The annual Border Wars in the Ft. Wayne area will take place this weekend, and a couple of articles from the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette are appearing on line regarding the selection process of the team and the final picks.  The Border Wars, officially known as the Nancy Rehm Indiana-Ohio All-Star Classic, will take place at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 29 at Indiana Tech.  The roster looks like this:
   
Nickole Behnke, Homestead
Thyoshi Chambers, Wayne
Summer Cress, Fremont
Nicole Ehle, Woodlan
Sarah Gerber, Norwell
Bridget Horwitz, DeKalb
Julie Johnson, Homestead
Brooksie King, Columbia City
Jennie Moppert, Luers
Michelle Shippy, DeKalb
Carrie Stine, Luers
Sparkle Williams, Snider

Several more signings and commitments have made their way to us:
   
The St. Francis Cougars have signed senior Brandy Myers (5'10 F) of Prairie Heights.  Myers led her team in scoring this past season with 12.6 points and rebounding with 5.1 per game.  The athletic and speedy forward shot 59% from the field, 83% from the line, and is highly regarded as an outstanding pressure defender.  According to the St. Francis staff, Myers fits in perfectly with the Cougars' style of play and they are very excited to have her in their program.
   
According to a reliable source, Jennifer Brock (6'0 F) and Jessica Brock (6'0 G) of 1A fame are bound for Indiana-Purdue Ft. Wayne.  The Rising Sun twins led their team to the 1A state championship game, where they fell to Triton on a last-second trey in OT.  Jessica averaged 18.4 points, 4.0 assists, 4.1 steals and 9.1 rebounds per game, while sister Jennifer averaged 13.0 points, 2.7 steals and 7.5 rebounds per game as seniors. 
   
Luers senior Carrie Stine has signed with Murray State.  The 5'10 C/F averaged 9.7 points and 7.6 rebounds her senior year at Luers after transferring from Leo.  She helped her team to a second consecutive 2A state championship in March, where she scored 14 points in the title game.
   
Anderson senior Colleen Sargent (5'11 G/F) will be joining sister Shannon Sargent at Huntington College next fall.  According to the Anderson Herald Bulletin, Colleen will play both basketball and volleyball for the Forresters.  Although hampered by injuries throughout her senior year, Sargent averaged 9.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists for Anderson during the past season.  Besides athletics, Sargent excels in the classroom, where she carries a 4.13 GPA.

Coach Mark Ziegler has decided to resign his post at Hauser after four years.  According to the Columbus Republic, Ziegler improved the Jets programs during his tenure, going from a 2-17 record his first year to 8-13 the second.  

According to the Post-Tribune, Valparaiso University recently honored its players with post-season awards, and former Miss Basketball Lisa Winter was awarded Most Valuable Player, as well as the Most Improved Player, after her second season at the starting point guard position.  Winter led the Mid-Continent Conference in assists with 5.4 per game.  Winter is part of a 6-member senior group that led the Crusaders to a 72-42 record during the last four years and its first-ever Mid-Con title.  Although Winter has one year of eligibility left due to red-shirting for one year, she has decided to forego her senior year with the Crusaders.  Other award winners were named as follows:
   
Megan Newcomer (NorthWood) - Mental Attitude
Jeanette Gray (Valparaiso) - Best Offensive
Jill Campbell (Chesterton) - Co-Best Defensive
Shantil Robinson (Lawrence North) - Co-Best Defensive
Sarrah Stricklett (Valparaiso) - Leading Scorer

According to the Lafayette Journal & Courier Boiler Station, Purdue junior Katie Douglas will spend the entire summer recovering from surgery she underwent last week to correct ligament damage in her ankle.  Douglas is expected to be ready to practice with her team next fall.

The Fever made its picks in the WNBA draft on Tuesday, and the hopes for a good pick at the No. 26 spot, which was their first of the day, came true.  Looking for a good forward, the Fever picked up Lithuanian star Jurgita Streimikyte.  (Do NOT ask me how to pronounce that.)  According to the Indianapolis Star, Gita, as she will be forever referred to here at the RRR, stands 6'3 and speaks fluent Italian and very little English.  Regardless of the communication issue, the experienced European player can play either forward position and is highly regarded by 2000 Olympics head coach Nell Fortner, who will assume the top coaching spot with the Fever next summer.  Two other players were picked up for Indiana, including Usha Gilmore (6'0 F) from Rutgers and Latavia Coleman (5'10 F), who was acquired through a trade with Houston for Indiana's last two draft picks.  As it stands, here is the current roster of the Fever:
   
Forwards:  Gita, Gilmore, Coleman and Monica Maxwell (East Chicago)
Centers:  Kara Wolters and Nyree Roberts
Shooting Guards:  Stephanie McCarty (Seeger) and Gordana Grubin
Point Guards:  Chantel Tremitiere and Rita Williams

According to the Columbus Republic, a former Indiana high school player was drafted by the Charlotte Sting on Tuesday.  Louisville University senior Jill Morton (North Decatur) was picked 34th overall and will fulfill the Sting's wish for a perimeter shooter.  The 5'5 guard was the top three-point shooter in the NCAA with a 53.5% consistency rate (nearly 4 percentage points better than runner-up Sue Bird of UConn), hitting 69 of 129 attempts.

Speaking of NCAA Division I three-point shooting percentage leaders, three of the top six Division I three-point shooters for the just finished season are from Indiana:  No. 1 Jill Morton (North Decatur) of Louisville, No. 5 April Kirby (Mt. Vernon) of Indiana State, and No. 6 Amy Waugh (Homestead) of Xavier.  Also, an interesting bit of trivia is that 11 of the top 15 three-point shooters for the 1999-2000 season were either freshmen or sophomores.  It looks like the youngsters are pushing college basketball to new heights.

The Terre Haute Tribune-Star recently named its Wabash Valley girls basketball picks.  Unlike a lot of media post-season honors, the T-S picked their First Team by position -- three guards, a forward and a center.  Four of the five picks were Indiana players (the other was from Illinois) as follows:
   
Lauren Dailey (5'11 G) West Vigo
Melanie Boeglin (5'6 G) Terre Haute South
Brigett Branson (6'1 C) Turkey Run
Lindsay Secrest (6'0 F) Bloomfield

The Kentucky All-Stars will be sporting a "tall" look with some firepower at the All-Star series this summer.  A roster from the Louisville Courier Journal gives the story with the following info:
   

     
 According to a short scouting report obtained by one of our RRR readers, here are some of the players who could inflict the most damage in the All-Star series for the Kentucky team, which many consider hands-down the best in that state's history:
   
Jenni Benningfield - Going to Vandy and expected to start as a freshman. She is major college material.
   
SeSe Helm - Brutal on the boards.  Expected to start at Kentucky next year and a big name in the SEC right away.
   
Kandi Brown - Excellent 3-point shooter and 80% free throw career shooter.  She led her high school team, West Carter, to the Kentucky state championship.  Dad was her coach.  Going to Morehead.
   
Tamaka Clay - Has a very good 15-foot jumper. Great defensively, but can at times play out of control.

The all-important decisions regarding summer exposure camps and events are coming up soon for high school players around the state.  Exposure events can be an expensive proposition, especially for juniors- and seniors-to-be looking to go to a number of these events in order to raise their stock with college programs.  Before you send in that deposit, however, be sure and check the NCAA Summer 2000 Women's Certified Basketball Events list to see if the events you are interested in attending are certified as legal viewing opportunities for Division I coaches during the summer evaluation window from July 8 through July 31.  Be wary of events that claim to have "college recruiters" outside of that period, as this does not mean college coaches, but may be referring to for-profit recruiting and rating organizations only.  According to NCAA rules, "basketball coaches at Division I institutions may attend only institutional basketball camps as defined in Bylaw 13.13.1.1 and non-institutional organized events -- such as camps, leagues, tournaments and festivals -- certified under Bylaw 30.16."  The link above gives a list of those certified events.  Most likely, this list is updated periodically as more and more events apply for certification.  As a convenience in checking this list in the future, we have included the NCAA certified events link on our AAU Info page.

Pat McKee of the Indianapolis Star revealed some girls basketball news in a recent article about Evansville University's new basketball coach (see next news item). 
  
Arminda Urban (5'7 G) of Pike High School will be playing at Parkland College in Illinois next season.  
  
Georgetown frosh Nok Duany (Bloomington North) has been selected to the Big East All-Star Team, which will compete in Canada May 26-June 4.  You can view the entire Big East All-Stars roster, the team's itinerary, and profiles on each of the players at the Big East Conference website.
   
Finally, Indiana University will be holding a reception open to the public at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday to welcome new head women's coach, Kathi Bennett.  The reception will be at Assembly Hall in the I-Lounge.  IU team members will also be in attendance.

It is official.  The new Evansville University head coach is Tricia Cullop, a 1989 North Knox High School grad, former High School All-American, and Purdue player.  A few articles are appearing on-line about Cullop's hiring in the Evansville Courier & Press., inlcuding the official announcement, a bit about Cullop's background, and reaction from Evansville players.  Cullop comes to the Lady Aces from Xavier, where she was a highly regarded assistant there.  Decatur Central senior Mary Blessing, who committed to the Aces during the early signing period, will be highly welcomed by Cullop, who states she very much wants the versatile guard to play at Evansville.

According to the Muncie Star Press, Ball State recently honored players from its women's program for the just finished 16-13 season.  Awards to former Indiana high school players were made as follows:
   
Amy Zercher (NorthWood) - Cardinal Pride
Christy Jones (Muncie Central) - Rebounding
Laurie Kitts (Eastbrook) - Free Throw Shooting
Shannon Copeland (Evansville North) - Co-Captain
   
BSU also recently announced that it has signed former Union High School player Amy Lindsay, who spent the last two years in the Vincennes University program.  The 6'3 center has impressive numbers with 16.7 points, 11 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.9 blocks and 1.9 steals per game for Vincennes her sophomore season.  Lindsay's height should help the Cardinals, who played without a single player over 5'11 in 1999-2000.  You can read more about Lindsay's signing at the BSU women's basketball website.

Purdue junior Katie Douglas (Perry Meridian) was interviewed by ESPN during the Final Four in Philadelphia, and offered up her expectations for next season at Purdue.  It's an interesting read that tells a lot about this tough player's will to improve, even though she is already considered one of the top juniors in the nation.

The WNBA draft is today, and if you're interested in following along, the Fans Only website will be updating draft picks throughout the day.  As we reported earlier, the Indy Fever will not get a pick until about midway through the second round with a No. 26 pick.  It's other picks will be No. 42 in the third round and No. 58 in the fourth round.

Finally, the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette recently revealed that former Woodlan grad Kara Moore has transferred across town from IPFW to St. Francis.  Moore will be a junior next season and will play the 2-guard position for St. Francis.  Moore is expected to be a very good fit with the current members of the St. Francis team.

The Kentucky All Stars, who will be facing a quick, guard-oriented Indiana group this summer, were named in the Louisville Courier Journal on Monday.  Central Indiana Sports has the complete list of Kentucky All Star players on its site if you would like to see who they are.  We are hoping to get an expanded version of that list with heights and positions sometime in the near future.  According to those near the Kentucky border, this particular All Star team is considered to be one of that state's best ever.  Should be a good showdown this summer!

The 8th annual Northwest Indiana Basketball Classic was held last Saturday, and although the local media didn't report the results from the event, a couple of girls basketball faithful were kind enough to give a general recap of the evening's events on our Message Board.  The East team defeated the West, and Portage senior Michele Pickering was awarded the Monica Maxwell Award as the game's MVP.  Valpo's Erin Sampsel won the 3-point shooting contest that evening as well.  The complete rosters for the East and West teams were as follows:
    

Earlier this week, the Indianapolis Star featured an article regarding the recent East-West Hoosier Basketball Coaches Association All-Star Game at Corydon High School.  Franklin's Anna Waugh was named the game's MVP, leading the East team to a 101-61 win with 20 points and 4 assists.  The article includes a small write-up about the game, together with box scores.

The Marion Chronicle-Tribune published its All-Grant County First Team recently as follows:
   
Amie Owsley, Sr. - Lakeview Christian
(also named Grant County Player of the Year)
Kristen Whitton, Sr. - Lakeview Christian
Andrea Monroe, Sr. - Oak Hill
Tiffany Wright, Sr. - Eastbrook
Jackie Withrow, Sr. - Mississinewa
Amy Wisser, Jr. - Marion
    
Bryan Elliott of Mississinewa and Greg Whitton of Lakeview Christian were named co-Coaches of the Year.

Now that withdrawal is settling in with the close of the high school season, here might be a quick, but short-lived fix.  The release of the first-ever major motion picture revolving around the theme of women's basketball will be released tonight.  "Love & Basketball" is a story about two childhood rivals and sweethearts who both become major basketball stars for their high school, college and pro teams, and how they deal with life's issues and each other along the way.  You can view more details about the cast and story, including a trailer for the movie, at the Love & Basketball movie website.  If the girls' side of the sport is handled correctly in this one, it is bound to become a favorite among the high school player circuit.  (My guess is that the video version will be out just in time for Christmas next basketball season...)

The IHSAA will be voting on May 1 to decide whether or not a number of private schools presently not members of the IHSAA will get the opportunity to apply for membership.  According to the South Bend Tribune, a minor language change in the by-laws will create that opportunity for a number of small Christian schools throughout Indiana if passed.  If the change is allowed, however, it will be four long years before those applying schools can participate in the IHSAA state tournament.  It takes that long for the waiting period to expire from the time of application to the time of inclusion in the IHSAA.  Other rule changes of interest which will be under consideration at the May 1 meeting include (proposed changes in italics):

-- A school shall be assigned to a class by the IHSAA and shall enter the IHSAA tournament in that assigned class unless it notifies the Association, in writing, that it wishes to move up one or more classes. This notification shall (1) accompany the submission of the school’s enrollment figures and (2) be effective for the succeeding two years. A school may choose to move up in a specific sport/s.
   

--A player must have participated in five days of organized practice under the direct supervision of the high school coaching staff in order to be eligible for a scrimmage. The five days of organized practice may be waived for those athletes coming directly from a fall sport.

The lengthy list of proposed changes for all sports can be found at the IHSAA website.

Some future Michigan City area stars were recently mentioned in the Michigan City News-Dispatch.  The Michigan City American Legion 11U team qualified for the upcoming AAU 11U State Tournament in Terre Haute.  While the high school level AAU teams are just getting underway with off-season competition, the younger players have been at it since January, some even earlier.  For a complete list of the teams that have qualified for the various levels of state AAU competition, visit the Indiana AAU website.  The weekend of March 27, the 12U and 13U regional competition begins at eight different locations around the state.  If you live near Columbus, Fishers, Franklin, Lafayette, Perry Meridian, Warren Central or Warsaw, check the AAU website for times and gym locations to catch a glimpse of the rising stars in 12U and 13U Indiana girls basketball.  The state meet for all four age groups will take place the weekend of May 5-7.

Speaking of AAU, we've cleared the decks on our Report Scores posting board, and any of you who are interested in passing along any info regarding game recaps or general information from the off-season are more than welcome to on that board.  The Indiana AAU state tournament season for high school age players will be here before you know it, as signified by the roster deadline coming up soon on May 12.  Also, we are continuing to get rosters on our AAU Directory.  Be sure your team is listed, too!

With Kathi Bennett headed to Indiana University, the Evansville athletic office has been conducting a search for a new head coach.  According to the Evansville Courier & Press, one of the leading candidates for the job is Xavier assistant coach, Tricia Cullop.  Cullop is a North Knox graduate and former player at Purdue that is receiving high marks among the whopping 70 applicants interested in the position.   

The Indianapolis Fever is not looking forward to the upcoming WNBA draft.  After trading away their No. 10 pick to Miami for homestate star Stephanie McCarty, the Fever is looking at pick No. 26 on draft day.  According to the Indianapolis Star,  the Fever is looking for some offense in a perimeter shooter and a power forward.  The pickings most likely will be slim when the team gets its first selection, which is expected to take place midway through the second round.

In yesterday's issue of the Post-Tribune, Valparaiso coach Greg Kirby was named its 2000 Coach of the Year.  Kirby led his team to a 25-2 season and the 4A state championship game.  Kirby was also named the P-T Coach of the Year in 1996, the last time Valparaiso made a state championship appearance.

The Full Court Press recently released its Regional High School Rankings for the Midwest, and Ben Davis was ranked No. 2 in the Midwest, while Valparaiso was ranked No. 15.  (The rankings are not yet available on the non-subscription area of their website.)

Three southern Indiana seniors have commited to Franklin College.  Jenny Cramer (5'11 G/F) of Franklin, Rachel Naugle  ( 5'11 G) of Corydon Central, and Sarah Nobbe  ( 6'3  C) of South Decatur will all become Franklin Grizzlies next season.  Nobbe is a question mark for the Franklin women's program at this time in that she's undecided as to whether she will play two sports or concentrate solely on volleyball.  But with a 1350+ SAT score, a 4.0 GPA, and No. 1 class ranking, she was the recipient of Franklin's only full academic scholarship, so she is a definite somewhere within the Franklin athletic program.
     
The Princeton Clarion reports that three southern Indiana seniors have committed to the colleges of their choice.  Kelly Livingston has made official her intention to sign with Oakland City University.  The 6-0 forward averaged 7.0 points and 5.0 assists per game her senior year.   Pike Central senior Erin Evans has also committed to the Lady Oaks program at Oakland City U.  Evans averaged 21.0 points per game as a senior.  Finally, Livingston's NE Dubois teammate, Missy Merkel, has committed to Vincennes University.  The 6-1 center, who averaged 23.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, has opted to attend the two-year program at Vincennes to take advantage of a robotics program there. 

The Terre Haute Tribune Star is reporting that Morgan Township's Kim McGinley will be signing with Indiana State University, but not for basketball.  The senior is being recruited for the Sycamore softball team.  According to the article, McGinley was looking for an opportunity to play two sports -- either softball and basketball or softball and volleyball -- and had offers from Valparaiso and Colorado State for softball, but opted for ISU.  It is unclear if McGinley will be playing a sport other than softball for the Sycamores.

The Indianapolis Star is carrying a review of the North/South All Star game held recently at Marion High School.  The article has complete box scores from the game in which the South defeated the North 102-94.  Pressure defense seemed to be the difference in the game, with the North giving up 34 turnovers to the South's 16.  The leading scorer for the North was Jessica Reiter of Penn with 20 points and for the South, Lynne Johnson of Corydon with 17 points.

A weekly newspaper from Kokomo and the surrounding area, the Kokomo Perspective, recently named Hillary Beck the area girls basketball player of the year.  Also, the Kokomo Tribune recently released its all-area team:
   
Hillary Beck (Kokomo)
Blair Boles (Northwestern)
Betsy Bowser (Lewis Cass)
Brooke Burkholder (Western)
Stacey Childs (Eastern)
Lyndi Cruikshank (Peru)
Deuanna Hendrix (Kokomo)
Heather Luttrell (Northwestern)
Casey McLeod (Tipton)
Ashley Rogers (Clinton Central)
Nina Spitznogle (Lewis Cass)
Steph Wideman (Taylor)

The All Mid-Southern Conference picks were recently made as follows: 
   
Lynne Johnson of Corydon
Leigh Carr of North Harrison
Laura Little of Salem
Treasure Miller of Charlestown
Leah Wischmeier of Brownstown
Sarah Winchester of Austin
Kaelin Hall of Charlestown
Jennifer Ashton of Corydon
Rachel Naugle of Corydon
Joy Clark of Scottsburg

Coach of the Year:  Tony Hall of Charlestown
Player of the Year:  Lynne Johnson of Corydon

According to the Frankfort Times, sophomore Hotdog guard Jenni Wheeler attended the NCAA Youth Education through Sports (YES) clinic last weekend at the new NCAA Hall of Champions facility in Indianapolis.  Wheeler was there representing her Frankfort sectional championship team as its outstanding participant.  The NCAA clinic was offered free of charge to participants as one of its community outreach programs.

A new IHSAA commissioner has been named to replace departing Bob Gardner, who is taking on COO responsibilities for the National Federation.  Assistant IHSAA commissioner Blake Ress will assume top duties at the IHSAA office on July 1.  Ress, a former principal from Martinsville High School, is looking forward to taking on the responsibilities and challenges associated with the IHSAA.   You can read about Ress in the Indianapolis Star, Post-Tribune, and South Bend Tribune.

According to the Indianapolis Star, the University of Indianapolis has named a replacement coach for Lisa Hicks, who became U of I's health and P.E. chair.  Replacing Hicks will be former Purdue player, Teri Moren.  Moren, also a graduate of Seymour High School, was a Northwestern assistant coach last year after previously serving in the same capacity at Butler University for six years.  

For those of you who were following the NCAA Tournament, the Lady Vols website has a few interesting tournament notes, including a quote by UT frosh April McDivitt on the loss to Connecticut.

Finally, as a service to players and college coaches, we are trying to compile a 2000 AAU Directory as a way for college coaches to find athletes they are interested in watching and following during the summer observation period.  If you would like to have that information available to college coaches, please take the time to enter your team's information in our directory.

Two NWI players were on the Indiana honorable mention list in USA Today's post season girls basketball honors on Friday.  Although no seniors were listed on the USA Today first through third senior teams, underclassmen Shyra Ely (Ben Davis), Shanna Zolman (Wawasee), and Katie Gearlds (Beech Grove) were listed on its Top Underclassmen to Watch list.   The USA Today Indiana Player of the Year honor went to Ashley Allen of Ben Davis.  Making the USA Today honorable mention list for Indiana were Jackie Batteast (SB Washington), Jennifer DesJean (Perry Meridian), Ely, Kate Endress (Evansville Memorial), Gearlds, Johna Goff (Mt. Vernon), Suzie Hammel (Lebanon), Shalicia Hurns (Broad Ripple), Lynne Johnson (Corydon), Brooksie King (Columbia City), Rachel King (Luers), Sara Nord (Jeffersonville), Jessica Reiter (Penn), Courtney Rosenbaum (Valpo), Erin Sampsel (Valpo), Abby Scharlow (New Albany), Lindsey Secrest (Bloomfield), Sara Strahm (Ben Davis), Anna Waugh (Franklin), Sharika Webb (Cathedral), and Zolman.

The Northland Athletic Conference recently released its girls All-Conference selections.  They are as follows:  Nicole Avery (Argos), Jill Hattenberger and T. J. Merrion (MC Marquette), Tara Kensinger, Leah Matusiak and Andrea Minix (Oregon-Davis), Tracie Mezera and Silvia Montes (Rier forest), Tarah Kitchell and Kristin Busse (South Central), and Jacque Drubert (Westville).

South Bend Washington junior Jackie Batteast was recently the object of a short feature in the March 27 issue of the Women's Basketball Journal.  According to the article, Batteast is leaning heavily toward Notre Dame and Purdue on her list of college choices, which also include every Big Ten and Big East program.   According to SB Washington coach Marilyn Coddens, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois have shown very heavy interest in Batteast.  The outstanding junior averaged 21.3 points, 14.0 rebounds, 3.5 blocks, 3.2 assists and 2.7 steals per game.  Batteast also carries a 3.9 GPA.

According to a reliable source, it was announced at the Reebok North/South All Star Classic on Sunday that Abby Scharlow of New Albany has verballed to Cleveland State, while Jennifer DesJean committed to attend Ballarmine next fall.  The two Indiana All Stars are members of a senior class that has a number of very good players who have not yet committed to a college program.  The NCAA late signing period begins this Wednesday and will continue through May 15.  You can view our entire list of committed seniors so far on our College Commitments & Signings page.

Yorktown senior Jama Gilmore was named the Muncie Star Press Player of the Year yesterday.  The 6'5 senior, who first picked up organized basketball just five years ago, set numerous records at Yorktown and will play for the Jaguars at IUPUI next season.

According to the Hoosier Times, Bedford North Lawrence coach Jay Ritter is stepping down from his coaching duties there to spend more time with his family and pursue a master's in education.  Under Ritter's two-year term with BNL, the Stars were 31-12.  No replacement for Ritter was named in the article.