Thursday, February 24th, 2011

Defense keys Parkway's victory over Fairview

Division III Sectional at Van Wert

By Mark Ruschau
Photo by Dave Heirholzer/The Daily Standard

Parkway's Becca Harshman scored 23 points and added 10 rebounds in the Panthers' 61-47 victory over Fairview on Wednesday in the Division III sectional semifinal at Van Wert.

VAN WERT - It was so simple and yet so effective.
The Parkway Panthers used a stout man-to-man defense to fuel their offense while frustrating the Fairview Apaches en route to a 61-47 win at the Division III girls' basketball sectional at Van Wert High School.
Parkway improves to 3-17 on the season and moves to the sectional final against the top-seeded Fort Recovery Indians on Saturday at 6:15 p.m.
"This is a nice win to be able to continue the season for at least one more game," said Parkway coach Jeff Kallas. "With a win like this, I think the girls will get a little more confidence and hopefully it rolls over into Saturday night and next year."
The Panthers played one of their best games of the season as they held the Apaches (4-17) to just 19-for-51 shooting from the floor and forced 23 turnovers.
Parkway used its defensive pressure to turn the tide of the game late in the third period. Trailing 36-34 with 2:17 on the clock, the Panthers forced Fairview into seven straight turnovers which Parkway turned into 11 points for a 45-36 lead after three periods. Haley Roehm tied the game on a baseline jumper with 1:20 left and then gave her team the lead for good as she made a steal and laid it in for two. Becca Harshman then took over as she scored inside on consecutive trips to make the score 40-36. Megan Fisher converted a turnover into a three-pointer and Harshman capped the rally with a lay-in.
Fairview was not quite ready to fade away as it cut the deficit to eight points at 47-39 but the Panthers held off the Apaches. A Fairview turnover resulted in a pair of free-throw attempts by Harshman, who hit the first but missed the second before Cami Hellwarth grabbed the rebound and stuck in the offensive rebound to put her team back up 50-39.
"The way we played at the end of the third quarter was huge," said Kallas. "The third quarter has been horrendous for us this year. It has cost us some games and today we came out, got some steals and we converted on them which was also huge for us because that is something that we have been struggling with as well. We were able to build some momentum from that. We just played a man defense, tried to trap out of it a little and just tried to make them work on offense.
"I really think that their (Fairview's) struggles at the free-throw line was one of things that helped us win," continued Kallas. "They missed over 20 foul shots and if they make the majority of those, it is a different ball game. So call it luck, but I will take it any way we can get it."
Harshman led the way for Parkway with a game-high 23 point and added a team-high 10 rebounds. Roehm added 14 points and nine rebounds.
Photo by Dave Heirholzer/The Daily Standard

Parkway's Alicia Samaniego, 15, defends a Fairview player.

Additional online stories on this date
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ST. MARYS - Auglaize County residents can easily access parcel information with the click of a mouse, thanks to continued updates of a two-year-old county website. [More]
Subscriber and paid stories on this date
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MINSTER - Consolidation remains a focus as local school officials prepare to close the elementary building this summer. All students will be housed in the current middle and high schools beginning next school year.
Five educators, including a local administrator, have been selected as semifinalists for the superintendent position at Minster Local Schools.
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Snow plow driver Darren Porter and his co-workers will continually monitor the weather forecast today to prepare for yet another winter storm.
Port
CELINA - City council members may be asked to purchase additional electricity from a new natural gas powered plant in Fremont through American Municipal Power (AMP).
Drug-related tips have led to the arrest of two more local residents with suspected heroin being seized.
Benjamin Deardoff, 22, James Drive, Celina, and Douglas Fonner, 26, 5922 Tama Road, Mendon, were taken into custody Wednesday by Mercer County Sheriff's deputies.
A 55-year-old Lima woman implicated in the drug-related death of a local man clutched her son and cried inconsolably after receiving a prison sentence Wednesday morning in Mercer County Common Pleas Court.
ROCKFORD - It looks like a church and, in fact, was a church; but the former Presbyterian meeting place has become an active community center/performance hall.
Division II Sectional at Spencerville
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There certainly wasn't much of a celebration last Friday night when Celina's boys basketball team captured at least a share of the Western Buckeye League championship by beating Bath.
State Diving
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
Collen Byer's goal was a fifth-place finish or better at the state Division II diving championships.
Mission accomplished.
The Four Corners
Four area games of interest this weekend:

FRIDAY
Boys Basketball
St. John's at
Coldwater
Two teams in need of a boost going into the postseason square off at The Palace in the regular-season finale.