Post-Tribune

Girls swimming: Kabacinski ends Chesterton career with two titles

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:04:54 -0600

INDIANAPOLIS — Olivia Kabacinski found an extra gear. The Chesterton senior capped her high school career with two state titles on Saturday at the IHSAA Girls Swimming State Finals, adding the 50 free and 100 free titles to the 200 free crown she won as a sophomore. Kabacinski shared the best 50 time in Friday night’s preliminaries, but she found more speed on Saturday. She improved her time by .26 of a second to win in 23.06 seconds, outracing Mount Vernon’s Clara Baggett (23.26 seconds). “One thing my coach and I really wanted to make sure of were my starts …

Girls swimming: Munster’s Gilbert has strong showing at state finals

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:04:59 -0600

INDIANAPOLIS — Munster’s Brittany Gilbert needed to win a swim-off on Friday night with LaPorte’s Carly Jackson in order to reach the championship race of Saturday’s 100 fly at the IHSAA Girls Swimming State Finals. She took advantage of the win as best she could, finishing third in the best area individual finish behind the two state titles won by Chesterton’s Olivia Kabacinski. Gilbert ended up swimming five events on Friday night because of the swim-off. Gilbert and Jackson each finished in 56.64 seconds in the preliminaries to tie for eighth place. The top eight advance to the championship race …

Merrillville leads NWI charge at wrestling semistate

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:05:21 -0600

MERRILLVILLE — Merrillville’s wrestling program has enjoyed considerable success over the years. And Saturday’s semistate was especially fruitful for the host Pirates. Merrillville qualified seven wrestlers for next weekend’s state meet at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, what coach David Maldonado believed is its highest total, and won three semistate titles. In all, with the top four finishers in each weight class advancing to Indianapolis, 10 region schools produced 27 state qualifiers. In addition to Merrillville’s seven (of its 12 semistate qualifiers), Crown Point (which also had 12 semistate qualifiers) had five (as did Penn and South Bend Clay); Hanover Central (with …

Hutton: Time to get ‘tough’ on sports clichés

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:05:14 -0600

The Answer Man returns again after a two week hiatus, stealthily looking for his shadow to see if winter is over yet (It’s not. The Answer Man can see a mound of snow out his front window. Not good.) Today, the Answer Man is going to start by examining language in sports. The Answer Man has some serious venting to work through on this subject. We’ll start with this one: “It is what it is.” The Answer Man is leading a crusade to banish that cliché from the English language. (The Answer Man has actually seen that phrase hanging on …

Girls basketball: Moore, East Chicago advance to regionals

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:04:38 -0600

MUNSTER — As the final seconds ticked off the clock, East Chicago Central center Andriana Moore started to cradle the ball in her arms before hurling it above her head. What she and her teammates had worked so hard for since the beginning of practice in mid-October came to fruition Saturday night in a 68-59 victory over Lake Central, the defending Class 4A Sectional champions. “This means so much to me, and my teammates,’’ said Moore, who turned in an incredible performance for the Cardinals (17-6) in the title game of the Class 4A Munster Sectional. Moore recorded game-highs of …

Girls basketball: Michigan City dominates Crown Point, wins sectional title

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:04:48 -0600

PORTAGE — Some teams just have the look. Michigan City had the look Saturday. The Wolves were a tightly wound ball of energy and execution Saturday in their 63-44 victory over Crown Point in the championship game of the Portage Sectional. It’s the first sectional title for Michigan City since 2009. The Wolves came into the game with one big notch on their belt after thumping Merrillville by 14 points on Friday. They added another one by dominating the Bulldogs pretty much from the opening tip to the final buzzer. The point of emphasis came on the boards, where Crown …

Shorthanded VU struggles on road

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:03:54 -0600

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — The pass was a hard one, a crisp bullet across the court, and Kevin Van Wijk showed off his quickness with a one-handed stab of the ball. Unfortunately for Valparaiso, Van Wijk was out of bounds at the time — on the bench, with his warmup jersey on and his knee heavily taped. With their star big man sidelined by a knee injury, the Crusaders crumbled Saturday night, annihilated 71-53 by Youngstown State. The lopsided loss ended VU’s 14-game win streak over the Penguins. With a chance to grab the Horizon League by the throat after Cleveland State lost to …

Notre Dame fights off DePaul

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:04:03 -0600

SOUTH BEND — Jack Cooley hit the deck for a loose ball and fell into the padding below the basket, but the bruises couldn’t slow down the 6-foot-9 Irish forward Saturday against DePaul. Cooley finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds, and Jerian Grant had 22 points as Notre Dame managed to fend off the Blue Demons 84-76 for their sixth straight win. DePaul led 68-65 with 7:27 remaining, but Notre Dame (17-8, 9-3 Big East) finally overcame the fast-paced play of the Blue Demons with a 10-0 run which was helped by a technical foul on DePaul’s bench. Still, …

Boilers look to build momentum

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:03:49 -0600

Consider Purdue’s narrow loss at No. 3 Ohio State a moral victory. But, especially at this stage of the season, the Boilermakers also need actual victories, including on Sunday night against Northwestern at Mackey Arena in a matchup of teams in serious NCAA Tournament case-building mode. The Boilermakers (15-9, 5-6 Big Ten) were encouraged by their improved performance against the Buckeyes. But they’re also keeping it in perspective as they prepare for the Wildcats (15-8, 5-6). “We gave up 87 points, and got outrebounded by 10, and we lost. Sometimes when you shoot the ball well and you play better …

Boys bowling: Crown Point returns to state finals

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:04:12 -0600

FORT WAYNE — When Indiana high school bowling was started in 2000, Crown Point was the first boys team state champion. The Bulldogs will have the opportunity to add a second state title to its trophy case next weekend in Lafayette after winning the Fort Wayne Semistate on Saturday. It was Crown Point’s first semistate crown as it defeated Rochester 347-274 in the final. It will be the Bulldogs’ first trip to the state finals since winning in 2000. In the singles event, Hobart’s Bobby Eberle and Jerry James both qualified for their first state finals — Eberle won the …

Girls bowling: No state bids for NWI girls

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 02:04:07 -0600

FORT WAYNE — There’s a first time for everything, but this was one occurrence no Northwest Indiana high school bowling fan thought could happen. In the first 12 years of Indiana high school bowling, the region has sent at least one girls team to the state finals every season with four state titles. That streak came to an end on Saturday in Fort Wayne as Portage (fifth), Boone Grove (eighth), Hebron (ninth) and Lake Central (10th) all finished outside the top four advancing spots. Portage was the most distraught after missing state by just seven pins. “We had too many …