The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/99608
B-1 Wednesday, December 19, 2012 E-Mail Sports Items to: sports@pressdispatch.net Sports Tidbits From the Mini Mac By Mike Johansen T here are absolutely no words that are adequate to say about the horror of what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary in the small Connecticut city of Newtown on Friday. I can only imagine the horror for those involved and who lost kids, 20 kids and many were in kindergarten and those who lost wives and family. Six adults died as well and they are hailed as heroes for trying to or saving kids. What a horrific event and it has caused many, including me, to shed tears for all involved including those law enforcement officials sorting this tragedy out. It darkens the Christmas season and brings with it a heavy heart that we must all pray for those involved in this horrific act, for those who lost loved ones, those who went through this and pray for the survivor's healing. May God put his hand on them and guide them through all of this. No words can begin to express the depths of horror, shock, sadness and anger that all of us, even hundreds of miles from the scene, feel for this, I know it has probably touched all of you. We have seen mass shootings before, but not like this involving those so young and innocent. We are left stunned, saddened and grasping for answers to the unanswerable. We are left to hang our heads in sorrow, to weep, and to pray for the victims, for their families, for the town of Newtown, for our nation, and for all of our children. May they be safe. It is what we can do for them now, and also see what we can do to help. All things work together for good for those who love God.— Romans 8:28 (NRSV). Holy God, give us eyes to see and ears to hear so we may sense the work you are doing in our lives. May we pray for all those affected by this tragedy and help in any way we can. Lord, be with them in this terrible time and help them to live through a horror that has torn apart their lives. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. ******* It is the Christmas season and I think maybe it will help if we look at the Christmas story and remember Jesus was born to help us here on earth and when he calls us home. The following is the story of Jesus Birth from the Bible. The Birth of Jesus Foretold In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never end." "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail." "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." Then the angel left her. Lady Chargers just shy of win Fourth period turnovers hurt in close loss By Mike Johansen Fourth quarter turnovers proved to be the difference in a very close Pocket Athletic Conference game between the Pike Central Lady Chargers and Gibson Southern Lady Titans with the Titans coming out two points ahead in the end. For the Lady Chargers it was still a step ahead after losing by 15 points the year before and it challenged one of the top teams in the PAC down to the end. Pike Central Head Coach Randy Graham was also pleased with the Lady Chargers progress, although he felt they were just short of having a winning effort. "We did a lot of good things in this game. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to get a win. Turnovers continue to be the area that hurt us most," said Coach Graham. "It was a two point game at the buzzer and they had 12 more opportunities to score than we did just off turnovers. We were really proud of the effort and proud of the improvement we are making. We just have to keep working hard and we will get there." The Lady Chargers had 22 fewer shot attempts than Gibson Southern and made only 26.4 percent of its shots. Gibson Southern was 22 of 75, 29.3 percent. Pike Central made 33 of 43 free throws, 76.7 percent, and Gibson Southern had 15 of 29. They committed 25 fouls and PC 17. Pike Central had a 3931 rebound advantage. The Lady Chargers had 26 turnovers and Gibson Southern just 10 and that was the main cause of the loss. PC had 10 in the fourth quarter to two for the Lady Titans. The game was close all the way and both teams had advantages in the first half. The Lady Titans scored the first basket with Michal Ashby answering 1:48 into the game. That pace continued for awhile with Gibson NETedition Exclusive video Jordan Like works to keep control of the basketball as two Gibson Southern players try to get at it during the PAC game last Thursday. Southern making a shot and the Lady Chargers answering. Jordan Like made the second shot and Emily Howes the third for a 6-6 tie. Two free throws by Like gave the Lady Chargers their first lead, 8-6. Another shot from the field by Like had PC on top 10-7 and then Like made one of two free throws for an 11-7 edge with 2:18 left in the first quarter. The Lady Titans answered quickly with threes from Kiana Smith and Vailey Eberhard to put them up 13-11. A free throw from Alyx Abbott cut the deficit by one point for Pike Central. Gibson Southern stretched the lead to three points, but a shot by Samantha Halbrader cut the gap back to one. A free throw near the end of the quarter gave the Lady Titans a 16-14 lead at the end of the opening period. The second quarter started slowly with both teams missing shots. Pike Central missed four field goal tries before Like made two free throws with 5:10 left in the opening half for a 16-16 tie. The Chargers charge is not enough By Mike Johansen The Pike Central Chargers got a little too far behind early on and committed too many turnovers to complete a full comeback and lost to the North Posey Vikings 59-50 in Pocket Athletic Conference basketball at home Saturday night. While both teams had 17 turnovers, a lot of Pike Central's led to an 18 point deficit going into the fourth quarter. While they staged a furious rally in the final period, they were just too far behind to complete a full comeback. "While we had some good moments in this game, we just did not come out ready to play. We gave up 38 points in the first half, that's too many points to give up. If you are trying to cut down your defensive average to 50 points a game, that is not even close," said Pike Central Head Coach John Mokris. "I am proud of some of the things we did both offensively and defensively. We got after it in the second half and made two runs cutting the difference to nine. But we had the ball twice and had turnovers twice where we could have cut it down to seven or maybe five. We got down 15 again, but made another run in the fourth quarter. The kids executed exactly what I wanted in the fourth quarter and got some turnovers by North Posey five or six times. We did a good job and came down and made some free throws, but we could not come all the way back. We just dug ourselves to big of a hole in the first half. It's tough to come back when you are down 17. I am proud of the kids for their effort, but we have to play 32 minutes. We are not close to that yet. I also want to thank the booster club for the great job they did on the pork chop dinner last week, they really helped us with that great effort." The Chargers did not start the game on a good note falling behind early. North Posey scored the first four points before Tyler Garland slipped inside for a pass from Shaine Eck for two. The Vikings answered with five more points for a 9-2 edge. Another basket by Garland off a feed pass from Kegan Aldridge. The Vikings answered with a three and a two point basket to lead 14-4. After a PC free throw they stretched the lead to 17-5. A three by Garrett Elliott broke the run and he added another basket for the Chargers, but the Vikings answered for a 22-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. Garland scored the first three points of the second period with a basket and a free throw. The Vikings had a free throw and Garland answered with a basket for a 23-15 score, North Posey leading. The Vikings scored twice to stretch the difference to 13 points. Trevor Claridge stopped the run, briefly. The Vikings again had a two and a three for a 33-18 lead. Claridge hit a three and Aldridge Mar y Visits Elizabeth At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is Continued on Page B3 Lady Titans countered with a three by Smith. Olivia Leighty made a free throw, Gibson Southern had a two by Sara White for a 21-17 edge. Like cut the gap with a two followed by one of two free throws to cut the gap back to one, 20-21. After a Lady Titan free throw, Like canned a two for a 22-22 tie. Halbrader made two free throws for a 24-22 Pike Central lead. However, the Lady Titans closed the quarter with two baskets to regain the lead in the end 26-24 as both teams had Continued on Page B4 NETedition Exclusive video Tyler Garland tries to get the basketball away from a North Posey player as Garrett Elliott and Shaine Eck, 10, try to help during a loose ball battle on Saturday night. had two free throws, but the Vikings countered with a three and a two by Alec Werry to lead 38-23 at the break. Chris Downey and Claridge each scored a pair of points to open the third quarter. After a North Posey basket Claridge made another two pointer but the Vikings countered with a three to lead 43-29. Aldridge hit for a two, Claridge had a basket and a free throw to cut the gap to nine with 4:40 left in the third quarter. After a time out, Pike Central turned the ball over three straight times and all three led to North Posey points to send the Vikings ahead 49-34. The Vikings ended the period not allowing Pike Central a single point for the final 4:40 and added a three point play to lead 52-34 at the end. The Chargers started out fast in the fourth period with a free throw and a three pointer by Claridge. Garland added two free throws and Claridge canned another three pointer to cut the difference to nine points, 43-52. A three point play by Garland pulled the Chargers within eight, 46-54 with 1:11 to play. The Chargers missed two shots including one off an offensive rebound and had to foul. North Posey made six of seven free throws in the final minute. Aldridge and Garland made shots and had the difference down to eight with 17.3 seconds on the clock, but that was as close as it would get. The Vikings made one last free throw and Pike Central ended up nine points down. The Vikings had eight turnovers in the final quarter, all were during the first six minutes when Pike Central rallied. They held on to the basketball when they needed to. Wes Harness led the Vikings with 18 points, Kyle Whitemore 16 and Alec Werry 12. Trevor Claridge led the Chargers and all scorers with 20 points and Tyler Garland had 17, 10 in the first half. Claridge had six rebounds and Aldridge three. Shaine Eck and Claridge each had two assists. Claridge and Aldridge each had two steals. Pike Central 50, North Posey 59: Trevor Claridge 2,4,4-5,3,6,20; Tyler Garland 6,0,5-6,4,2,17; Shaine Eck 0,0,0-0,4,2,0; Kegan Aldridge 2,0,2-3,3,3,6; Chris Downey 1,0,00,2,1,2; Dustin Meny 0,0,0-0,1,0,0; Garrett Elliott 1,1,0-0,0,1,5; Nathan Simmons 0,0,0-0,1,1,0; PC totals 17-40 (5), 11-14, 18, 15, 50; NP totals 19-39 (8), 13-16, 15, 25, 59.