Manchester

Squires Girl's Basketball

Manchester ‘D’ Frustrates Triton Attack
By Greg Jones, Times-Union Sports Editor

BOURBON – Manchester girls basketball coach Jody Shewman wasn’t worried about what happened in the second half against Triton Thursday. Maybe just a little concerned. After dominating the Trojans for a 31-19 halftime lead, the two teams battled to a 31-31 tie over the final two quarters for a 62-50 Squire win. Not bad, but Shewman was expecting the same effort the Squires had in the first 16 minutes. “In the first half, I thought we played very well,” Shewman said. “In the second half, we didn’t. We got a little content. Things got a little rough in the second half. It started going their way. We just got laid back, and we can’t afford to do that.” The Trojans on the other hand picked up the intensity, especially in the fourth quarter. Triton cut a 20-point margin, 52-32, to 10 points when Jessica Kintzel got a rebound and a layup for a 54-44 game with three minutes left. But Chris Scott (15 points) picked up her fifth foul just a few seconds later, and the Squires hit enough free throws down the stretch to hold off the Trojans. “We made it interesting,” Triton coach Mark Heeter said. “We didn’t quit, and we battled. I thought after that initial beginning in the third quarter, we played with some intensity. “We played them evenly in the second half,” he said. “If we do anything in the second quarter, who knows? Manchester is a good team, and they have some great players.” That second quarter certainly turned out to be the Trojans’ downfall. After trailing only 15-11 to start the frame, Triton watched as Manchester went on a 13-8 run to open the quarter and expand the margin to 28-19. The culprit? The Squires’ pressure defense forced eight turnovers after Triton turned the ball over an additional 14 times in the first quarter. Manchester took advantage of the fact that the Trojans lacked quickness and any real ballhandling guards. “We did some scouting, and we knew they couldn’t handle pressure,” Shewman said. “We were all over them at the top. We didn’t allow them to get a good entry pass.” The Trojans ended up with 34 turnovers, including the 22 in the first half. The Squires ended up with 20 steals in the game, including six each from Jodie Peden and Jessica Hicks. “We had some stupid turnovers,” Heeter said. “At times, there was no press, and we are throwing the ball out of bounds. If we can correct those errors, we will be a good team. If not, we will be mediocre.” Triton tried to counteract the turnovers with a 36-22 advantage on the boards, including 14 caroms from Jessica Kintzel. But the Squires hit 21 of 31 at the free-throw line, including 11 of 12 from Megan Eckert (20 points). “I told the girls we needed to get to the free-throw line more,” Shewman said. “The last couple of games we only got there six one time and 16 the next. That is just not us. We shot bad in the second half, but luckily in the first half, we made some.” Eckert, the team’s leading scorer at 18 ppg, got her 20 points on 4 of 11 shooting from the field. The Squires also got 15 points from Peden and 14 from Katie Parker.

Lady Squires go to 8-1
By Roy Church

NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. — Megan Eckert scored 20 points and Lindsay Seagert grabbed 11 rebounds as the Manchester girls' basketball team crushed Argos, 82-35, Tuesday. The victory ran the Lady Squires' record to 8-1. Manchester jumped out to a 19-5 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. The score at halftime was 40-13. Jodie Peden had seven of her nine points in the first quarter and Eckert, a 5-8 junior, had 11 of her points in the first half. Manchester then scored 27 points in the third quarter with Eckert scoring nine and Jennifer Jester eight. Jester and Jessica Hicks had their best games of the year, according to head coach Jody Shewman. Jester finished with 13 points and four rebounds while Hicks had 11 points and nine rebounds. Eckert, the leading scorer in the Three Rivers Conference with a 19.5 average, also had four rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. Seagert added seven blocked shots and eight points. Carrie Markstahler turned in a fine all-around game with four rebounds, four assists and four steals. "We had nice contributions from everyone," Shewman said. "Our bench players received a lot of playing time." Manchester's JV team (1-6) won for the first time, defeating Argos, 40-13. Megan Sell and Erin White had seven points each. White also had 10 rebounds and Haley Brown added nine. Manchester returns to action in the Wabash County Holiday Tourney, Dec. 26-27 at Wabash. The defending champions will face Southwood in the first round at 1 p.m. Dec. 26. In other girls' action this week, Wabash will host Peru at 6 p.m. today and Northfield will host North Miami at 6:30 p.m. Friday. On Saturday, Southwood will host Fort Wayne Elmhurst at noon, Wabash travels to Elwood at 10 a.m. and Northfield will host Lakeview Christian at 10 a.m.

Lady Squires win tourney
By Roy Church

SYRACUSE, Ind. — Katie Parker and Megan Eckert helped the Manchester girls' basketball team capture the Wawasee Invitational Saturday. Parker, a senior, was named the tourney MVP while Eckert, a junior, made the all-tourney team. Eckert had 27 points and nine rebounds as the Lady Squires stopped Mishawaka Marian, 54-43, in the first round and Parker had 14 points and four steals as Manchester defeated Wawasee, 51-31, for the title. Freshman Jessica Hicks had 10 points and seven rebounds against Mishawaka and Parker had eight points, five assists and four steals. Lindsay Seagert had eight rebounds. Jodie Peden back up Parker in the championship game with 11 points, nine of those coming from the free throw line. Eckert finished with nine points and seven rebounds and Seagert had eight rebounds. Manchester jumped out to a 14-3 lead after one quarter and upped the lead to 24-10 at halftime. Wawasee cut into the margin in the third period, but the Lady Squires put it away in the final quarter, outscoring the host team, 15-4. Manchester is now 7-1.

Manchester Girls Hold Off Whitko
By Jason Knavel, Times-Union Staff Writer

SOUTH WHITLEY – Jody Shewman could do nothing but try to shake the cobwebs from her head after her Manchester Squires girls basketball team squeak by Whitko 56-52 Thursday. After watching her team struggle through a 15-of-51 shooting effort, it was hard to blame her. After all, her team is ranked No. 14 in the latest poll in 2A. “It was pretty scary,” Shewman said. “If we were playing well, it wouldn’t have gotten out of control. But we’re struggling right now and have some things to work on. The poll stuff is great, but on any night it’s anybody’s game whether you’re ranked No. 1 or 100.” After three quarters of back-and-forth basketball, Whitko’s Trisha Peters nailed a three-pointer to open the fourth quarter to give the Wildcats a 42-38 lead. Up to that point, Whitko had held Manchester star Megan Eckert to just 10 points. But then she broke out when her team needed her most. She hit two free throws and a layup in a six-point spurt that gave Manchester the 44-42 lead. After Tisha Rowland knocked in a shot to tie the game, Eckert hit two more free throws and then nailed her third three-pointer of the game to give Manchester a 49-46 lead. After an Eckert jumper and a pair of free throws from Jessica Hicks, the Squires had an eight-point run and a 54-46 advantage. Whitko tried to fight back on a pair of jumpers from Stephanie Warner, but the Wildcats ran out of time for one final run. “Katie Parker’s been a little bit under the weather this week, so I knew Megan (Eckert) had to step up,” Shewman said. “She did a nice job, so I’ll take it.” “You’re not going to shut down Megan Eckert,” Whitko head coach Ray Davis said. “She’s going to get her average. What we really had to do was shut down Parker and (Jodie) Peden and we held them to 13 points total.” Eckert ended the game with 21 points and Lindsay Seagert added six points and 10 rebounds as one of the few Squires with any rebounding punch. Manchester, despite being the taller team, was outrebounded 40-35. Jessica Hicks had 12 points and five rebounds for the Squires. Whitko’s BrieAnn Starkweather had a huge game with 14 points and 17 rebounds and Stephanie Warner added 12 points. “That’s where (Starkweather) needs to be,” Davis said. “And she has been. She’s been averaging a double-double the last three games. Warner was gone the first few games and she’s gradually throwing her weight back into this team. She played very well tonight and hit some big shots in crucial times.” Another big factor was the free throw shooting. Manchester hit 23 of 28 free throws, while Whitko got to the line just six times, making two of them. “Some of that (disadvantage) had to be because they were a little more aggressive on offense and took it to the basket,” Davis said. “We didn’t do that as much as we needed to and that pays off.” Whitko jumped out to an 11-8 lead after one quarter behind five points from Starkweather. Despite shooting just 3 of 13 in the opening eight minutes, the Wildcats held a slim advantage. Manchester held close on the shoulders of Seagert, who had four points and seven rebounds in the quarter. Manchester took its first lead of the game at 15-13 after Eckert’s first three-pointer and Hicks added a layup to put the Squires ahead by four. However, Whitko fought back with a 9-2 run and led by as many as five points at 28-23 in the second quarter. After a Parker basket at the buzzer, Whitko led 30-28 at the half. The third-quarter momentum swung from team to team as Whitko went ahead 35-32 before two layups by Hicks put Manchester ahead 38-35. But the Wildcats took back the lead with the final four points of the quarter to head into the final eight minutes with a one-point lead. “When we looked at the polls on Monday, we saw that they were 14th in 2A,” Davis said. “You don’t have to say much when you talk Manchester-Whitko boys or girls basketball. It’s a big rivalry. But I told them in practice Monday that they had to come out and be intense from the beginning of the game.” Manchester (5-0, 2-0) will be at Marion on Saturday at noon. Whitko (3-3, 1-1) will host Oak Hill on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Manchester girls down Wabash
By Joseph Slacian

NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. — The Lady Squires began Saturday night's game tentatively. They finished anything but that way. Manchester, behind 24 points from senior Katie Parker, downed the Wabash Lady Apaches 66-49 in the first game of the annual boys' and girls' varsity doubleheader between the two schools. "We were just tentative at the beginning," Manchester coach Jody Shewman said. "There were a lot of things. We're not used to the crowd. It was hot in there. "But I'm not making excuses. We just didn't play well. "Wabash did a good job." And although his team lost its fifth game of the season, Wabash coach Larry Vaughn was extremely pleased with the way his team performed. "They responded to the challenge," Vaughn said of the Lady Apaches. "On Manchester's first four or five possessions of the first quarter, they'd get one shot. "Against North Miami and Northfield, they'd get four of five chances. They'd miss the first shot, then they'd get the ball back. "We worked all week on checking out." The slow start for the Lady Squires allowed the Apaches to battle throughout much of the first quarter. Baskets by Gina Curtis and Jan Eichenauer gave Wabash an early 4-2 lead. Manchester took the lead, 5-4, after Jodie Peden connected on both ends of a two-shot foul. Baskets by Megan Eckert and Parker allowed the Lady Squires to pull out to a 9-4 lead. But Wabash didn't quit. Baskets by Tiffany Richards and Eichenauer pulled the Lady Apax to within one, 9-8. Peden hit the second of a two-shot free throw attempt to give Manchester a 10-9 lead. Wabash tied the game 30 seconds later as Richards hit a basket. Three unanswered baskets by Jessica Hicks, Peden and Parker pushed Manchester back in from 16-10. But a buzzer-beating 3-point shot by Richards pulled Wabash to within three at the end of the first quarter. Manchester outscored the Lady Apaches 11-4 in the first four minutes of the second quarter to build a dominating lead. Wabash cut the deficit to 10 points late in the third quarter, but couldn't pull any closer the rest of the game. Two free throws by Wabash's Beth Dock cut the Manchester lead to 51-41. The two charity tosses were Wabash's first on the night, coming with 14.7 seconds left in the quarter. The Lady Apaches had trouble keeping possession during the game. Wabash ended with 33 turnovers in the contest, 22 coming in the first half. "I told them I wanted them to try to cut the turnovers in half the second half," Vaughn noted. Vaughn praised Eichenauer's efforts on the night. A sophomore, Eichenauer led the Apaches in scoring with 13. But more importantly, he noted, she guarded Lady Squires center Megan Eckert throughout the contest, limiting her to just seven points. "And they were a hard-fought seven points," he said. Besides Parker, Manchester had one other player, Peden in double figures. She had 15 points. Curtis added eight points for Wabash. The Lady Squires, 4-0, travel to Whitko for a contest Thursday. Wabash, 0-5, travel to Southwood on Thursday.

LADY SQUIRES TOP SOUTHWOOD
NORTH MANCHESTER-Katie Parker, Jodie Peden and Megan Eckert combined for 56 points as Manchester defeated Southwood, 86-43, in girl's basketball Tuesday. The Lady Squires, now 3-0, jumped out to a 23-12 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. By halftime, the score was 38-20 and after three quarters it was 61-39. Then, in the fourth quarter, the winners outscored their visitors, 25-4. Parker had 19 points, nine assists and four steals; Peden had 19 points, six steals and five rebounds; and Eckert had 18 points and five steals. Freshman Jessica Hicks led Manchester with 10 rebounds while Lindsay Seagert had eight rebounds and four blocked shots.

Manchester Girls Aim To Right A Wrong
By Jeff Holsinger, Times-Union Staff Writer

As Manchester basketball coach Jody Shewman looked at the 1997-1998 issue of Hoosier Basketball with star junior forward Megan Eckert, any excitement or anticipation they had when they opened the magazine dissolved into disgust by the time they tossed it aside. Two things irked Shewman and Eckert. One, the Squires are coming off a 14-6 season, they have four starters returning, yet they couldn’t crack the top 10 poll – in Class 2A. Two, Eckert did not make the all-state first team. She didn’t make the second team. Or the third team. Or the fourth team. Eckert and Shewman felt she was deserving, and they had the numbers to back their argument. Eckert, who started on the varsity squad her freshman and sophomore years, averaged 19.4 points and 5.8 rebounds a game last year. If she stays on the same pace, she will be one of the top four players in school history when her career ends, along with Amy Fahrnow, Jennifer Frieden and Barb Orpurt. “She has a chance,” Shewman says, “to produce a lot of stats.” Yet Eckert wasn’t listed as one of the top 100 players in the state. So yeah, Shewman, Eckert and every other girl on Manchester’s team are a little ticked off. It’s about respect. After last year, Shewman thought her Squires should have earned it. When Shewman talks, disappointment – not arrogance – hangs on every word. “We’re hoping to be (ranked) eventually,” Shewman says. “I wish we would. It’s a goal of ours. In the Hoosier Basketball magazine, we weren’t ranked. I was real upset with that. We weren’t listed at all. I don’t care if you write this down, but I don’t care for that magazine anyway. You can write that down and report that. “That (magazine) frustrates the kids, too. Megan Eckert, who had a very good year, is honorable mention all-state. Some of the girls who were on the second, third and fourth teams, I just shook my head. It’s ridiculous. “Megan was upset with it. She should be.” To deal with the Manchester Squires is one thing. To deal with a group of slightly ticked Manchester Squires is another. To face Megan Eckert is one thing. To face a Megan Eckert eager to open up a can of kick butt on another team is another. The Squires – and Eckert – wasted little time in proving their naysayers wrong. They beat Bluffton 53-51 on Saturday. Don’t be fooled by the score. The Squires led the whole way minus a minute or so in the second quarter. In beating Bluffton, the Squires:
A) Avenged a 64-50 loss to the Tigers last year,
B) Beat a team that was No. 8 in Hoosier Basketball magazine’s preseason poll,
C) Beat a team that was No. 12 in the Associated Press preseason poll,
D) Beat a team with a legitimate Miss Basketball candidate, Abby Salscheider.
Does a win in the first game of the season over a team ranked eighth or 12th in a preaseason poll mean anything? Maybe. Maybe not. But Shewman believed her team belonged with the elite in Class 2A. If one game’s any indication, she’s right. The Squires are legitimate. They’re not like other girls basketball teams. They don’t throw the ball away 83 times a game. They have good athletes who know how to play the game, who are fundamentally sound. Eckert, Katie Parker and Jodie Peden can create. They can drop three-pointers or take it to the rack. Eckert’s the real deal. She’s torn the anterior cruciate ligament in one leg – twice. She played with a knee brace last year. The brace came off this year. During the 20-minute shootaround before the Bluffton game, Eckert took 17 shots in a six-minute span. She hit 16. Then she quit to stretch out. Some may say great warmup players are a dime a dozen. Fine. Let’s look at her game numbers. Twenty-five points. Nine rebounds. Two assists. Two steals. Those weren’t the most impressive stats. She hit two buzzer-beater shots, an off-balance runner in the second quarter and a three-pointer in the third quarter. Some players would feel fortunate just to get back on the court after two torn ACL’s. Eckert’s back on the court and unarguably one of the best players in this part of the state. She competed in a camp with Lisa Winter, a Miss Basketball winner from Huntington. A birddog told me Winter had nothing over Eckert. How many games will the Squires win? Who knows. They were 14-6 in Shewman’s first year as head coach. And Eckert, Parker, Peden and Lindsay Seagert – four starters – are back. Odds are they’ll win more than 14 games. In one year under Shewman, the Squires did what they couldn’t do the previous three years combined – win 14 games. The Squires saw a way to validate their season, their program and their players. They saw a way to build confidence for the future. Before Shewman took over, the Squires were the Los Angeles Clippers of local high school girls basketball teams. They were 7-32 the two years before Shewman. You go from 7-32 to 14-5. You have one of the most exciting players around in Megan Eckert. You’d like people to notice. You think they would notice. Too bad – for Manchester opponents – they haven’t. Maybe this year, they will. At least Jody Shewman tried to warn them. The word’s out. These Manchester Squires are for real.

Eckert, Manchester Deliver Message
By Jeff Holsinger, Times-Union Staff Writer

NORTH MANCHESTER – Jody Shewman and her basketball players had a little extra motivation to win their season opener against Bluffton. And it wasn’t because of anything Bluffton did or didn’t do. It’s what the pollsters didn’t do. The coach and her Manchester girls basketball team always want to win, but there was added incentive this time. The Squires wanted to win Saturday’s game against Bluffton, because this would be exhibit A for them in proving the prognosticators, or in their case, naysayers, wrong. The Bluffton Tigers, 12-9 last year, cracked Hoosier Basketball magazine’s 1997-1998 preseason top 10 poll and received votes in the Associated Press poll. Manchester, 14-6 last year with four returning starters, did not. The Squires seethed. Bluffton paid. Manchester won 53-51. “Some of the kids had seen Bluffton was ranked in Hoosier Basketball magazine,” Shewman said. “We were a little upset we weren’t ranked in there. Who knows about those polls and how they get them. Just beating a ranked team is going to be a confidence builder for our group.” “Give Manchester credit,” Bluffton coach Ron DeWitt said. “They’re a good team coming off a 14-6 season. We thought we were good#. We’re going to have to go back and reassess. “We weren’t willing to go out and fight. This was a toothless Tiger today.” The game highlighted two of the most talented players around, 5-foot-8 Manchester junior forward Megan Eckert and 5-10 Bluffton senior forward Abby Salscheider. Eckert averaged 19.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game last season, while Salscheider tallied 24 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. They delivered. Eckert scored 25 on 9-of-18 shooting, grabbed nine rebounds and two steals and had two buzzer-beating shots. Salscheider scored 26 on 12-of-18 shooting and pulled down 13 rebounds. But Salscheider’s key number may have been two. With eight seconds left and Manchester ahead 52-51, Salscheider traveled. With four seconds left and Manchester up 53-51, she lost the ball as time ran out. Eckert had help from senior guards Jodie Peden and Katie Parker. Peden turned in an all-around game with 11 points, eight assists, five rebounds and two steals. Parker tallied nine points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists. Outside of Salscheider, Bluffton’s only major source of offense was Rachel Miller, who scored 12 and hit key shots down the stretch. The Squires, who expect shooting to be one of their biggest strengths, won even though their touch left them at times. They made just 18 of 53 shots, 36 percent. While their offense went cold, the defense didn’t. Bluffton committed 24 turnovers, which more than made up for Manchester’s shooting woes. The Squires did a good job attacking the passing lanes and came away with 12 steals. “We had a lot of steals and deflections,” Shewman said. “I thought my underneath girls did a good job of reflecting the ball and the guards picking it up. I think we had 12 steals and quite a few assists.” The Squires led from start to finish, save 90 seconds in the second quarter. Eckert’s first buzzer-beater came on an off-balance runner as time ran out at the end of the second quarter, giving Manchester a 23-20 halftime lead. Then Eckert, who hit only 3 of 8 field goals the first half, took over in the third quarter, scoring seven points in 57 seconds to put Manchester ahead 40-30. Bluffton proved resilient as Miller’s steal and layup capped a 6-0 run to make it 40-36 with eight seconds left in the third quarter. Too much time. Manchester forward Christy Markstahler whipped a pass upcourt to Eckert, who drained a three-pointer from the left wing as time expired. Manchester led 43-36. “We have this drill where we do a catch and shoot and pray it goes in,” Shewman said. “Hitting both of those was a big momentum builder for us.” Bluffton players’ shoulders sagged and heads drooped as they walked off the court. If they were demoralized then, they had to be devastated when Eckert opened the fourth with another three-pointer, pushing Manchester’s lead back to 10 at 46-36. While it looked like Manchester had crushed Bluffton, the Tigers peeled themselves off the floor and back into the game, playing their best basketball in the fourth quarter. Suddenly they valued the basketball, taking care of it and scoring points. Having Salscheider never hurts, either. Salscheider scored Bluffton’s first seven points of the fourth quarter, trimming the Squires’ lead to 50-45. When Bluffton’s other threat, Miller, nailed back-to-back threes, Manchester’s lead shrank to 52-51 with two minutes left. Bluffton wouldn’t score again. The Squire offense stalled to run time off the clock. Peden added a free throw in the waning seconds for the 53-51 final score. “We attacked the basket and became more aggressive in the fourth quarter,” DeWitt said. “Still, we had too many turnovers and too many missed shots underneath. We’re not playing at the middle school level.” While Salscheider scored 26, the Squires kept her from going off in any one quarter. She scored six points in each the first and third quarters and seven points in the second and fourth quarters. Then they thwarted her down the stretch, causing her to commit two turnovers in the last eight seconds. “I just told the girls you have to watch her driving through the middle,” Shewman said. “She’s sneaky. Just play defense. You can’t focus on one girl, or the other four will beat you. I thought we did a nice job of staying in her face and pushing her a little bit.” Bluffton is 0-1. Manchester, 1-0, is at Concordia at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday.

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