BOYS

The Christmas season not only means Santa Claus and presents under the tree but also the annual boys basketball holiday tournaments. Several local teams will be participating in holiday tournaments this week.

In Avon, the Avon Holiday tournament will get underway with the Eagles hosting Keystone, Clearview and Elyria Catholic. The tournament will be played on Monday and Wednesday.

At Midview high school, the annual DiFranco tournament offers up the Middies, Amherst and Southview. The DiFranco tourney will start  Monday and finish up Tuesday night.

The Lorain County Classic will be played outside the county as Sandusky hosts Elyria, Admiral King and Vermilion. The LC classic will also be a two-day event starting Tuesday and finishing up Wednesday evening.

Other area teams playing in tournaments this week include Avon Lake playing at the Brunswick tournament  Monday and Tuesday. Olmsted Falls will play in the Brush Holiday tournament  Tuesday and Wednesday.

With the holidays falling on the traditional boys basketball night (Friday), Saturday games are virtually non-existent tonight and next week.

Beginning Monday, area fans will have three straight days of basketball action to take them into the new year.

Hot hands

Brookside’s Nick Jackman took things into his own hands this past Tuesday night against Black River. The senior forward worked the outside portion of his game by connecting on a 3-pointer to open the game. From there, Jackman hit for three more threes in the first quarter, as the Cardinals raced to a 26-13

first-quarter lead.

When Jackman went cold in the second quarter, teammate Chris Matthias hit a trio of threes in the second quarter, as the Cardinals withstood a short-lived rally by Black River before pulling away for a 74-58 win.

It was the Cardinals’ first win of the year after opening the season with three straight losses.

“I think we needed it going into the Christmas break,” said Jackman of the win. ‘We have a lot of practices between now and our next game. We needed this because we needed to learn how to win.”

Jackman finished with 32 points while Matthias chipped in with nine points.

Still improving

Despite last Friday’s 81-52 thrashing at the hands of Patriot Athletic Conference Stripes Division rival Clearview, Columbia is headed in the right direction. The Raiders, who stand at 3-3 on the year, entered the season with seven total wins over the past three years.

Tuesday, the Raiders bounced back from the Clearview game with a 58-43 win over Oberlin. Senior Patrick Farrell led Columbia with 21 points and his coach Matt Sheets felt his team over thought its game against the Clippers.

“I think we bought into the Clearview mystique a little bit and they got us back on our heels,” said Sheets, who is going to have his team do what it does best — constant defensive pressure and an attacking offense. “When things went bad, they went really bad (against Clearview). We got timid. We’re going to do what we do best and if we get beat, then we get beat.”

Earning respect

Open Door’s Abe Valentine continues to show why he is one of the top players in the county as he had a double-double against Christian Community last week. Valentine finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds in the Patriots’ 65-34 win.

“(Valentine) showed why he’s one of the top players in the county,” said CC coach Mike Gross. “He seemed to get every big bucket and every big rebound. We tried to do what we could against him but we never got it right.”

Information regarding the local boys basketball scene and player of the week nominations can be submitted to Hans Schneider at hanshans@verizon.net.

GIRLS

Firelands is 5-3. That’s not going to set the world on fire, but it’s progress and coach Dave Kudela is happy about it. The Falcons won just five games all last season.

“Our goal every year is to get better,” Kudela said after Firelands won the Clearview Holiday Classic title Tuesday night. “I think our girls have taken that challenge and they’re working real hard as a group. We all know we rely on Teresa (Davis) to do a lot, but we talked about how (Tuesday night) it wasn’t going to be about one girl getting us through. It was going to have to be a team thing.”

Kudela said he can trace part of the team’s progress to maturity.

“I think a lot of it is maturity,” he said. “For instance, Megan (Kudela) was a freshman last year and she really had no idea what to expect. Every time we went into a new game, it was something different for her. Now she’s got a better understanding of the overall picture.

“I think Teresa’s maturity has been a big part,” he said. “She’s not trying to do everything herself. She tried at times last year to do too much. But I think the biggest factor is confidence. Everybody has enough confidence this year that they feel comfortable and know we’re not beaten before we get off the bus.”

Kudela said credit for the improvement goes to the players, not to anything he has changed in his approach to coaching.

“The girls work at what we ask them to do,” he said. “They pay attention and every game it’s something else we ask them to do. They’ve done a fantastic job of stepping up and getting it done. I’m real proud of them.”

Davis is grand

           She didn’t know it at the time, but the Falcons’ Davis scored the 1,000th point of her four-year career when she made a foul shot against Western Reserve on Saturday. She finished the game with 15 points, putting her within striking distance of the school career record 1,136 set by Cassie Wilmoth in the early 1990s.

           “Actually, I didn’t know it was my 1,000th point,” said Davis. “My coaches didn’t tell me. Once I made the free throw, they just stopped the game, presented me with the ball and announced it. It was really nice. I’ll probably have my teammates autograph it and put it in my trophy case. I’m really excited, actually.”

           Needing fewer than 137 points to pass Wilmoth, Davis added 16 in a 54-53 win over Vermilion on Monday night in the opening game of the Clearview Holiday Classic. She came back with 22 the next night against Clearview. Davis and the Falcons have at least 13 games remaining. She needs to average about eight points a game to get the record.

Brewer wins 100th

           Bay coach Chris Brewer notched the 100th victory of his seven-year career in the Rockets’ West Shore Conference victory over Firelands last week. Brewer, who has taken two Rockets teams to within one win of the Final Four, said his players didn’t know he had reached the milestone.

           “They had no idea because I forgot to tell them after the game,” Brewer said. “When I finally told them, they were excited about it and happy to be part of a milestone. But this is great. In seven years, we’ve had a lot of good seasons and I’ve been blessed to have a lot of great players. It’s nice to be able to share it with them.”

           His 2004 Rockets, with Karina Kendrick, defeated Keystone in the Rocky River district final. They eventually lost to No. 8 Salem in the Barberton regional final. The 2006 team, with Paris Pugliese, won the Rocky River district. It advanced again to the Barberton regional final before losing a heartbreaker to Lake Catholic,

42-39.

           For inquiring minds, Kendrick is now in law school at West Virginia University and Pugliese is playing at Notre Dame College of Ohio.

Panthers update

           When Elyria Catholic’s Ashley Schuster rolled her ankle last weekend, it took double-digit points and rebounds out of the lineup for the Panthers’ game with Midview on Wednesday.

           The 5-foot-11 Schuster is averaging 10.3 points and 12 rebounds per game. And she’s blocked 10 shots for the season.

           “She hasn’t been practicing, but she’ll be ready to play Monday night at Cleveland Heights,” said EC coach Eric Rothgery.

           Fortunately, the Panthers other big girls — 5-9 Katie Shoemaker and 6-0 Sara Schneider — filled in nicely under the basket in EC’s 54-28 rout of the Middies. Schneider, who’s nearly averaging a double-double (9.7 points and 10.1 boards), scored 14 points against Midivew, and Shoemaker, who averages about six rebounds, scored 12.

           Emily Taylor had 11 points against the Middies and her 11.2 points per game average leads the team. She’s also averaging five boards, five assists and three steals. Myrasia Flowers is averaging 6.3 points, Mimi Rothgery nearly three assists and 2.1 steals and Tory Rothgery 2.3 assists.

Showdown ahead

           Think about reserving your tickets now for the big

Westlake-Midpark showdown Jan. 6 on the Meteors’ court. The teams are tied for the Southwestern Conference lead at 4-0 and neither has an SWC game until then. Overall, the Demons have won eight straight.

           They handed Brecksville its first SWC loss in a big

double-overtime thriller at home last weekend. It moved the Demons a step closer to repeating as conference champion, but they face big challenges between now and the end of the regular season.

           They play Brecksville again on the road Feb. 3 and Midpark travels to Westlake three days later. And they shouldn’t lose sight of Amherst, which comes in on Jan. 16. The Comets and Brecksville are tied for second place in the SWC.

           No surprise, Westlake defeated Brecksville after junior star Kalpana Beach took the game over through the second half and the overtimes. She scored a career-high 33 points, 27 after halftime.

           “This means a lot because they are the toughest team we’ve played so far,” Beach said after the 73-64 victory. “We knew we had to come out here and play our best. It’s great.”

           It wasn’t so great when the Demons, cruising by eight points with just over two minutes to play, and didn’t score again in regulation. They found themselves tied, 50-all, and facing a team with momentum going into overtime.

           “We definitely thought we had it and we just started slacking off,” Beach said. “We had to pick it up at the end.”

Contact Daniels at 329-7135

or basketball@bobdaniels.Info.

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