort, Saturday’s win puts Logansport at 4-1 on the season. Logan will make up its game with the Hotdogs on January 24.

Also, Kory Rombold was the third Logansport player to score in double figures. He finished the night with 10 points.

The Berries’ next game will be at Twin Lakes on Friday.

Frontier 66, Winamac 44

Matt Garling scored a game-high 18 points but it wasn’t enough for the Warriors.

With the loss, Winamac falls to 1-3 overall and 1-1 in the Midwest Conference this season. Frontier is now 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the MWC.

Also for Winamac, Wade Shidler finished with 15 points and nine rebounds while Evan Howe and Taylor Fox each added six points.

The Warriors kept it close through three quarters — they trailed 34-26 at halftime and cut the gap to 47-40 after three — but Frontier broke away late for the win.

North Judson 57, West Central 44

For the first half, West Central played North Judson tough, but foul trouble and rebounding woes surfaced in the second half. North Judson broke a 25-25 tie at halftime to outscore West Central 15-9 in the third quarter and 17-10 in the fourth for the double-digit win Friday night.

“They really beat us on the offensive boards,” West Central coach Bryan Heimlich said. “They got a lot of second chance opportunities. They had 12 offensive rebounds and got 12-15 points off of those. In the fourth quarter, it seemed like we were fighting to get back in it the whole time. We just didn’t hit the big shot.”

West Central forward Greg Davis paced the Trojans with 18 points. What was even more impressive is that Davis got in foul trouble early in the third quarter and sat out for more than seven minutes. The 18 points were a season high.

Corey Howat added 11 points, including three triples and Ryan Howat dropped in seven for the Trojans (2-2).

Pioneer 35, Culver Military Acad. 20 (9th)

Trailing 13-9 at halftime, the Panthers rallied late for the win and impoved their record to 4-2 with the victory.

Mitchell Petrie led Pioneer with 19 points. Also, Braxton VanArsdale scored seven points while Josh Layer added five.

Pioneer will host Logansport on Wednesday.

Wrestling

Logansport Super Six

Benton Central took first place at the Logan Super Six wrestling tournament Saturday with a team record of 5-0, while Logansport wrestling finished 3-2 along with Delphi, Culver Military Academies and Peru to bring the Berries’ season record to 7-4. Fort Wayne finished winless for the day.

Two Logan wrestlers went undefeated at the highly competitive tournament. Ike Homburg recorded five wins with two pins at 152, and R.D. Pugh wrestled 5-0 with three wins by fall in the 171 category.

Additionally, four Logan wrestlers went 4-1 for the day. At 130, Justin Jamison scored three of his four wins by fall, while Kevin Brugh at 125, Shayne Cataldo at 145 and Grant McCloskey at 189 each maneuvered two pins en route to their four individual victories.

Logan wrestling will host Marion next Wednesday.

Caston Super Six

A Caston wrestling squad that has been struggling with extensive injuries went 1-4 at the Caston Super Six wrestling invitational on Saturday, as they were only able to enter wrestlers in six weight classes. LaVille won the tournament at 5-0; Triton went 4-1; North White was 3-2, and Tippecanoe Valley was 0-5.

At 119 and 215 respectively, Garrett Redweik and Bryan Powlen each contributed five victories to help Caston secure a win over Tippecanoe Valley. Powlen won four of his matches by fall, while Redweik had two pins.

Alex Chapman also led the way for the Comets with a record of 4-1 including two falls in the 125 weight class. Heavyweight Gage Waltz and 103-pounder Shawn Grounds both finished with three wins, and Josh Skinner won two matches by fall at 152.

Freshman Evan Pulliam will have to sit the remainder of the season out due to a fractured arm, while the status of heavyweight Alex Donathen remains uncertain for now. Caston coach Tom Skinner hopes that two of his injured wrestlers — Heath Sommers and Ben Peterson — will be able to resume wrestling within the next couple of weeks.

Renssealer Invite

The Kings went 5-0 on the day to win the Rensselaer Invitational. Cass (6-0) defeated West Central 55-19, Rensselaer 35-28, Danville 45-25, Andrean 53-25 and Indianapolis Ritter 72-6.

Cass had four wrestlers finish the day at 5-0, including James Titus (130), Clay Mannering (152), Seth Burge (189) and Brady Jones (215).

The Kings also had four wrestlers finish at 4-1, including Dustin Roberts (140), Alex Evans (160), Nate Plank (171) and Billy Davis (Hvy).

Cass will wrestle at Pioneer on Tuesday.

Plymouth JV Invite

Logansport had two first-place finishers in the 22-team invitational. Steven Frank (119) and Travis Nolte (152) each finished 3-0 in their respective classes.

Also for the Berries, Miquel Hernandez (125) and Jamie Rohrabaugh (130) went 2-1 and placed second; Levi Osburn (160) and Donnie Armstrong (171) went 3-1 and took third; and Jesse Elliott (152) was 2-2 and took fourth.

Logan will be back in action on Wednesday against Marion.

Boys Swimming

Clinton Central Invitational

Zach Babb paced the Panthers on Saturday, notching two first-place finishes Saturday. Pioneer finished fourth out of four teams with 37 points. Clinton Central took first with 129 points, Delphi was second with 63 and Attica was third with 61.

“They are really improving with each meet,” Pioneer coach Shae Young said. “They keep dropping times.”

Twin Lakes Holiday Relay

Cass took second place in the six-team gathering, scoring 96 points. Zionsville won the event with 146. Twin Lakes was third with 92 points, followed by Lowell (86), McCutcheon (76) and Benton Central (10).

Cass won four relay events with a core of Josef Conner, Will Jay, Doug Engel and Jacob Morris. That quartet took the 200 medley relay, the 200 free relay, the 400 freestyle relay, and teamed with two more swimmers, Kyle Pullen and Joe Munson to win the 300 pyramid relay.

“From what we’d seen in the past, those four guys, if you were going to beat them, that team will have to be pretty good, so we were pleased with their effort,” Cass coach Wally Bennett said.

“We had three fourths and three fifths,” Bennett said of the 12-race event. “The younger kids swam in those and they did very well too.”

Girls swimming

Twin Lakes Holiday Relay

Cass finished third in the six-team meet. Zionsville took home the hardware with 158 points, followed by Twin Lakes (110), Cass (80), McCutcheon (66), Lowell (48) and Benton Central (34).

The Kings finished second in diving, second in the creshendo relay, and second in the pyramid relay.

Clinton Central Invitational

The Lady Panthers finished third out of four teams despite not having a first-place finishers in the Clinton Central Invitational on Saturday.

Pioneer had one second place finish in the 400 freestyle relay. The swimmers were Abby each, Cady Caudle, Jessica McBride and Bathany Foerg. Beach also took third place in the 50 freestyle.

Clinton Central won with 152 points while Delphi was second with 59. Attica was fourth with 31 points.