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Saturday, March 1

High school basketball

[MARCH 1, 2003] 

Boys

Central State Eight
     At Lincoln

Lanphier     12   28   43     56

Lincoln        16   30   49     67

Lincoln -- Courtwright 0-0-0, Gallagher 3-2-9, Bunch 6-4-16, Farmer 2-2-7, Komnick 2-0-5, Whalen 0-0-0, Pickering 0-0-0, Harmsen 0-0-0, Peters 0-0-0, Charron 0-0-0, Schroder 3-0-7, Werner 2-0-3, Young 8-4-20, Heidbreder 0-0-0.  Totals 25-12-67.  Three-point field goals (5): Farmer, Gallagher, Komnick, Schroder, Werner.

Young was high scorer for Lincoln with 20 points.

[photo by Bob Frank]

Class A regionals
Olympia regional
     At Stanford

Illini Central     5   16   24     39

Olympia          7   12   25     36

Illini Central -- Scott 4-6-14, Cunningham 2-0-4, Sickmeyer 1-2-4, Norton 2-0-6, Williams 0-2-2, Swaar 0-0-0, Harrison 1-3-5, Schrick 0-2-2, Van Etten 0-0-0, Hieronymus 1-0-2, Bergman 0-0-0.  Totals - 11-15-39.

Olympia -- Olson 1-0-2, Schmidgall 1-1-3, Schultz 1-0-2, Kieser 5-4-14, Dillenburg 3-0-8, Thornton 1-0-3, Elliott 0-2-2, Boudeman 1-0-2, Williams 0-0-0.  Totals 13-7-36. 

Three-point field goals:  Illini Central (2) - Norton 2; Olympia (3) - Dillenburg 2, Thornton.

     At Mount Pulaski

Warrensburg-Latham 62, Riverton 53

LCC men's basketball

[MARCH 1, 2003]  LCC won Friday night over Moody Bible Institute, 82-64. The Preachers were up 40-26 at the half and led the entire way. Scoring leaders for Lincoln were Tim Schultz with 17, Caleb Edson and Kyle Rogier with16, and John Holderby with 13.

Schultz led in rebounds as well, with six. Holderby handed out six assists, while Caleb Edson and Tommy Ponsot both had five.

Moody, which struggled early, was led by Eric DeSantis with 16 and Chris Sendelbach with 10.

LCC goes on to the regional championship against Maranatha Baptist Bible College on Saturday at 2 p.m. The NCCAA Midwest Regional Tournament is being held at the Laughlin Center on the campus of Lincoln Christian College.

[Aaron Johnson]

LCC women's basketball

[MARCH 1, 2003]  LCC ended the season with a 58-65 loss to Maranatha Baptist Bible in the second round of the NCCAA Division II women's regional in Wyoming, Mich.  LCC's Christina Wright led all scorers with 19 points.

Results

Maranatha Baptist     23   42     65

Lincoln Christian        27   31     58

LCC -- Megan Foster 3-0-6, Brittany Robbins 6-4-18, Stephanie Urton 5-0-10, Christina Wright 7-4-19, Stephanie Williaims 2-0-4, Casey Strange 0-0-0, Kim Jewell 0-1-1, Sarah Over 0-0-0.  Totals 23-9-58.  Three-point field goals (3): Robbins 2, Wright.

Large challenge ahead for Redbirds

[MARCH 1, 2003]  NORMAL -- Just two games left ... both on the road ... both against the teams fighting for first place in the Missouri Valley Conference. The challenge is large for Illinois State, which has its own possible State Farm-Missouri Valley Conference Tournament bid on the line as well. First, it's a 3 p.m. Saturday matchup at Creighton. Then, it's the regular-season finale Wednesday at Indiana State.

Illinois State, 7-18 overall, 5-11 in the Missouri Valley, likely needs a win to reach the tournament. If both the Redbirds and Evansville, 5-10 with three games left, don't win again, it will boil down to either the Valley's regression index or possibly a coin flip for the No. 8 team. The regression index awards points for each win based on where teams finished in the standings. A win over a team finishing higher in the final standings is worth more than a win over a lower team, and road wins are worth more than home victories.

With four road wins in Valley play this year, the Redbirds certainly know how to get the job done on somebody else's court. Coach Jenny Yopp thinks that isn't on the players' minds.

"Our kids have never been caught up in that home-and-away thing," said Yopp. "They just want to win games. They know enough about the situation to know they are still in it. Mostly, we focus on preparing for each opponent."

[to top of second column in this article]

The Bluejays, 18-6 overall, 11-4 in the Missouri Valley, are fresh from a win over Indiana State, giving Creighton a tie on the loss side with the Sycamores, 12-4, atop the Valley. Creighton is trying to repeat as regular-season champ. Indiana State was the preseason pick to finish seventh -- which is where the Sycamores have finished the last three seasons.

Christy Neneman, looking to repeat as Missouri Valley Most Valuable Player, tuned up Indiana State for 20 points and 17 rebounds in a 72-59 win over the Sycamores Thursday. Both teams play full-court pressure defense and are top-flight 3-point shooting teams.

"Certainly, preparing for teams as different as Drake and Creighton is a challenge, but playing Indiana State after Creighton means you're seeing that same level of pressure twice in a row," said Yopp. "We played well against Creighton (a 77-72 loss at Redbird Arena) the first time around."

[Thomas Lamonica, Illinois State University]

Big Ten single-session tickets on sale Monday

[MARCH 1, 2003]  PARK RIDGE -- All-session tickets to the sixth annual Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament at the United Center in Chicago will be split into single-session tickets that will be available for public sale beginning at 10 a.m. Monday, March 3.

The tournament includes five sessions over a period of four days, and the cost per session is $45. Tickets may be purchased at the United Center box office, at all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster online or by calling Ticketmaster at (312) 559-1212.

The tournament schedule is as follows:

Session 1: 11 a.m., Thursday, March 13

No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed

No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed

No. 6 seed vs. No. 11 seed

Session 2: 11 a.m., Friday, March 14

No. 1 seed vs. winner of No. 8-9 game

No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 seed

Session 3: 5:40 p.m., Friday, March 14

No. 2 seed vs. winner of No. 7-10 game

No. 3 seed vs. winner of No. 6-11 game

Session 4: 12:40 p.m., Saturday, March 15

Semifinal game 1

Semifinal game 2

Session 5: 2:30 p.m., Sunday, March 16

Tournament final

[Scott Chipman, associate director of communications, Big Ten Conference]

Zion Lutheran Lady Eagles heading for state

[MARCH 1, 2003]  The Lady Eagles basketball team from Zion Lutheran School in Lincoln has been chosen to participate in the Lutheran School Association State Basketball Tournament March 7-9 at locations in the Chicago area.

The Lady Eagles were 14-3 during the season, with three tournament championships.

The team members are Kate Kastendick, Ally Fuiten, Michelle Eack, Candace Schmidt, Amanda Podbelsek, Colleen Pech, Brittany Rogers and Kate Harmsen.  The team is coached by Dan Podbelsek and Brian Fuiten.

Their first game at the state tournament will be on Friday, March 7, with Naperville-Bethany Lutheran at Trinity Lutheran School in Roselle.

Click here for tournament brackets (in Adobe Acrobat. [Click here to download the Adobe Acrobat reader.]

[Zion Lutheran School news release]

The Zion Lutheran Lady Eagles basketball team will play in a March 7-9 state tournament for Lutheran schools. Pictured, left to right, in the front row are Michelle Eack, Ally Fuiten, Kate Kastendick, Amanda Podbelsek. In back are Brian Fuiten, Colleen Pech, Lauren May, Candace Schmidt, Brittany Rogers, Kate Harmsen and head coach Dan Podbelsek.

Articles from the past week

[FEB. 24, 2003]  With Lincoln High School's 55-30 victory over Peoria Woodruff on Saturday night, coach Neil Alexander boldly went where NO former Railer coach had ever gone before -- to a record No. 272 win! IF he stays here, he'll easily surpass 300 and may get as many as 500 or more!

Yes, LCHS has had a lot of good players during his tenure, but few know how to put them together to produce poetry in motion out on the court. And that's what Railsplitter basketball is synonymous with.

For those of us who've been treated to great basketball in Roy S. Anderson gymnasium for several decades, we're probably too close to it. We may not even be able to truly appreciate what we have while we have it.

Try this test sometime: Find someone in the crowd who is NOT from Lincoln. Ask THEM their assessment of Railer hoops. I have done this. I invited several friends to games over a three- to five-year period and asked them their thoughts. They couldn't get over it -- a town our size being able to not only compete with the Chicago Kings and Proviso Easts, but oftentimes beat them!

Not many towns can lay claim to the kind of domination that coach Alexander's teams have had, but then few really know what goes into making a championship team and program.

The LDN just pauses now to say CONGRATULATIONS, Railers and Coach "Al." May there be many more to follow!

The Illinois Fighting Illini rode the second-half hot shooting of senior Brian Cook to send Northwestern down to defeat 73-61. Cook's dominating play accounted for a line that showed 17 points, 10 rebounds while limiting himself to just two fouls. Cook, however, did receive a great amount of help from Roger Powell's 20 tallies and Dee Brown's 18 markers. But, it was Cook's work on the glass that sent the Illini to a resounding 32-24 edge on the boards, to the delight of 15,429 happy United Center fans. Illinois shot 55 percent from the field while holding the Wildcats to 45 percent shooting. Cook is some 90 points from climbing into fifth place on Illinois' all-time scoring list. Also, with the win, Coach Bill Self netted his 200th collegiate victory! Next up for the Illini is a Tuesday night home date with the pesky Hoosiers of Indiana University.

[to top of second column in this article]

Alexander lifts Redbirds over Marshall in Bracket-Buster

Gregg Alexander's outstanding play lifted the ISU Redbirds to their first road win of the season, at Marshall in ESPN's Bracket Buster series. Alexander continues to will this struggling team back to life. [Click here for game report from ISU.]

CONGRATULATIONS to coach Matthew Stoltzenburg and his team for winning the 8A state basketball title! Look for these young hoopsters at an upcoming installment of "FANdamonium"…

Join Greg Taylor and his guests, Jeff Benjamin and Tom Larry, as they discuss Lincoln Railer hoops and a host of other topics tonight at 6. You can link to them right here on the LDN, watch them on CITV Channel 5 or listen to them on FIX 96.3 on your FM radio dial. It promises to be a great show. Call them at 735-3306 with your question or comment.

[Jeff Mayfield]

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