The Press-Dispatch

B-1 Wednesday, December 18, 2013 The Press-Dispatch Corlett leads Chargers past Evansville Reitz Southridge holds off Chargers for 50-44 win By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Senior Colton Corlett placed first in diving as well as in the 50-yard freestyle as the Pike Central High School boys' swimming team defeated visiting Evansville Reitz 10552 on Monday, Dec. 16. Corlett also teamed up with senior Kyle Keepes, junior Aaron Keepes and freshman Chaney McKinney to finish first in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay. "We swam pretty well," said Chargers head coach Jason McKinney. "Reitz just has a few boys but they're all really good swimmers, and we matched up pretty good with them. The only thing that hurt them was the size of their team. Our numbers really kicked in." Chaney McKinney placed first in the 200-yard freestyle and finished second in the 100-yard butterfly, despite knocking more than four seconds off his previous best time. "He still got second, but that's a big cut," said Jason McKinney. Aaron Keepes, meanwhile, placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke and second in the 200-yard individual medley. Chargers posting second-place finishes in individual events included sophomore Austin Kendall in the 50-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle, freshman Jimmy Krietemeyer in diving, senior River Mosby in the 100-yard freestyle, Kyle Keepes in the 100-yard backstroke, and freshman Evan Marchino in the 100-yard breaststroke. Posting third-place finishes individually were freshman Reid Craig in the 200-yard freestyle, Marchino in the 200-yard individual medley, Mosby in diving, Kyle Keepes in the 100-yard butterfly, senior Alex Lin in the 100-yard freestyle, senior Laron Griffith in the 500-yard freestyle, and Krietemeyer in the 100-yard backstroke. Posting fourth-place finishes individually were senior William Wu in the 50-yard freestyle and Craig in the 500-yard freestyle. In addition, the relay team of Krietemeyer, Griffith, Kendall and Marchino placed second in both the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay. In the girls' meet, freshman Maya Frederick placed first in the 200-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke as the Lady Chargers dropped a 94-84 decision to the Lady Panthers. Frederick also teamed with seniors Kendall Dudenhoeffer and Kylee Claridge and sophomore Ally Sutherland to place first in the 200-yard freestyle relay and second in the 200-yard medley relay. In addition, Sutherland placed first in the 50-yard freestyle and freshman Sylvia Henson placed first in diving. "We swam some really good races," Jason McKinney said. "We stayed within 10 points of them, which they're a pretty solid swim team. So I was pretty happy with them." Posting second-place finishes individually were Claridge in the 200-yard individual medley and the 100-yard breaststroke, senior Lauren Luff in the 50-yard freestyle, Kendall Dudenhoeffer in the 100-yard butterfly and Sutherland in the 100-yard freestyle. Posting third-place finishes individualSee SWIMMING on B-2 Pike Central High School freshman Jolene Whitehead (25) fires up a shot during game action at Southridge on Saturday, Dec. 14. Ed Cahill photo. Southridge routs Lady Chargers, 47-22 By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Pike Central High School sophmore Tyler Toopes (11) goes airborne while taking a shot as Southridge senior Chad O'Bryan (10) and junior Connor Craig (21) look on during game action on Saturday, Dec. 14. Ed Cahill photo. By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net Southridge scored 14 straight points to erase a 21-17 second-quarter deficit enroute to a 50-44 victory over host Pike Central in a high school boys' basketball game on Saturday, Dec. 14. The Chargers hit five of their first six field goal attempts – including a three-pointer by freshman Colton White – while taking an 116 lead with 3:32 left in the opening period. However, Pike Central missed its next eight shots from the floor, allowing the Raiders to pull to within 14-12 with 6:40 remaining in the second quarter. A basket by freshman Gabe Elliott and a three-pointer by junior Garrett Elliott extended the Chargers' lead to 19-12, but Southridge answered with a three-pointer by junior Cam O'Bryan and a basket by senior Cody Thompson, cutting the deficit to 1917 with 3:24 left in the first half. After senior Kegan Aldridge scored on a lay-up to stretch Pike Central's lead to 21-17, the Raiders scored the last seven points of the first half and the first seven points of the second half to surge ahead 31-21. The Chargers, sparked by three-pointers from Garrett Elliott and White, outscored Southridge 9-2 to pull back to within 3330 with 1:45 left in the third period, but the Raiders answered with a 10-3 scoring run to stretch its lead to 43-33 with 5:16 remaining in the fourth quarter. Pike Central would get no closer than five points the rest of the game. "We were playing on adrenaline," said Chargers' head coach John Mokris, whose team fell to 0-1 overall and 0-1 in the Pocket Athletic Conference. "We're probably one of the last teams in the state, if not the last team, that has played, so the kids were ready to play, but I knew that would wear off. I knew that we would have to come down to earth a little bit. "We are young, so we are going to make mistakes," Mokris added. "We only had eight turnovers at halftime; we ended up with 18, which is way too many. But they sped us up a little bit, and we didn't slow down." Mokris said that the inability of the Chargers to practice from Thursday, Dec. 5, through Wednesday, Dec. 11, because of inclement weather, caused his team to become fatigued in the defeat. "We had snowstorms, so we didn't practice for a week, couldn't come in, so that hurt us," Mokris said. "We had two practices before we played tonight. When you're tired, you make mistakes, and we got tired. "But I'm not making any excuses," Mokris added. "We made mistakes and we've got to learn from them, plain and simple. We're building a program here, and you have to start from the bottom and build your way to the top." Garrett Elliott hit five of nine field goal attempts, including three of four tries from beyond the three-point line, to lead the Chargers in scoring with 13 points. White hit three of four three-point attempts while adding nine points. He also had a team-high four steals while dishing out three assists. Aldridge and Gabe Elliott had eight points each while junior Tyler Toopes tossed in six points. See Boys on B-3 Sophomore guards Kayla Voegerl and Kadie Dearing scored 13 and 12 points, respectively, as Southridge routed visiting Pike Central 47-22 in a high school girls' basketball game on Saturday, Dec. 14. The Lady Chargers, playing for the first time since Saturday, Nov. 30, made just six of 34 field goal attempts – a 17.6 percent average – and turned the ball over 17 times while falling to 0-6 overall and 0-2 in the Pocket Athletic Conference. "It felt like starting over," said Pike Central head coach Randy Graham, whose team was unable to practice from Thursday, Dec. 5, through Wednesday, Dec. 11, due to inclement weather conditions. "It's tough when you can't practice, but it was just the circumstance we were put in. "They were fortunate," Graham said of Southridge, which had played at North Posey two nights earlier, winning 42-39. "They got to practice all week and they've had a game, so they've been able to get out here and play." Pike Central made just two of its first 13 field goal attempts – on baskets by freshman guard/forward Jolene Whitehead and senior forward Emily Howes – as the Lady Raiders took a 14-4 lead with 5:01 left in the second period. A free throw by senior guard Stephanie Richardson and back-toback baskets by sophomore forward/ center Samantha Halbrader pulled the Lady Chargers to within 14-9 with 3:52 remaining in the first half. After Dearing scored to give Southridge a 16-9 lead, Halbrader hit a pair of free throws to narrow the gap to 16-11 with 3:19 left in the second quarter. The Lady Raiders, however, scored five unanswered points, on a pair of See girls on B-3 8th grade Lady Chargers suffer first loss of the season, 33-23 By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net While the weather outside has been frightful, Pike Central Middle School eighth grade girls' basketball coach Eric Knight found very little delightful about a 33-23 loss to visiting Heritage Hills on Thursday, Dec. 12. "We missed a lot of free throws and that hurt us very much at the end of the game," said Knight, whose Lady Chargers fell to 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the Pocket Athletic Conference. "The girls had lots of looks at layups and little bunnies that did not fall for us." "When you put all that together, Pike Central Middle School eighth grader Demi Croak (21) looks to pass the ball while being defended by Heritage Hills' Claire Brinkman (20). Ed Cahill photo. it ended up being a difficult game, and one we need to put behind us and play on," Knight added. "This was a tough game and a very tough loss to swallow." Pike Central fell behind 6-0 before Jalah Barnes hit a short jumper to get the Lady Chargers on the scoreboard with 1:45 left in the first quarter. However, Pike Central turned the ball over on three of its next four possessions as the Lady Patriots on baskets by Abby Wahl and Kate Kaetzel extended their lead to 10-2 at the end of the opening period. Following an exchange of baskets by Pike Central's Brook Nalley and Heritage Hills' Claire Brink- man, the Lady Chargers scored six consecutive points on baskets by Barnes, Cailey Furman and Audra Stone to pull to within 12-10 with 3:30 remaining in the second quarter. After Kaetzel hit a jumper to give the Lady Patriots a 14-10 lead, Barnes answered with a lay-up, off an assist by Nalley, to cut the deficit back to two points with 2:12 left in the first half. Following a basket by Wahl that extended Heritage Hills' lead to 16-12, Pike Central would get five shots at the basket on its next possession but came away empty. Then, after the Lady Chargers held the Lady Patriots scoreless on See first loss on B-7 7th graders withstand pressure in 23-14 win over Lady Jeeps By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net If pressure can turn a lump of coal into a diamond, Pike Central Middle School seventh grade girls' basketball coach Ryne Biesterveld could be sitting on a mother lode of the precious gem after his Lady Chargers held off visiting Northeast Dubois for a 23-14 win on Saturday, Dec. 14. After the Lady Jeeps rallied from a nine-point deficit to pull to within 17-14 with 2:25 left in the fourth quarter, Pike Central forced Northeast Dubois to turn the ball over five times in its final six possessions – including four on steals by the Lady Chargers – while scoring the game's final six points. "The girls do a good job when they stay calm and run the offense," said Biesterveld, whose team improved to 7-2. "I was glad to see that when Northeast Dubois closed the gap that we held our composure and won the game." Pike Central, which committed 26 turnovers during a 22-16 loss two nights earlier to visiting Heritage Hills, turned the ball over just once in the first quarter while taking a 9-4 lead. The Lady Jeeps twice pulled to within three points – at 9-6 and 11-8 – before the Lady Chargers scored four unanswered points on baskets by Jordyn Graham and Becca Crow to extend their lead to 15-8 at halftime. Neither team was able to muster much offense in the third period, as Pike Central – on a pair of free throws by Demi Croak – outscored Northeast Dubois 2-0 to take a 17-8 lead into the fourth quarter. The Lady Jeeps, who turned the ball over nine times in the third period while missing all four of their field goal attempts, scored six straight points – on baskets by Lydia Burke, Bethany Dodd and Brooklyn Dodd – to pull to within 17-14. Following a timeout by Northeast Dubois, Pike Central's Kylee Shoultz scored off an assist by Graham to extend the Lady Chargers' lead to 19-14 with 2:12 left. Then, following a steal by Shoultz, Hailey Marchino scored on a short jumper to give Pike Central a 21-14 lead with 1:28 remaining. Croak, who had two steals in the final 90 seconds, scored off of an assist by Shoultz with 28 seconds left to end the scoring. Croak led the Lady Chargers in scoring with nine points while Graham, Marchino and Shoultz added four points each. Crow, who grabbed a team-high six rebounds while recording five steals, rounded out the scoring for Pike Central with two points. Croak also had five rebounds and four steals while dishing out a pair of assists. Graham had three assists. For the game, the Lady Chargers made 10 of 40 field goal attempts, a 25 percent average, and hit three of 10 tries from the free throw line while turning the ball over 14 times. "The girls played well as a team, and it was nice to have had a practice to fix some of the mistakes from Thursday's game," Bies- terveld said. Biesterveld said that one area that he will be focusing on during practice is free throw shooting. "We were 3-for-10 from the free throw line," Biesterveld said. "I stress to the girls how important free throws are because they are essentially free points, so we will definitely continue to work on shooting a higher percentage." Brittany Dodd paced Northeast Dubois (1-3) with four points and six rebounds. Burke, Bethany Dodd, Brooklyn Dodd, Elizabeth Kunz and Camryn Stemle added two points each. For the game, the Lady Jeeps made seven of 24 field goal attempts, a 29.2 percent average, and missed their only free throw attempt while turning the ball over See Jeeps on B-4

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