Munster seniors Susan Hay and Stephanie Gill have made their college plans known for next season.  Hay will be playing at Washington University-St. Louis, a D-III program that has seen a great deal of success at the national level.  The Bears have captured the NCAA D-III National Title three years running, and are positioned to make another run after a 30-0 showing this past season.  Hay averaged 13.6 points per game for the Mustangs this past season and was on The Times All-Area First Team.  The 5'8 guard will join former NWI standout Meghann Sullivan of Andrean, who averaged 2.7 points and 5.5 minutes per game for the Bears at the forward position as a freshman.
   
Hay's Munster teammate Gill, who is also an outstanding softball pitcher, has signed with Indiana Wesleyan.  The 5'10 forward was one of the area's toughest outside shooting threats and averaged 12.8 points, 3.3 assists, and 2.1 steals per game for the Mustangs.  Gill and Hay were the core of a strong senior group at Munster which had a very successful season until it was cut short at the buzzer by Gary West Side in the Sectional 1 championship game.

Decatur Central standout Mary Blessing has signed with the University of Toledo after being released from her commitment to Evansville University, initially made during the early signing period last fall.  According to the UT Lady Rockets website, Blessing will be appealing to the Collegiate Commisoner's Association to become immediately eligible for the upcoming college season.  Blessing will be joining former Indiana players Tia Davis (Kokomo), Courtney Risinger (Terre Haute South) and Kristin Wischmeier (Brownstown Central), on the Toledo roster. 

Clinton Prairie senior Heather Allen has committed to the women's program at St. Joseph's in Rensselaer.  According to the official team website, the 5'8 guard/forward led her team in nearly every statistical category during the 1999-2000 season.

Lots of great action over the weekend at the Indiana's Finest Invitational in Indianapolis.  A number of standout players and AAU teams were in attendance, ranging from the 14U to 18U age groups.  We only caught the action taking place in the upper competition Black Division, which featured some DI recruits headed to Indiana schools - Charliss Ridley of the Chicago Swish, who will play at Indiana next season, and Lindsey Hicks of the Dayton Hoopstars, who will play at Purdue.  The two faced off in the first game we saw on Saturday, and the Hoopstars came out on top to advance, but not without a battle.  Some of you will remember that Ridley played her freshman year at Perry Meridian before moving to Illinois.  The 18U Hoopstars featured a tower in #43, pictured at right, who far and away was the most imposing player at the invitational.  At 6'7 and having just turned 15-years-old, this young lady is bound to hear from a number of DI programs over the next 3-4 years.

A number of NWI area players were competing in this tournament, including Jenny DeMuth (Highland) and Alex Webster (Crown Point) with 16U Mohr Magic, Susan Hay (Munster) with 17U Indiana's Finest, and Becky Schuster (North Newton) with 18U Mohr Magic.  Courtney Rosenbaum (Valparaiso), who also plays with Hay's team, was absent due to a stress fracture in her foot and is expected to be out of action for about three weeks.  DeMuth and Webster helped take their team to the championship game against some stiff competition, including the 18U Dayton Hoopstars in the semi-finals.  The championship game matched two Indiana teams from two of the youngest age groups in the invitational -- 15U Indiana's Finest and 16U Mohr Magic.  The Finest team features a number of sophomore and freshmen standouts, including Katie Gearlds of Beech Grove, Sharika Webb of Cathedral, Candace Dark of Fountain Central, and Kristen Seright of Carmel, to name a few.  Besides DeMuth and Webster, the 16U Mohr Magic team features versatile junior Kristen Weddle of Terre Haute South, Ebba Gebisa of West Lafayette, Alissa Kirby of Mt. Vernon and a host of other sophomores and juniors that are standouts in their own right.  

The title game was a great one, with Mohr Magic going on an early 13-0 run to start the game behind the offensive efforts of Weddle, Gebisa and DeMuth.   But it didn't take long for Indiana's Finest to get it in gear and with a surging run, put the Magic behind by 13 at the half.  Gearlds, Dark and Natalie Collins (Franklin Central) were deadly from outside and made the Magic pay for perimeter defensive lapses, which basically defined the difference in the game.  The Magic played a good defensive game in spurts, however, and made a run of steals, scores and heads-up passing plays to bring it within 5 with about 3 minutes to go in the game.  Mohr Magic's Darci Rector (Terre Haute South), a scrappy defensive dynamo, got the best steal of the day off of Webb and converted  for a bucket to start the run.  In the end, though, Magic couldn't get over the hump and Finest kept the defensive pressure on to get some critical Magic turnovers in the closing minutes to preserve the win.  A great game by both teams.

Hay's 17U Finest fell in the first round by 1 point and managed the best finish they could in the loser's bracket coming out on top there to finish in 9th place with a 54-39 win over the 17U Ohio Eclipse.  Schuster's 18U Mohr Magic team finished 14th in a 97-56 loss to the Chicago Swish, featuring Indiana recruit Ridley.  Schuster went up against Ridley on a number of occasions and held her own, but the team's effort overall fell short.  Lots of great games and individual match-ups throughout the day in a very well-run tournament.  We have lots more pictures from our weekend at the invitational and will be making those available later in the week.

An interesting analysis of how the changes in the men's recruiting rules will later impact the women's game is made by columnist Clay Kallam at the CBS Sportsline website.  It is Kallam's belief that the same restrictions that have been applied to the men's game, i.e. no summer recruiting allowed by the year 2002, will also be applied to the women's game in the future.  The impact on the recruiting efforts of a number of schools would be immense but, according to Kallam, also has a few silver linings that could eventually help the women's game overall.  Some interesting reading.

Purdue's Camille Cooper was named to the U. S. Jones Cup Team, which will compete in the World University Games this summer.  Cooper is the only player with Indiana connections on the team this year.  You can get all the particulars on the rest of the selectees at the USA Basketball website.

Wheeler head coach Dennis Spoor has announced that he will not be coaching the Bearcats next season.  After seven years with the program, Spoor can look back upon an 88-55 record during his tenure with Wheeler, bringing a struggling program back from the dead to become one of the best in the tough Porter County Conference.  Spoor and his wife, Karen, have both been very active in creating a positive feeder program for Wheeler through AAU.  The Times has complete details about Spoor's resignation. 

After some speculation late in the season that perhaps she had changed her mind, long-time Rushville coach Cinda Brown reaffirmed her earlier announcement of retirement when she resigned her post last week.  According to the Shelbyville News, Brown amassed a 448-109 record during her career at Rushville, and won 18 straight sectional titles.  A pioneer and icon in girls basketball, Brown will be greatly missed by the Indiana girls basketball community.

A bit away from the basketball floor, but newsworthy nonetheless, are the accomplishments of Kokomo senior Latisha Poulard.  The speedy sprinter recently captured the sectional titles in the 100 and 200 for the Kats.  Big deal, you say?  Well that is the FOURTH time she has accomplished that feat as a varsity runner.  From freshman year to senior year, Poulard has four consecutive sectional championships in both events.  It relates that her athleticism and competitive drive transferred to the basketball floor as well.  Poulard will continue her basketball career at Missouri-Rolla.  The track coach there would be wise to have a small chat with Poulard when she arrives in the Show Me State. 

Another fine weekend of AAU competition will be taking place at Southport High School starting Saturday at the Indiana's Finest Invitational.  A number of fine players and teams from Indiana, Ohio and Illinois will be in attendance for a weekend of high level competition.  Two different divisions will compete, the Black Division and the Red Division.  If you would like to see the game lineups for the day, which begin at 1:00 p.m., you can download a copy of both brackets and maps to the various venues, all near Southport High School.  (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download for free here.)

Sportswriter Clay Kallam at CBS Sportsline gives his season-ending take on the best high schools in the nation, including a few comments about Ben Davis and Shyra Ely.  Kallam also gives his own review on that movie we've mentioned here once or twice, Love & Basketball.

According to The Times, Valparaiso University has acquired a new assistant coach from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.  Cheryl Fielitz, a 4-year head coach at MBI, will take over for departing Valpo assistant Lisa Diefenthaler, who is headed to the women's program at the University of Louisville.  Fielitz has some experience at the DI level, which she acquired as head coach at Nicholls State from 1993-94.

Lafayette Jeff fans could hear a familiar voice at Conseco Fieldhouse this summer if things work out right for Omar Masoodi, the public address voice of the Jeff Bronchos for basketball and football.  Masoodi is one of three finalists for the WNBA's Indiana Fever announcing job.  According to the Lafayette Journal & Courier, 200 individuals tried out for the position.  Tonight, the three finalists will each get a turn at the microphone when the Fever hosts Sacramento in preseason competition.  Whoever gives the best performance, will get the job permanently for the rest of the summer.

Some of you might have noticed that the message board was down for awhile yesterday.  The reason behind the down time is that we have moved the Region Roundball Review to a new internet host service.  I had some code that needed to be changed on the message board scripting after the switch, and it took me a while to figure it out.  All seems to be running smoothly now.  If you run into any other problems anywhere on the site, be sure a let me know.  As a precaution, you might want to dump your browser cache (temporary internet files folder) so it doesn't pick up the RRR pages from the old site and not the new one.  That way you can be sure that you are seeing the latest updates here at the RRR.  If you're not sure how to clear your browser cache, check the help menu on your browser.

A good source has revealed that the Region Roundball Review's 2A-1A Player of the Year, Melanie Brumbaugh, will be headed to Taylor University.  The 5'11 forward/center was a force for the Hanover Central Wildcats during her four years there, setting her school's all-time scoring record.  Brumbaugh averaged 19.3 points and 9.5 rebounds her senior season and was named the Porter County Conference Player of the Year.  Next season at Taylor, Brumbaugh will be playing with former Crown Point standout and fellow Cedar Lake native Jen Peak, who was a member of the 1996-97 Lady Bulldogs team that fell to Martinsville in the state championship game that season.

After reviewing the Indianapolis Star 2000 Signings for girls basketball, we came across of couple of signings we did not know about.  North Central senior Sarah Shackle, a 5'6 guard, has signed with Indianapolis University, Franklin Central's Lindsey Pride, a 5'10 forward, has signed with Marion, and Kokomo Wildkat Latisha Poulard, a 5'8 guard, has signed with Missouri-Rolla.  

The South Bend Tribune is reporting that 1984 Miss Indiana Basketball and Purdue player, Sharon Versyp (Mishawaka), has been hired as the new women's basketball coach at the University of Maine.  Versyp will leave James Madison, where she was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator.  Before becoming an assistant coach at Louisville in 1996-97, Versyp also spent time as a high school coach in Indiana at Benton Central and Lawrence North.  You can read all about Versyp's latest college post assignment at the University of Maine women's basketball website.

The 11U AAU Nationals will be taking place in Lafayette this summer from June 30 through July 8.  According to Tournament Director, Jeff Waldon, approximately 80 teams from around the nation will be in attendance.  The opening ceremonies on June 30 will be open to the public free of charge and include appearances by Purdue head coach Kristy Curry and possibly Lady Boilermaker Katie Douglas, together with indoor fireworks, a light show, music and a Olympics style presentation of teams.  Waldon is looking for volunteers to work at the scorers' table (clock, scorebook, 30-second shot clock) and volunteers to just help out.  If you think you might be able to volunteer at least one day of your time to give these young AAU visitors a taste of Hoosier Hospitality, you can call Jeff Waldon at home (765-447-4460) or on his cell phone (765-714-9466) after 11:30 a.m. for details.

Today is the last day of the NCAA late signing period, and several more commitments and changes in choice have been made:

With the departure of head coach Kathi Bennett from Evansville to IU, Mary Blessing (Decatur Central) was granted a waiver to withdraw her commitment with the Aces and transfer elsewhere.  According to the Evansville Courier & Press, many rumors have circulated that Blessing would follow Bennett to IU, but apparently she is "leaning heavily toward" the University of Toledo instead.  The paper also states that under ordinary NCAA rules, Blessing would be required to sit out a year because she is actually transferring to another school, but apparently she will appeal due to special circumstances.
   
Carmel senior Katherine Seright, a 6'0 forward, has signed with Indiana-Purdue Ft. Wayne.  According to abbreviated statistics at the Indianapolis Star, Seright averaged 8.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, and averaged a very respectable 43% from the field and 82% from the line through 16 games.  Seright joins a very nice recruiting class for IPFW which also includes Jessica Brock and Jennifer Brock from Rising Sun and Becky Schuster from North Newton.
  
The Evansville Courier & Press indicates that New Albany's Erin Wall is headed to the University of Southern Indiana next season.   The 5'8 guard averaged 9.1 points, 3.3 assists and 1.9 steals per game.
   
A reliable source has informed us that Michelle Harter of Jeffersonville has signed with Indiana University-Southeast.  Harter is a 5'11 forward.
   
Also in the Evansville Courier & Press, it is revealed that former Alexandria standout Miranda Kettery is transferring from Liberty University, a DI school, to the University of Southern Indiana.  A 6'2 forward/center, Kettery averaged just 6.7 minutes per game behind a 6'8 center at Liberty.  According to the article, Kettery is looking for more playing time in a college situation closer to home and USI fits the bill.

We've often heard coaches sing praises about their team after a game, or belt out a concert of criticism from the sidelines during one, but Crown Point coach Mike Malaski has musical talent of the real kind. The first-year JV coach and 4-year CP soccer head coach will be performing a benefit concert this Saturday and Sunday at CPHS, with all proceeds going to the Lady Bulldogs basketball and soccer programs.  The aspiring singer/teacher/coach just recently released a self-produced CD of original tunes entitled "Hey, Coach!" and was profiled in The Times last Friday.  

St. Joseph's senior Angie Hupfer was recently honored as the female recipient of the 1999-2000 Richard F. Scharf Paragon Award.  The  award is given each year in the Great Lakes Valley Conference for academic excellence, athletic achievement and leadership.  Hupfer was the Division II leading scorer for two consecutive seasons in 1998-1999 and 1999-2000.

When you watch Katie Douglas (Perry Meridian) play for Purdue, you can't help but admire how tough she is on the floor, physically and mentally.  A lot of life experiences go into each and every one of us to make us the persons we are, and what Katie has endured is above and beyond and maybe gives us some insight into her character.  Many of you will remember that when she was a senior in high school, Katie lost her dad to cancer.  In fact, if I recall correctly, he passed away the night before the Indiana-Kentucky All Star game, in which Katie was a participant in 1997.  Her mom, Karen, didn't let Katie know until the game was over, respecting her husband's wishes to let Katie pursue her dreams.  Her dad was highly involved in his daughter's basketball career, like so many of us parents are, and was integral to her success in high school and beyond.  Now Katie has lost again -- this time her mom, who succumbed to a serious illness late in April.   Karen Douglas's situation was not known widely in the public, and during and after the NCAA tournament series, there was some criticism that Katie lacked her usual game and did not help her team as much as she could have to get beyond the second round.  What am I getting at?  I guess this just goes to show us that as fans, parents and casual spectators, we tend to be highly critical of youngsters who are trying their hardest to do the things they know how to do.  They don't always get to perform under optimal circumstances.  Keeping that in mind, we need to remember all that we see on the floor is not always a result of what's taking place within that 50-by-84-foot rectangle between the sidelines.  Our deepest sympathies and support go to Katie and her brothers and sister, and we look forward to seeing No. 32 back on the floor at Mackey Arena under better circumstances next season.

According to the Indianapolis Star, the Fever lost 72-52 to the Monarchs after trailing by only 2 at the half in the Fever's first exhibition game ever.  The Monarchs went on a 19-1 run to start the second, and the Fever never recovered.  Leading scorer for Indiana was Kara Wolters with 12, followed by Stephanie McCarty with 9, all treys.  Some interesting trivia, East Chicago's Monica Maxwell, who started at shooting guard, scored the first points in team history with two free throws at the 2:15 mark.  For more reading, the Franklin Courier-Journal has a feature article about McCarty and her move back to Indiana.

Some more college signing notes & info:
      
A few comments appeared in the Post-Tribune yesterday regarding the signing of Portage's Michele Pickering with the University of Wisconsin-Parkside.  The belief by UW-P head coach Paulette Stein is that Pickering has ability to be an impact player for the Rangers next season as "a blue collar point guard... who sees the court well and will improve our team a great deal."  According to the UW-P website, Stein, who was the head coach at Butler from 1988-1993, coached the Rangers to a 9-18 record this past season.  Interestingly, Pickering will go up against long-time DAC foe Erin Sampsel for the next four years when UW-P plays Great Lakes Valley Conference opponent St. Joseph's.
   
Chesterton's Bridget Schwoegler will hang up the basketball shoes for a pair of cleats next season.  According to the Michigan City News Dispatch, the 12-letter standout will play softball for Valparaiso University.  Schwoegler was the Trojans' MVP and Duneland All-Conference in basketball this past season, averaging 13.8 points and 7 rebounds per game.
   
The Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette has a nice article on all of the local talent that will be playing for St. Francis next season.  Included in that list are Nickole Behnke and Julie Johnson of Homestead, Natalie Johnson of Huntington North, Brandi Myers of Prairie Heights and Nichole Ehle of Woodlan.
     
Central Indiana Sports is reporting that Sarah Adams (5'10 F) of Mt.Vernon (Fortville) will play at Goshen College next season.
   
Floyd Knobs (IN) resident Catie Knable, who attends Assumption High School in Louisville, Kentucky, has signed with Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.  According to the MU website, the 6'2 power forward made the All-Tournament team at the prestigious Pickerington National Invitational Tournament in Ohio.

Washington Township has announced the hiring of new head basketball coach Dustin Nelson.  Nelson, who is a teacher at the high school, replaces outgoing coach Bob Duzan.  Nelson brings some experience with him, having previously served as a volunteer assistant varsity coach at Portage under Reneé Turpa.

Tennessee head coach  Pat Summit will be holding her breath this summer when Wawasee's Shanna Zolman heads to Colorado Springs for the Jr. World Championship team tryouts.  It is widely known that Zolman has expressed a great desire to play at Tennessee, but it is also known that she is considering playing situations at other schools as well, such as Notre Dame and national champion Connecticut.  Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma might get a chance to make his case with Zolman this summer since he was recently named the head coach of this year's Jr. World team by USA Basketball.  (This has got to have Summit squirming.)  This will also be a great opportunity for Zolman to check out Auriemma's coaching style and approach.  Is it possible that Zolman, a sophomore, will make an early commitment to avoid the intense pressures which will begin on the first day of the official contact period, September 9?  The most recent outstanding player to commit to a top program early was Kelly Komara (Lake Central) who verballed to Purdue at the start of her junior year.

How popular is girls basketball in Indiana?  The 10U through 13U AAU state tournaments took place last weekend and the minivan caravans were on the highways transporting over 2,000 players to six different sites around the state for an intensive weekend of girls basketball.  (We know this for a fact, because we think we saw at least half of those shoe-polish-painted minivans headed home on  I-65 Sunday!)  With three levels of state tournaments for each age group and 16 teams at each level, that equates to 384 AAU games played over the weekend.  And unbelievably, a majority of the individual scores from all of those games were posted on the Indiana AAU website by mid-morning Monday.  Some of you may know that, besides authoring the RRR, I am also the web administrator for Indiana AAU.  I take absolutely no credit for getting all of those scores up early.  Who you need to thank is a person who usually receives more grief than gratitude, even though he gets no wage or salary for administering the girls basketball program for AAU.  Pat McKee, the Chair of the Indiana Association AAU Girls Basketball Executive Committee and sportswriter for the Indianapolis Star, sits in front of his computer after every AAU tournament weekend and inputs all the scores to send to me for copying, cutting and pasting on the AAU website.  Often those e-mails with the scores are logged in on my computer at around 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. in the morning.  Just thought I'd pass that along so if you see Pat during the upper-age tournaments later this summer you might step up and tell him "thanks" for providing that information.  Years ago, we AAU coaches would have walked over hot coals for that information, especially the regional results heading into the state tournament.
     

The champions from the Level I tournaments in all age groups came primarily from AAU powerhouse program Indiana's Finest, the lone exception being the Spiece Diamonds who captured the title in the 13U division.  Spiece has a number of freshmen-to-be on its roster who might make an impact at their respective high schools next season.  One of the offensive leaders during the state tournament for this team, Janese Banks (37 points, 27 rebounds, 12 assists), is headed to a school that really doesn't need any help, but she will probably get varsity minutes next season regardless.  Banks will appear on the roster at Ben Davis and is considered a star of the future for the Giants.  Three other top scorers for Spiece are also headed to strong programs.  Ashley Cazee (53 points, 8 assists, 7 steals) will be sporting a Center Grove uniform next season, while the duo of Tanisha Duerson (20 points) and Christina Cunningham (23 points, 18 rebounds, 7 steals) will bolster Perry Meridian.  Spiece only won by 1 point in the semi-finals round against Mohr Magic 13U, which features a NWI player with a familiar last name -- Julie DeMuth, younger sister of Jenny DeMuth.  Watch for baby sister to appear on the Trojan varsity roster next season, and keep an eye out for all of these incoming frosh next season.
   
Locally, two NWI teams took home championship trophies in the Level II division, and one in Level III.  The Crown Point Tigers captured the 13U Level II title, while the Duneland Lady Lakers captured both the 12U Level II and 13U Level III titles.  Crown Point has a nice group that will be coming in at the high school level over the next two years, with some lightning-quick guards in Cassie Pruzin and Kaitlyn Sertich.  Both are seventh graders and make a great guard tandem that will give Crown Point opponents fits in a couple of years.  Moving up to the high school next season is standout Crown Point eighth grader Blayre Reeves, a nice forward who will be a factor for the Bulldogs in a season or two.
     
Speaking of AAU, just a reminder to the AAU coaches out there that the initial deadline for the upcoming 14U through 18U state tournaments is upon us.  After the initial deadline tomorrow, May 12, it will cost you big bucks to turn in a late entry or make changes on your roster before May 19, which is the absolute final deadline for tournament entries.  And as always, those deadlines are not postmark dates, but dates when entry materials and fees must be at the AAU office in Indy.

Here's your chance to take an active role in prep athletics at the state level.  The IHSAA is looking for a few good people to serve on the IHSAA overview panel, which was established by the state legislature this spring.  According to the Indianapolis Star, 44 applications have been received for the 9 positions on the panel so far, but the diversity of applicants is not exactly what the IHSAA had hoped for.  Only 6 of the 44 applicants are women, and that is why the IHSAA is extending the deadline until the middle of May.  Interested parties should call the IHSAA for application details.  The panel members will need to be selected by July 1, which is the date mandated by the state for the panel to be in place.

A few notes about the Purdue women's basketball team are appearing at the Journal & Courier Boiler Station website.  Boilermaker Camille Cooper has been invited to try out for the 12-member Jones Cup Team, which would compete internationally and against the U. S. Olympic women's team in Hawaii over the summer.  (Not a bad gig.)  Other Jones Cup invitees include Penn State's Lisa Shepherd (Richmond), who was Indiana's Miss Basketball in 1997, and Alicia Ratay of Notre Dame.  You can get the complete list of 45 invitees from colleges around the nation at ESPN.

The Fever opened its doors to the public free of charge at a team camp practice yesterday evening to watch a 30-40 minute scrimmage.  If you were there, there's a chance that you might end up on the pregame video segment that was taped that evening.  The video will be played before every home game this season.  (Hope you weren't having a bad hair day because the horror will repeat itself throughout the summer for all to see.  Egads!)   Some info about a few of the Fever players and the differences in the WNBA game are also appearing in the Indianapolis Star.  

Some of you may have noticed that the RRR site counter registered a count that took us over the 100,000-hit mark early this week -- a milestone for us here at the RRR.  When we started this little venture almost two years ago, we had no idea we would have such a great response.  It's been great fun getting to know lots of basketball fans, parents, coaches and players around the state and we hope you continue to enjoy the RRR in the years to come.  Interestingly, the count at the RRR is catching up to the speedometer on the Webster minivan, which is near the 175,000-mile mark!  Lots and lots of basketball miles on that vehicle... wouldn't trade a one of 'em.

Get up from the computer and go mark your calendar right now!  For those of you who would like to get a look at some of the best players in the state in a nearby setting (at least for us NWI fans), you'll get your chance on June 21.  According to the LaPorte Herald-Argus, the Senior and Junior All-Stars will face off on that Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. at LaPorte High School.  The girls practice game will be followed by the boys All-Star practice game at 8:00 p.m.  This practice series is sandwiched in between the series of games with Kentucky, which are slated for June 17 in Frankfort, Kentucky, and for June 24 at the Conseco Fieldhouse.  Region players who will be on the floor include seniors Natalie Yudt of Portage and Kristi Koselke of North Newton, and junior Jenny DeMuth of Highland.

A few more players have made their choices for college, two of them NWI local standouts.  Just about one more week remains during the NCAA late signing period, which ends Monday, May 15.
  
Highland forward Lindsey Chappell is headed to Earlham College.  The 5'11 forward played an unheralded role for the state-ranked Trojans this past season, averaging 12.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.
   
Also, Michele Pickering of Portage will play at Division II University of Wisconsin-Parkside next school year.  The 5'6 guard was part of a senior triad that brought a tremendous amount of success to the Indians program the past four years.  She averaged 8.9 points, 3.5 assists and 3.0 steals per game.  You might want to read more about Pickering in our featured player article we put together early last season.
   
Covington senior Cara Landis has accepted a scholarship to play at Olivet Nazarene University in Illinois.  The 6'3 forward averaged 16.0 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.  According to the Crawfordsville Journal Review, ONU plans to use Landis at the power forward position.
   
According to news at Southern Indiana's High School Basketball, Charlestown senior Kaelin Hall will play for Georgetown College next season.  Details are available at the SIHSB website.

According to the Post-Tribune, former East Chicago standout Cristalle Shelton has announced that she will forego her last year of college eligibility with Indiana State.  Shelton, who transferred to ISU from Iowa State after her freshman season, played two years for the Sycamores.  The 5'5 guard averaged 5.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per game this past season, and was also the team's assist leader with 82.  Shelton will continue her studies at ISU next fall to complete her college education.

Gary West Side senior-to-be Kim Smith is making the most of her time this spring.  The incredible schedule she keeps gets you tired just reading about it.  If you're game, The Times of Munster explains how the athletic 5'11 forward is playing two sports this spring, with more to come this summer. 

A player you will be hearing about in a couple of years is seventh grader Jodi Howell of Alexandria.  According to the Anderson Herald Bulletin, the 5'10 point guard brought home a national free throw contest title, hitting 20 of 25 free throws in the Elks National Hoop Shoot Championship.  Howell gets plenty of instructional help at home, since her dad, Jon Howell, is the girls varsity coach at Alexandria.  That help has also paid off with a 90% free throw shooting average as a seventh grader.  Jodi plays with the 13U Mohr Magic AAU during the summer.

The Fever has training camp underway, and the Indianapolis Star gives two peeks at what is going on behind the door of the Conseco Fieldhouse practice court at the Fever's first practice and second practice.  The Anderson Herald Bulletin has an article about the Fever's media day last Wednesday, and the Fever has published its official training camp roster on the Fever website.

We've been making a few changes to our site over the past couple of days.  In an effort to cut down on initial load-up time, we've streamlined our navigation bar (on the left).  If you should run into any bad links, be sure to let us know.  (Sweeping changes like we've made to our navigation bar can sometimes wreak havoc on a site.  Hopefully we're pretty clean with the changes.)  Also, we've added a new message board link to our Message Board Navigator.  You will see the pink and purple "WBJ", which represents the message board at the Women's Basketball Journal.  There is some discussion taking place there about women's college hoops and college recruiting that we thought you might like to check out now and again.

More college signings and transfers are in the news today:
     

Franklin College has made its last recruiting catch of the season in Kindra Moorman from East Central.  The 5'9 guard/forward was the focus of a rebuilding Trojans team this past season.
    
Two college players will be transferring to Indiana Wesleyan next fall.  Forward Kerri Hosier (Marion) is transferring from Lincoln Memorial in Tennessee, and 5'5 guard Mandy Shaff (Bedford North Lawrence) will be transferring from the University of Southern Indiana.

According to the DeKalb News-Sun, the Indiana team lost 77-67 to the team from Northwest Ohio in the Nancy Rehm All-Star Classic over the weekend.  DeKalb players Bridget Horwitz (8 points) and Michelle Shippy (9 points), and Summer Cress of Fremont (4 points) were solid contributors for the team made up of players from Northeast Indiana. 

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