Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 9

IND 01 1 MARCH 5, 2004 SECTION TURNAROUND ARTIST One-time Eastern Illinois women's basketball assistant Beth (Spycher) Combs leads Colgate out of the doldrums. DetallsB3 LEE PUBLICATIONS, INC. QUESTION OR COMMENT? CONTACT US AT I USA CLASS AA EFFINGHAM REGIONAL FINAL CHARLESTON VS. Jbsddiiiig iwm rapiras State-ranked Maroons next up for CHS in regional final i A ir ji Vl 'fr is ort CARBONDALE SECTIONAL Game am scheduled for 7:30 p.m. TODAY'S REGIONAL FINALS (Sectional seeds In parentheses) At Effingham Belleville West (1) vs.

Charleston (8) At Belleville East Belleville Arthoff (4) vs. O'Fallon (6) At Centralla rCentralla (2) vs. Mount Vernon (5) At Marion Carbondale (3) vs. Murphysboro (7) CARBONDALE SECTIONAL Tuesday Game 1: Winners of Effingham and Belleville East Reglonals Wednesday Game 2: Winners of Centralis and Marion Reglonals March 12 Game 3: Winners of games 1 and 2 for championship and berth in March 16 Edwardsville Super-Sectional don't think we're quicker. I think he's playing coach games there." Schmidt does his own bit in lauding the Trojans, whom he watched beat Effingham 57-54 in Wednesday's exciting semifinal.

"I saw an extremely athletic, fast-paced basketball team that I see posing some problems for us," the BeUeville West coach said. "I thought they were as good as their 23-6 record." The trouble for Charleston is Belleville West looked as good as its St-e FINAL, B4 ii'enorn A brief look at the world of sports Tickets on sale for Casey Class A sectional final CASEY Approximately 150 reserved seats and 500 general admission seats are on sale for tonight's IHSA Class A Casey Sectional final. Tickets are on sale in the Casey-Westfield High School office from 8 a.m.4 p.m. today for the PanaParis game. The game is set for 7:30 p.m.

with the doors opening at 6:30 p.m. For questions concerning the tournament final, please call the high school office at 932-2175 and ask to speak with Mike Leichty or Nik Groothuis. CHS, QU games to be broadcast online CHARLESTON Both Charleston High School basketball and Eastern Illinois baseball can be heard online tonight via WEIU. WEIU is to broadcast Charleston's IHSA Class AA Effingham Regional game against Belleville West on FM 88.9 and the 7:30 p.m. game can also be heard at www.weiufm.org Eastern's 6:30 p.m.

baseball game against Mississippi is avail- able online at www.eiuodyssey.com On both Saturday and Sunday, EIU's 1:30 p.m. baseball games against Mississippi can be heard on WEIU-FM (88.9) and online at www.weiufm.org. The campus station's entire broadcast schedule for EIU baseball and softball is listed on the www.eiu.eduathletics Web site. Lady Lakers to play ICC JACKSONVILLE After Lake Land's 82-65 victory over Shawnee Wednesday, the Lady Lakers advanced to the semifinals of the NJCAA Region 24 Division II tournament and are to play Illinois Central College at 2 p.m. Saturday at Illinois College in Jacksonville.

Lake Land, 22-9, faces the No. 3 team in the nation in Illinois Central, a team that is 25-2. The winner takes on the victor of the Parkland-Lewis and Clark game for the title at 2 p.m. Sunday. Parkland is the No.

1 team in the nation with a 23-3 record, while Lewis Clark is 16-14 in a game that is to start at 4 p.m. All games are set to be played at the Sherman Gymnasium in Illinois College's Bruner Fitness and Recreation Center. The winner of Sunday's game advances to the NJCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship March 17-20 in Overland Park, Kan. For additional information, contact Brenna Kelly of the Illinois College Athletic Department at 245-3404. Windsor, Sullivan to play game at Busch Stadium ST.

LOUIS Tickets are on sale for a Windsor-Sullivan baseball game to be played at St. Louis' Busch Stadium April 8. The high school teams are to play following the St. Louis Cardinals-Milwaukee Brewers game, which is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. Tickets, which are priced at $18, are good for both the Major League and high school games and can be purchased at the schools through March 26.

Call Windsor High School at 459-2636 or Sullivan High School at 7288311. Lincoln tournament set LINCOLN The Lincoln Boys' Basketball Booster Club is to play host to a 5th-, 6th-, 7th- and 8th-grade boys' basketball tournament on April 24-25. The seventh Central Illinois Lincoln's Shootout is to be held at the Lincoln Community High School Gymnasium. This tourriament is a not-for-profit fund raiser which is to benefit the local high school Boys' Basketball Booster Club. The event is to be limited to eight teams per division, the entry deadline is April 12 and there is a $150 entry fee.

For an application and more information, go to www.railerbasketball.org. or call Bret Farmer at 735-2643. NBA 7 p.m. ESPN Dallas Mavericks at San Antonio Spurs 9:30 p.m. ESPN New Jersey Nets at Golden State Warriors knot to bow tie at 3 BELLEVILLE WEST KEVIN KILI 101 FERSTAFF PlKXlXXillM'lUiR shot during the Trojans' 57-54 win IHSA Class AA Effingham Regional.

out for them tonight when they take 7:30 p.m. regional final. Eastern? within two years limits personnel change. The recruit EIU is seeking: "If he's available, a 6-11 point guard who can defend the post," Samuels said dreaming a little and joking a lot. "We certainly need a stabilizing point guard and someone who can defend the post." But nine years ago, Samuels blew his chance to recruit Kevin Garnett.

So seriously, the changes are going to have to come in EIU's play, not players. "I'm watching game tapes," Samuels said. "I'm going to watch other teams. I'm going to do a lot of consulting. I think we're going to go See ME LSI' B4 MHS' Roberts finishes ninth in Shootout NORMAL Mattoon junior Erika Roberts was one of 64 contestants competing in the Country Insurance and Financial Services Three-Point Showdown Thursday and made nine of 15.

Roberts finished in a 10-way tie for ninth place and was third out of the 21 other juniors. The preliminary round took place at Redbird Arena on the campus of Illinois State University in Normal "I am pleased," said Mattoon coach George Reed. "Erika competed well and did herself and her school proud. It was a good experience for her and she is a junior. So we hope she gets back next year." Roberts was in the first group of eight and was the fourth shooter.

Roberts finished in a tie for second in the group. There are eight groups of eight overall Advancing to the final round set for 1 p.m. Saturday at Redbird Arena were Antonisha Duncan of O'Fallon, who made 13; Kayla Ming of Grayslake, who made 12; Tara Michels of Dixon, who made 11; and Christie Johnston of Elmhurst York, who also made 11. There were four shooters who made 10. f-F BRIAN NIELSEN BY BRIAN NIELSEN Sports Editor Don't fear stall ball.

Forget any surprise strategy. "We're not going to hold the ball," Charleston basketball coach Trevor Doughty said. "We're going to play the way we play. It's going to be a great opportunity to play a great-team. How many times does a down-state team get to play a team ranked fourth in the state?" Charleston gets that chance in today's 7:30 p.m.

championship game of the IHSA Class AA Effingham Regional against Belleville West, No. 4 in the Associated Press state rankings. Doughty makes this concession: "A lot of times when we've played against bigger teams, we're quicker than them," the Charleston coach said. "This may be the first time when we aren't the quickest team on the floor." That does not mean Doughty is even thinking about putting a harness on his Trojans, who this season and last have fearlessly outrun opponents. "If they don't play that way then they're going to be doing something they aren't very comfortable with," Belleville West coach Bill Schmidt said.

"I'm assuming they'll play the way they always do. It ought to be a great game. "I don't know, that we're quicker. I think we have a little bit more size than they do across the board, but I Windsor Maybe Rick Samuels' answers will come from visiting the state of Washington. Maybe from watching television.

Maybe the light will switch on during another sleepless night following this 6-21 season. But Eastern's basketball coach knows something is broken and it's time to fix it. Rich McDuffie does not have to tell Samuels that, although as part of the athletics director's job, he probably lias. "Obviously, having the worst season we've ever had indicates we need to do much better," McDuffie said. That is exactly Samuels' plan.

Three years ago when the Panthers won the Ohio Valley Grange wave grips Dlini fans, players BY MARK TUPPER Staff Writer CHAMPAIGN The group hug that is wrapping its arms around the University of Illinois basketball team just keeps getting bigger, squeezing tighter and growing louder. And if there's a breakthrough beyond what has happened on the court with the 2003O4 Big Ten champions, it's how a growing group of fans have figured out how they can impact a team, elevate spirits and have a no-doubt-about-it impact on a team's good fortune. That group hug is krushing Illinois in orange and no one loves it more than Bruce Weber, his players and coaches. Exactly when fans began to truly embrace this team is difficult to say. But for many of them, it was a shrug rather than a hug when Illinois was 1-2 in the Big Ten back in January.

But as this rather remarkable team began to find itself developing SeelLLIM, B4 Charleston's Brad Reld (24) puts up Tuesday night over Effingham in the The Trojans will have their work cut on state-ranked Belleville West In the if it's not broken, don't fix it. Samuels does not want to dance with the girl who took him to this flop of a party. "We're going to put on different clothes," said the coaching looking ahead to his 25th EIU season. "We're going to have a different look. We need a facelift.

We're analyzing all components of our program." This is not the pros, so George Steinbrenner cannot come to Charleston and reload with rich contracts. Eastern has only one scholarship to award this spring after signing 6-foot-8 forward Jake Byrne of Elsberry, MtT, last fall. Even if some current Panthers decide to leave, the NCAA rules limiting eight players to be signed 1 I ft a Conference tournament for an NCAA berth, others were examining how Samuels' motion offense allowed jump shooters Kyle Hill and Henry Domercant to both rank among the nation's top four scorers. This season, Eastern had no one among the VC's top 12 individual scorers, ranked ninth among 11 conference teams in offense and ranked eighth in defense. So the Panthers can no longer say WW 1 i I Ik ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO Illinois' Dee Brown exults after Luther Head knocked home the winning basket In the Fighting mini's 81-79 overtime win over Purdue at Mackey Arena In West Lafayette, Wednesday night.