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After Long Drought, Newark Reclaims LTC Tourney Crown ...
| Northern Illinois Sports Beat http://www.northernillinoissportsbeat.com |
By Bill Lidinsky
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Contributor
EARLVILLE – Back in January of 2006, the Newark Lady Norsemen laid claim to a Little
Ten Conference Tournament Championship on a very snowy night where they came up
with a fantastic defensive effort to defeat Somonauk by six.
Since then, Newark had dropped five consecutive LTC tourney title contests to Hinckley-
Big Rock. But with the Lady Royals vanquished to the third-place game after its upset loss
to Serena last week, the top-seeded Lady Norsemen took full advantage of another
spectacular defensive effort to easily dispose of the No. 3 Lady Huskers 37-23 Monday
evening at Earlville High School.
Newark (17-5) presented a stifling two-three zone half-court defense with a quick-moving
man-to-man full court press that forced Serena (11-10) into 13 first quarter turnovers
which ultimately staked the Lady Norsemen to a 12-2 lead after eight minutes of play.
From there, the Lady Huskers rallied a bit before halftime. But in the end, Newark locked
down defensively once again allowing Serena only nine-second half points to prevail by a
healthy 14-tally margin.
Sophomore Kelsey Patrick paced the Lady Norsemen with a game-high 16 points, ten of
which came in the all-important second half where Newark’s leading scorer Lauren
Tollefson (nine points) sat out most of the proceedings with four fouls.
But the Lady Norsemen proved true on defense limiting the Lady Huskers duo of twin
sophomore sisters Ashante (six points) and Demi Witter (three points) to only nine tallies
combined. Coming into the title contest, the Witter girls were boasting a whopping 32
markers per game together throughout the two-game stint at the tourney. Newark
however, had different ideas for the two defensively and shut them down completely.
“It’s been a few years for the girls. I got a tournament championship trophy coaching for
the Newark boys years ago. But this one is pretty sweet for me,” said Newark coach Dale
Skelton. “Seeing that we came in second against Hinckley-Big Rock five years in a row, it’s
nice to finally hold up a golden ball trophy as champions of our league’s tournament. The
last five year’s we’ve come in second. But our girls decided it was our time to win and I
congratulate them on a job well done.”
“The ball just didn’t bounce our way tonight. We had many opportunities where they
forced turnovers and they ended up with the ball,” said Serena coach Craig Twait. “I’ve
got to give Newark credit. They out hustled defensively and really kept us out of our
game. They took away most of our inside presence. We needed to look toward more
outside shots and we didn’t. Once again in the second half we just couldn’t get anything
going.”
The Lady Norsemen clamped down on the Lady Huskers during the first quarter forcing a
plethora of Serena turnovers to take a ten-point lead after eight minutes of play. Tollefson
hit two long-range three pointers, while Patrick and Abbey Akre (six points, five rebounds)
added a pair of triples to put Newark up early on.
“We’ve been shooting a lot in practice lately and I know we take a lot of threes,” Tollefson
said. “But tonight, it paid off in the first quarter and gave us a big lead on the strength of
our three-point shooting.”
Serena then went on a 12-8 run in the second quarter to pull to within six points at 20-14
entering the half as senior Jeri Brennan (seven points) hit a three ball with 20 seconds left
to keep the Lady Huskers close.
But Patrick keyed a 9-0 Newark run to open the second half with four points including two
runners within the lane that gave the Lady Norsemen a 29-14 lead and eventually a 31-19
advantage entering the final period of play.
Patrick would add six more markers in the fourth quarter as Newark executed a time
consuming “flex” offense that stalled out any hopes of Serena re igniting a rally.
"I knew I had to step it up,” Patrick said. “So I just tried to make things happen in the
second half when LT (Tollefson) was in foul trouble. It’s a great win for our program and
the first Little Ten tournament championship in a long time. It definately feels good
knowing we’ve lost so many years against Hinckley. Now we’re back on top and it feels
great.”
“I want to congratulate Serena. They got a big win the other night against Hinckley,”
Skelton said. “They’ll be something to be reckoned with next year and down the road.
Hopefully this is just a beginning to a great rivalry that will probably take place in the
future. But tonight it was our night.”
Bill Lidinsky is a Northern Illinois Sports Beat contributor. He can be reached in care of
NISB at Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our
Message Boards!
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Contributor
EARLVILLE – Back in January of 2006, the Newark Lady Norsemen laid claim to a Little
Ten Conference Tournament Championship on a very snowy night where they came up
with a fantastic defensive effort to defeat Somonauk by six.
Since then, Newark had dropped five consecutive LTC tourney title contests to Hinckley-
Big Rock. But with the Lady Royals vanquished to the third-place game after its upset loss
to Serena last week, the top-seeded Lady Norsemen took full advantage of another
spectacular defensive effort to easily dispose of the No. 3 Lady Huskers 37-23 Monday
evening at Earlville High School.
Newark (17-5) presented a stifling two-three zone half-court defense with a quick-moving
man-to-man full court press that forced Serena (11-10) into 13 first quarter turnovers
which ultimately staked the Lady Norsemen to a 12-2 lead after eight minutes of play.
From there, the Lady Huskers rallied a bit before halftime. But in the end, Newark locked
down defensively once again allowing Serena only nine-second half points to prevail by a
healthy 14-tally margin.
Sophomore Kelsey Patrick paced the Lady Norsemen with a game-high 16 points, ten of
which came in the all-important second half where Newark’s leading scorer Lauren
Tollefson (nine points) sat out most of the proceedings with four fouls.
But the Lady Norsemen proved true on defense limiting the Lady Huskers duo of twin
sophomore sisters Ashante (six points) and Demi Witter (three points) to only nine tallies
combined. Coming into the title contest, the Witter girls were boasting a whopping 32
markers per game together throughout the two-game stint at the tourney. Newark
however, had different ideas for the two defensively and shut them down completely.
“It’s been a few years for the girls. I got a tournament championship trophy coaching for
the Newark boys years ago. But this one is pretty sweet for me,” said Newark coach Dale
Skelton. “Seeing that we came in second against Hinckley-Big Rock five years in a row, it’s
nice to finally hold up a golden ball trophy as champions of our league’s tournament. The
last five year’s we’ve come in second. But our girls decided it was our time to win and I
congratulate them on a job well done.”
“The ball just didn’t bounce our way tonight. We had many opportunities where they
forced turnovers and they ended up with the ball,” said Serena coach Craig Twait. “I’ve
got to give Newark credit. They out hustled defensively and really kept us out of our
game. They took away most of our inside presence. We needed to look toward more
outside shots and we didn’t. Once again in the second half we just couldn’t get anything
going.”
The Lady Norsemen clamped down on the Lady Huskers during the first quarter forcing a
plethora of Serena turnovers to take a ten-point lead after eight minutes of play. Tollefson
hit two long-range three pointers, while Patrick and Abbey Akre (six points, five rebounds)
added a pair of triples to put Newark up early on.
“We’ve been shooting a lot in practice lately and I know we take a lot of threes,” Tollefson
said. “But tonight, it paid off in the first quarter and gave us a big lead on the strength of
our three-point shooting.”
Serena then went on a 12-8 run in the second quarter to pull to within six points at 20-14
entering the half as senior Jeri Brennan (seven points) hit a three ball with 20 seconds left
to keep the Lady Huskers close.
But Patrick keyed a 9-0 Newark run to open the second half with four points including two
runners within the lane that gave the Lady Norsemen a 29-14 lead and eventually a 31-19
advantage entering the final period of play.
Patrick would add six more markers in the fourth quarter as Newark executed a time
consuming “flex” offense that stalled out any hopes of Serena re igniting a rally.
"I knew I had to step it up,” Patrick said. “So I just tried to make things happen in the
second half when LT (Tollefson) was in foul trouble. It’s a great win for our program and
the first Little Ten tournament championship in a long time. It definately feels good
knowing we’ve lost so many years against Hinckley. Now we’re back on top and it feels
great.”
“I want to congratulate Serena. They got a big win the other night against Hinckley,”
Skelton said. “They’ll be something to be reckoned with next year and down the road.
Hopefully this is just a beginning to a great rivalry that will probably take place in the
future. But tonight it was our night.”
Bill Lidinsky is a Northern Illinois Sports Beat contributor. He can be reached in care of
NISB at Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our
Message Boards!
at Earlville
Little Ten Conference
Tournament
Championship Game
Newark 37, Serena 23
Serena (23) – Smith 0 0-0
0, Murphy 3 0-0 7, A. Witter
3 0-0 6, D. Witter 1 1-2 3,
Brennan 3 0-0 7, Krug 0 0-
0 0, Cools 0 0-0 0. Totals
10-1-2 23.
Newark (37) – Schmidt 0
0-0 0, McNanna 0 0-0 0,
Krug 0 0-0 0, Nix 0 0-0 0,
Akre 2 0-0 6, Tollefson 2 3-
3 9, Rehberg 1 2-4 4,
Patrick 6 2-2 16, Myre 0 0-0
0, Milakis 1 0-0 2,
Lawrence 0 0-1 0. Totals
12 7-10 37.
Serena (11-10) 2 12 5 4 – 23
Newark (17-5) 12 8 11 6 – 37
3-point goals – Serena 2
(Murphy, Brennan);
Newark 6 (Patrick 2,
Tollefson 2, Akre 2).
Rebounds – Serena 16 (A.
Witter 7); Newark 20 (Akre
5). Turnovers – Serena
26; Newark 16. Total fouls
(none fouled out) –
Serena 12; Newark 12.
Little Ten Conference
Tournament
Championship Game
Newark 37, Serena 23
Serena (23) – Smith 0 0-0
0, Murphy 3 0-0 7, A. Witter
3 0-0 6, D. Witter 1 1-2 3,
Brennan 3 0-0 7, Krug 0 0-
0 0, Cools 0 0-0 0. Totals
10-1-2 23.
Newark (37) – Schmidt 0
0-0 0, McNanna 0 0-0 0,
Krug 0 0-0 0, Nix 0 0-0 0,
Akre 2 0-0 6, Tollefson 2 3-
3 9, Rehberg 1 2-4 4,
Patrick 6 2-2 16, Myre 0 0-0
0, Milakis 1 0-0 2,
Lawrence 0 0-1 0. Totals
12 7-10 37.
Serena (11-10) 2 12 5 4 – 23
Newark (17-5) 12 8 11 6 – 37
3-point goals – Serena 2
(Murphy, Brennan);
Newark 6 (Patrick 2,
Tollefson 2, Akre 2).
Rebounds – Serena 16 (A.
Witter 7); Newark 20 (Akre
5). Turnovers – Serena
26; Newark 16. Total fouls
(none fouled out) –
Serena 12; Newark 12.
C o d y' s
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Photo by Bill Lidinsky
Newark's Girls Basketball team won the 2011-12 Little Ten Tournament on Monday at Earlville.
The Lady Norsemen defeated Serena 37-23 to improve to 17-5 on the season.
Newark's Girls Basketball team won the 2011-12 Little Ten Tournament on Monday at Earlville.
The Lady Norsemen defeated Serena 37-23 to improve to 17-5 on the season.
