8

The Lorian

Feb. 26, 2015

Sports
coachs corner

8 lessons I learned
as a sportswriter
Graham Slam

Sophomore
Therese
McMahon drives
the lane in the
Duhawks 65-58
loss to Wartburg.
Poor second
half shooting by
the Duhawks
proved to be the
difference.
photo by Maddy
Cole

Ryan Graham
sports editor

Duhawks bounced in 1st round

Loras season is cut short
by Wartburg in the
opening round of the
Iowa Conference Tournament
Wartburg 65, Loras 58
Iowa Conference Tournament
Wartburg (16-10, 6-8)
Player ....................... FG 3pt FT Reb Ast Pts
Morgan Neuendorf.....3-6 1-3 8-8 4 4 15
Kailey Kladivo .......... 5-14 0-0 4-5 9 0 14
Katie Sommer ............2-6 1-5 3-4 5 2 8
Holly Halstead ...........2-2 1-1 3-4 3 1 8
Bobbie Burrows......... 2-4 2-3 0-0 1 2 6
Allison Emrich ...........3-4 0-0 0-2 3 0 6
Mary Brown................ 1-3 1-3 1-2 1 1 4
Kristie Sommer.......... 0-2 0-2 2-2 9 0 2
Miranda Murphy....... 1-4 0-0 0-0 1 1 2
Team.................... 19-45 6-17 21-27 38 11 65

Loras (15-11, 9-5)

Player ....................... FG 3pt FT Reb Ast Pts
Kaitlin Phillips.......... 5-13 3-5 6-8 7 5 19
Carly Goede .............. 4-12 0-2 0-0 3 2 8
Lori Obendorf............ 2-7 0-0 4-4 12 0 8
Victoria May ............. 3-10 0-1 1-1 6 1 7
Megan Jones.............. 2-4 0-1 1-1 3 0 5
Kathleen Cabrera .......2-8 0-2 0-0 3 0 4
Terese McMahon....... 1-6 0-0 1-2 1 0 3
Erin Weaver................ 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2
Miranda Chapman .....0-2 0-1 2-2 0 0 2
Lauren Stanich ........... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Naomi Phillips........... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team.................... 20-64 3-12 15-18 38 8 58

by Frank Fernandez | sportswriter

With an NCAA tournament bid

secured, the Duhawks headed into
back-to-back conference road games
with a chance to finish with double
digit wins in Iowa Conference play.
The first game brought the Duhawks
to Pella for a matchup with the Central College Dutch.
The Duhawks struggled in the first
half, but were able to even the score
with under five minutes remaining
thanks to senior Victoria May. The
captain dominated the inside, making her presence known with eight
straight points to give the Duhawks
a 24-21 lead at the half.
In the second half, the Duhawks
were able to build a commanding
lead when freshman Lauren Stanich knocked down a three. However,
poor ball control and foul trouble allowed the Dutch back into the game.
We had a number of chances to
put them away, but we allowed them
to stay in the game and they took
advantage, said head coach Justin
Heinzen.

Centrals Kenzie Vander Molen

led the charge and swung the momentum in their favor.
With the score tied at 59 and time
running out, sophomore Kat Cabrera put up an off-balanced shot that
rimmed out and sent the game to
overtime.
In the extra period, Vander Molen took control, scoring 10 of the
Dutchs 15 points. The guard proved
to be too much for the Duhawks, as
they fell 74-70.
The Duhawks knew they had to
have a short memory, as they traveled to Indianola for a matchup with
the Simpson College Storm in their
last regular season game of the year.
The game was a tale of two halves
for the Duhawks. In the first half,
they showed their ability to dominate. Loras came out of the gate hot,
hitting their first three shots to take
a 10-2 early lead.
The Duhawks continued to
demonstrate their offensive prowess, working the inside and cashing
in on easy buckets. Sophomore Lori
Obendorf put up 13 in the first half,
using her size to her advantage.
Our presence inside really gave
us the early advantage and we knew
that was our best chance to set the
tone for the game, said Obendorf,
who finished with a career-high 21
points along with her 10 rebounds
and four blocks.
Along with impressive offense
came airtight defense. The Duhawks shot 55.6 percent and limited the Storm to only 36.0 percent.
Obendorf provided the exclamation
point with an emphatic block at the
halftime buzzer, as the Duhawks led,
39-23.
The second half proved to be a reversal of fortunes, as the Duhawks
struggled to find an answer against
Simpsons offensive attack. An 18-0
run by the Storm brought them within two, setting the stage for a fight to
the finish.
The Storm pulled ahead for the
first time behind the long-range onslaught by Whitney Van Wyk, knocking down a trio of threes in the half.
The teams went back and forth from
that point on, even up to the games
final seconds.

Down one with 3.4 seconds left,

Obendorf had her shot rejected and
the Storm corralled the ball. A foul
sent them to the line, connecting
on both to extend the lead to three
with little time remaining. With
one last chance, junior Kaitlin Phillips hustled up court and buried a
last-second trey to tie it up, and the
Duhawks headed to their second
overtime in as many games.
In overtime, the Duhawks were
able to go back to what worked so
well in the first half, getting the ball
into the post and letting their bigs
take advantage. Victoria May was
able to draw contact inside and hit
both free throws to give Loras the
lead. Suffocating defense by the
Duhawks shut the Storm down and
they were able to pull out the 70-65
victory, securing a season sweep of
Simpson.
With their regular season over,
the Duhawks entered post-season
play at the No. 4 seed, setting them
up for a first-round tussle with Wartburg.
Loras swept the fifth-seeded
Dutch in their two regular season
matchups, but when the teams met
in the AWC Tuesday night, Wartburg
got its revenge.
The Duhawks led by three at half,
but an abysmal shooting second half
proved to be their undoing. Loras
shot 23.5 percent from the floor in
the second, and fell to the Dutch,
65-58.
Phillips led the Duhawks with 19
points, seven rebounds and five assists before fouling out late in the
game. Carly Goede and Obendorf
both chipped in with eight.
The loss marks the final game for
seniors Victoria May and Goede.
May closed out her Loras career averaging 11.5 points and 5.9 rebounds
per game. At seasons end, May led
the Iowa Conference in shooting
percentage with a mark of .593,
followed closely by Obendorf, who
finished second in the conference at
.579 percent.
In her first year as a Duhawk,
Goede started all 26 games, averaging 10.1 points and providing some
much-needed outside shooting for
the Duhawks.

wrestling

Duhawks to host regional qualifier

by Drew Brashaw | asst. sports editor

The Duhawk matmen will play host

to the 2015 NCAA Division III Central
Region qualifying tournament this
Saturday at the Dubuque Five Flags
Center.
130 wrestlers from 13 colleges are
slated to compete, with the top three
finishers in each weight class earning
spots in the NCAA Division III Cham-

pionship tournament in Hershey, PA

on March 13-14.
For Head Coach Randy Steward,
this weekend has been circled on the
calendar all season long.
Were just trying to keep everything in perspective and keep pointing
to the regional tournament, Steward
said. Thats what weve been training
for the whole season. Our goal, obviously, is to put ten kids through (to

nationals). But whether we do or not,

if we get two or three kids through and
they do well, we can still finish in the
top-ten in the country. Thats the fortunate thing about wrestling.
Along with all eight members of
the Iowa Conference, the tournament
will feature wrestlers from Augustana
College, Cornell, Huntingdon College,
Knox College, and University of the
Ozarks.

ve been a sportswriter for the

Telegraph Herald for a little
over a year now. During that
time, Ive learned a thing or two
about the sports media industry
things the average person doesnt
realize until theyre the one holding
a recorder and sprinting after
the team bus as it pulls out of the
parking lot.

1. High school kids dont

know how to speak

With a few exceptions, this is almost always true.

Some running back will go for 250 yards and three
touchdowns, youll catch up with him after the game,
ask him your well-researched and poignant question
and hell respond: Yeah, I felt good out there, like,
with my teammates who were helping and, um, coach
really gave me, well, I mean, he believed in me, and us,
so it was good.
Gee, thanks for the analysis, Joe Buck.

2. Overtime sucks
Youd think covering an overtime game would be
exciting for a journalist. No. No no no, a million times
NO. Writers have deadlines. When that kid ties the
game with a three from the corner as time expires,
youre filled with nothing but dread. You start doing
the mental math: OK, we go to press at midnight. Its
10:30 right now. By the time Im done getting quotes,
itll be like 11:15. Unless theres a second overtime.
GAH THERES NOT ENOUGH TIME!

3. Coaches REALLY dont like losing

Some handle it better than others, but yeah, like
most people, coaches dont particularly enjoy failing at
their jobs. Whenever youre talking to the losing coach,
its important to put a positive spin on your questions.
Ask things like, What do you guys need to improve on
moving forward?
That goes over a million times better than: Why did
you guys suck tonight?

4. Covering Illinois high school sports is

awful
I have a bone to pick with the IHSA. You people
need to learn how to use the damn internet. High
school statistics are never easy to find, but some states
make it easier than others. Iowa has quickstatsiowa.
com, Wisconsin has wissports.net. Illinois is stuck
in the Paleolithic era and has nothing. No statistics,
no rosters, no schedules or resultsnothing. Sure,
you can use MaxPreps, but half the time, a teams
roster hasnt been updated since 2009. Get your s#!%
together, Illinois.

5. Sports Information Directors are

helpful (sometimes)
Sometimes, sports information directors are
cool and helpful and do their job. Like our own Jim
Naprstek, who holds press conferences and helps by
grabbing players for you after games. Other SIDs
are up in their office watching porn or something, so
journalists are forced to sprint onto the court/field/
gym out of fear that everyone is going to jump on an
airplane to Dubai immediately after the game, leaving
us without quotes or a story.

6. Editors make mistakes

As an editor myself, Ill be the first to admit that it
happens. Sometimes, the smallest error can throw off
an entire article. In an article on a Clarke basketball
game, I wrote: David Neis struggled, shooting 7-21
from the field. I formatted it wrong. 7-21 should
have been 7-of-21. But the editor left out the two, so
it read David Neis struggled, shooting 7-of-1 from the
field.
Any player shooting 700 percent from the field
certainly isnt struggling. Theyre also a wizard, which,
if that were the case, should have been included in my
lead. But it happens. Sometimes you try to write an
article on a basketball game and you end up writing
about wizards.

7. Never drink before games

This was ONE time and I had ONE beer, OK? Im 21;
its not illegal to have a beer with dinner before a game.
It is, however, a really bad idea. Midway through the
game, I was on the verge of passing out in the press
box. It probably didnt help that my pregame meal
was a Culvers butter burger and cheese curds. Fun
fact: cheese curds and beer are actually the two main
ingredients in Advil PM.

8. No one cares that youre a sports

journalist
When I first got into journalism, I thought people
would see me out there and think, Oooh, whos that
guy? He looks so important and interesting! He gets
his own press box AND he wears a sweater!? I dont
know about you, but Id date him!
Yeah, that never happens. Chicks dont dig
journalists.