1998

Regional

Manchester Girls Do Right A Wrong

Commentary by JEFF HOLSINGER, T-U Sports Writer
LOGANSPORT – Jody Shewman was right. Before the season began, the Manchester girls basketball coach –I think more out of frustration for her players – said how disappointed she was preseason polls left her Squires out of the top 10 in 2A. To her credit, Shewman had the guts to speak out and stand up for her team. The word “upset” came up a lot. That’s how much she believed in her players and her coaching staff. Maybe she didn’t realize it then, but her 1997-1998 team was paying for a program that had gone 7-32 from 1994 through 1996. A column written in this newspaper about Shewman and her team back in November said, “Manchester Girls Aim To Right A Wrong.” Wait and see, she told you then. We waited, and what we saw was this: Shewman, who owns a sparkling 35-10 coaching record, was right.
This Manchester team went 21-4.
No Manchester team had ever won that many games.
This Manchester team won a sectional title.
No Manchester team had done that since 1984.
This Manchester team won a regional.
No Manchester team had ever done that.
This Manchester team won its first-round semistate game and moved on to the semistate championship game.
Obviously no Manchester team had done that.
Saturday’s semistate championship game between Manchester and Bluffton tipped off at 8:15 p.m. By 7:15 p.m., Manchester basketball fans had packed the lower level of Logansport High School’s Berry Bowl. They even beat the Manchester players to the game. And when the players arrived and walked in on the upper level – the court is called the Berry Bowl because the basketball floor is several feet below ground level and makes it seem like the gym is a big bowl – a few fans looked up, nudged those sitting next to them and started pointing up at them. As if on cue, they all rose and gave their team a standing ovation. Before the game. Just for walking in the door. (Question: Do you think they gave a hoot that this was class basketball?) Shewman gave them a thumbs-up. Forward Megan Eckert and some other players raised the roof. The fans roared louder. Look at quarters or minutes, and the Squires won the game. They won three quarters to one. They won 23 minutes to nine. Problem was, Bluffton got the most bang for its buck in its nine minutes –the final nine minutes – outscoring Manchester 31-9. The Tigers scored 24 points in the first 23 minutes; they scored 31 in the last nine to win 55-49. But you know what? None of this mattered to Manchester fans. All they told Shewman afterward was how happy they were for her, how she did so much with her team. A Manchester fan put a hand on my shoulder and said, “These girls have nothing to hang their heads about. They went further than any other Manchester team has gone.” Jody Shewman was right. She had a heckuva team that had a heckuva year. Her Squires were one of four 2A teams still playing Saturday evening. She and her players forged a special relationship. “We’re going to build from this and move on,” she said. “We’re still going to do things as a group. We’re going to continue going out to eat. We’re going down together (to the state finals) next Friday. We’re spending time together, not letting this go.”

Squires win!

By Jeff Holsinger, Times-Union Staff Writer
BUNKER HILL –The postseason could have two titles for Manchester’s girls basketball team. One might be “Going Where No Squires Have Gone.” Another could be “The Jessica Hicks Coming Out Party.” Whatever. Manchester continues to win, and Hicks continues to fuel the Squires, and they captured the school’s first regional title by lashing Lewis Cass 67-48 in Saturday’s 2A Maconaquah Regional. Manchester, No. 9 in the last poll, led from start to finish and improved to 20-3. Cass, ranked No. 10, ended the season 18-5. Hicks tallied a season-high 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting and snared 10 rebounds. This from a freshman who averaged six points and six rebounds per game during the regular season. “Jessica has helped our inside game tremendously,” fellow frontcourt starter Lindsay Seagert said. “We’ve been working a lot on inside stuff the last couple of weeks, and it’s helped us.” The 5-foot-11 Hicks, who scored 18 in each of Manchester’s two sectional wins, is averaging 19.7 points per game in the postseason. Had he known this, Lewis Cass coach Steve Ford might not have been so shocked. If he was looking for the cops afterward, it wouldn’t have been surprising. He left believing Hicks stole one from his team. “She killed us,” he said. “When we played them before, they had no inside post game. Seagert’s a big shot blocker, not known as scorer. Hicks? She didn’t even look at the basket. “We didn’t spend a whole lot of time on interior defense.” “Before” was this season. And it was neither the first, third nor even 10th game. The Squires played Cass on Jan. 29, their 18th game of the regular season. Cass won 53-50. That’s how far Hicks has come: from the fourth option on offense on Jan. 29 to leading scorer in three straight postseason games. One of the biggest reasons for Hicks’ outburst has been the “Eckert Rules.” Remember Chuck Daly’s “Jordan Rules” back when he coached the Detroit Pistons? That’s when the Pistons won their NBA titles, back when the Bulls were still MJ and little else. The rule? Contain Jordan and make the others beat you. The two people Ford was worried about shutting down were Manchester 5-7 forward Megan Eckert and 5-5 guard Katie Parker. Eckert scores 17 points per game, while Parker adds 11 and directs the offense. Hicks has been making teams pay for concentrating on those two. “We were very concerned with the perimeter game,” Ford said. “My position was, if Eckert’s their main scorer, I’m going to put Julie Spencer on her because she’s 5-10, and Eckert will have trouble shooting over her. “That then created quite a mismatch with (5-7 Sarah) Bowser on Hicks. Give credit to Manchester’s coach: She found that mismatch and exploited it.” Cass worried about Eckert and Parker, so two of the others – Hicks and Jodie Peden – beat Cass in the first quarter. Hicks scored inside. Peden scored outside. Hicks scored eight on 4-of-4 shooting, while Peden nailed two three-pointers on her way to nine points. Behind their 17 points, Manchester led 24-11 after one. “Jessica Hicks did a nice job, especially in the first quarter,” Manchester coach Jody Shewman said. “We kept telling everyone to go to her. She has great hands. She’s just dominating. We’re going to keep going to her as much as we can. She responds and accepts that challenge.” The Squires hit their only lull in the second quarter. After committing zero turnovers in the first eight minutes, they threw the ball away five times the second quarter and allowed Cass to grab six offensive rebounds. That’s 11 extra possessions for the Kings right there, and with all the bonus opportunities, they clawed their way back in the game. They cut Manchester’s lead to 36-30 at halftime. But Manchester had too many weapons. The Squires had four people –Eckert, Parker, Peden and Hicks –who could score. Cass had one – senior center Lindsay Chambers, who scored 19, the lone King in double figures. First it was Peden and Hicks. Then it was Parker, who scored seven points in the third quarter and helped Manchester push its lead to 49-39 to start the fourth. Finally, it was Hicks and Eckert. Hicks scored nine and Eckert seven in the fourth to blast the game open. Peden finished with 14 points and nine assists. Eckert scored 14. Parker scored nine and dished out four assists. This is how good Manchester’s offense is right now: Cass came in allowing only 39.5 points per game. No team had scored 60 against Cass all year. The Squires scored their 40th point with five minutes to go in the third quarter. Ford tried man-to-man defense. He tried a 2-3 zone. He tried full-court trapping and pressing. None of it could slow the Squires. “They had the perimeter game, the inside game and the drive game going against us,” he said. “They had it coming to us three ways. Parker and Peden do an excellent job of finding the open people. They run their offense very well. That’s a tribute to Jody Shewman and the type of coaching job she’s done.” When Shewman was asked about Manchester’s 53-50 loss to Cass, she stopped short of calling it a fluke. She talked how Jennifer Mehring scored 27 from the perimeter, how Manchester allowed at least six layups on transition baskets. Mehring had scored more than 20 once. Manchester made it twice. The defensive breakdowns? Manchester’s fault and nobody else’s. Shewman believed that night to be an aberration. She must have been right. Mehring scored only nine this time on 3-of-10 shooting. Manchester allowed one, maybe two, open layups. The biggest surprise this game may have been the Squires in a man-to-man defense. Shewman’s defense of choice is usually a 2-3 zone. “Last game we played them we played zone the whole time, and I think that hurt us,” Shewman explained. “We decided to go man-to-man a lot. We were in their face, and that was a big factor. “We’ve played man only twice: once earlier in the year and a little bit in the sectional. That was it.” The only problem the Squires had on this night was cutting the net. They were given a pair of scissors to trim the net that were as effective as those big wooden ones you see hanging on walls as decorations. They were dull, and reserve Jodee Ruppel said she nicked a finger fighting with her portion of the net. But that was it. “They’re on top of the world and playing well,” Shewman said. “They should be confident. Next week could be a disaster, but we’ll enjoy what we have right now.”

Lady Squires ready for semistate trip

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