Area Scene: Warwick, Duffy honored

Three boys and three girls have been chosen as the 2012 High School Basketball Players of the Year by the South Dakota Basketball Coaches Association.

The Players of the Year in boys basketball are Adam Fink of Tripp-Delmont/Armour, Class B; Skye Warwick of St. Thomas More, Class A; and Connor Schaefbauer of Sioux Falls O’Gorman, Class AA.

The players of the year in girls basketball are Ashley Robinson of Hanson, Class B; Caitlin Duffy of St. Thomas More, Class A; and Heidi Hoff of Brandon Valley, Class AA.

The award is for seniors.

Mines basketball tourney is April 22

The Days Inn/I-90  annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament, hosted by the South Dakota School of Mines men’s basketball program at the King Center in Rapid City, is slated for April 22.

The tournament will be for boys and girls in fourth through 12th grades and men and women in an open division (out of high school).

Teams are allowed a minimum of four players,and are guaranteed at least two games. Cost of the tournament is $40 per team and $5 for each additional player over four. The deadline to register is April 16 and absolutely no teams will be allowed in after that date.

For more information or to register, contact Mines men’s basketball coach Jason Henry at 355-3023 or email him at Jason.Henry@sdsmt.edu, or download a registration form from the Hardrockers athletics website at gorockers.com.

Cabela’s to host Ladies Day Out

Cabela’s will focus on the growing population of women enjoying guns and the outdoors in Rapid City by hosting Ladies Day Out on April 21. 

This day-long event will present hands-on seminars, product experts, giveaways, shopping discounts, sweepstakes, and free samples. The first 100 women at each retail store will receive a free commemorative t-shirt.

Product specialists and industry experts will be on hand to answer questions and make recommendations while offering suggestions to help make the ladies’ next outdoor adventure a successful one.

Local briefs

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Basketball

» 3-on-3 tournament scheduled — The Valders Basketball Club is hosting a 3-on-3 basketball tournament for boys and girls in grades 3-8 on May 12. The tournament fee is $60 per team for the one-day tournament.

Each team is guaranteed three games in a pool format, with a maximum of four players per team. Players may play up a grade, but teams will be placed in an age group based on the oldest player on the team.

Registration forms can be downloaded at www.valdersbasketballclub.org or by contacting Jeff Schwoerer at 920-775-9270 or email at Schwoerer.jeff@gmail. com.

College athletics

» Silver Lake announces signing — Brillion High School’s Courtney Clavers, a 6-foot post player, recently signed a letter of intent to attend Silver Lake College of the Holy Family and play for the women’s basketball program.

Courtney’s family, high school basketball coach and close friends attended the signing.

“The recent signing of Courtney and Stephanie Lehman, a 6-foot-2 post from Cambria-Friesland, should greatly enhance our inside game next season,” Silver Lake coach Mike Flentje said in a press release.

» Lincoln graduate leads team to success — Manitowoc Lincoln graduate Lauren Lukas helped lead Washington Lee University women’s tennis team in claiming the ITA Division 3 National Women’s Indoor Tennis Team Championship held this past weekend at the Indoor Tennis and Track Center in Greencastle, Indiana.

Lukas, a captain for the Lady Generals, recorded five wins over the weekend as Washington Lee beat Johns Hopkins University, DePauw University and Carnegie Mellon University in the finals. Lukas is a three-time first team All-ODAC selection in both singles and doubles and earned ITA and NCAA All-American honors last season.

Lukas has also earned the distinguished Washington Lee Scholar-Athlete award, having maintained a GPA of at least 3.50 each semester.

She has recently been accepted at the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and will be attending graduate school there in the fall.

Prep sports

» Date set for Reedsville Awards Ceremony — Reedsville High School will hold its winter sports awards program on Monday at 7 p.m. in the high school’s gym. Parents, student athletes and community members are invited to attend.

Athletic letters and awards will be distributed to varsity student athletes involved in boys and girls basketball, wrestling and poms. Cake, coffee and juice will be served in the commons at the conclusion of the program.

Best 4 for 3-on-3 basketball tour

NATIONAL under-16 boys basketball coach Peni Ratumaiyale has named a 16 member extended training squad for the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Oceania 3-on-3 Youth Tournament.

Over 50 young players turned up for trials at the Vodafone Arena in Suva last Saturday.

Only four will be able to travel to the inaugural tournament that will be held in Australia in April.

Ratumaiyale has only one-and-half-month to work on the squad and he says a lot of work will need to be done.

“The players are young and fast learners but still we have only one-and-a-half month to prepare,” he said.

“They have a lot of talent but we still have to work more on their weaknesses and ball skills.”

He said 3-on-3 is a new sport to Fiji and therefore only the best four will make the cut.

“We will need the four best players that will have all-round skill.”

“They need to have the height, defence, speed, and they should also be able to shoot.”

Ratumaiyale said the other factors that will determine the selection of players will be attendance, commitment and determination.

“They are at a growing age and they can learn easily but we also have to look at who is attending training regularly, who is consistent and has the commitment and determination to be a national team player.”

“In these six weeks, these players have to show me they have become better than when they came for trials.”

“This is the best time to start and for those who do not make it, well, it’s not the end of the road for them because they are still young and they have a long way to go,” he said.

The final four member squad will be named after the Easter Championships.

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Central Bucks efforts for Coaches vs. Cancer continue Feb. 11

Central Bucks Athletic Association and the girls and boys
basketball teams from Central Bucks East High School will host
their fifth annual Coaches vs. Cancer fundraiser Feb. 11 at the
high school in Buckingham.

The event includes a 3-on-3 basketball tournament for boys and
girls in grades three through eight, concessions, raffles, a silent
auction, exhibitions from the high school teams, and a game between
Central Bucks teachers and seniors.

Also included: an appearance by Temple men’s basketball coach
Fran Dunphy, the Kutz Elementary School jump rope squad and a
concert featuring students from the Central Bucks School
District.

This year’s fundraising efforts are more poignant as the
organizations involved remember Morgan Mysza, a student at Holicong
Middle School who died in January after a long battle with brain
cancer. Mysza played travel basketball and soccer for CBAA and
Buckingham United.

Over the past four years, the Central Bucks youth have raised
more than $120,000 for the fight against cancer.

To register for the 3-on-3 tournament or for information, send
email to Elle Durkac, edurkac_22@yahoo.com, or visit
www.tcteams.com/cbbasketball.

Angie Mountain: 215-345-3065; email: amountain@phillyburbs.com;
Twitter: @HomeFields

© 2012 phillyBurbs.com . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Forty years of progress

Dianne Nolan and several of her fifth-grade friends stormed into the monsignor’s rectory at St. Mary’s Grammar School in Gloucester City, N.J., and demanded they be allowed to form a girls basketball team — something almost unheard of 50 years ago.

The monsignor relented, but said the practices would be at 6 a.m. Sunday mornings in the basement on a tile floor area used for bingo and musical performances.

Sleeved tunics and wool kilts with belts were the standard girls uniforms of that time.

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The rules of the game in the early 1960s were different from the boys game. It was 6-on-6, with two rovers, two stationary guards who couldn’t move past half court and two stationary forwards who could just shoot and rebound. Players were allowed to take only three dribbles at a time.

“That was really good for fast breaks,” Nolan recalled with a chuckle.

Amazing how far basketball has come for females during the last five decades.

Uniforms and most of the major rules now are the same as the males. Title IX, introduced nearly 40 years ago, has assured females of equal athletic opportunity and enabled female college basketball coaches, such as Nolan, to enjoy a good living.

Nolan, Moravian’s Mary Beth Spirk and Lehigh’s Sue Troyan represent three generations of experience. They have been part of the changing culture in women’s athletics and are proud to see how basketball has grown.

“I still think this is the best job in the world,” Troyan said.

As many colleges and universities are celebrating 40 years of women’s athletics, it is amazing how far the sport of basketball has come for females.

Family ties

Nolan, Spirk and Troyan developed a passion for the sport at a young age and had familial influences. Nolan, 60, has an older brother, Drew, who had a standout career at Temple. Her mother, Bert, was an All-American field hockey player and a nationally known basketball coach with a plaque of her accomplishments in the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

Spirk, 52, played in the backyard with her five brothers.

Troyan, 45, tagged along with her older brother as his rebounder. She also had an influential mother [Gail], who, like Nolan’s mom, was ahead of her time.

“My mom’s favorite day was New Year’s Day,” Troyan recalled. “She’d sit on the couch with the clicker and watch football games from morning until night on three channels.”

Troyan’s mom, who swam in college and played 3-on-3 basketball as a child, also rounded up the neighborhood kids each summer Sunday afternoon in the family station wagon and took them to Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia to watch the Phillies. They’d buy ‘nose-bleed’ seats for 50 cents and sneak down to the lower levels during the games.

Gail sat in a chair overnight in the Veterans Stadium parking lot to get tickets to the clinching game in the 1980 World Series.

Basketball was a Nolan family staple. She spent her Tuesdays and Saturdays at The Palestra in Philadelphia watching college basketball games.

By the time she reached high school, the three-dribble rule disappeared. Girls games were played in the afternoons, but because Nolan grew up playing in a basketball-rich area, she played in front of large crowds.

“We only lost three games my whole high school career and my mom had one of the winningest records in the country,” Nolan boasted.

Basketball tournament honors Blackstone Valley Tech coach’s memory

Before losing a battle with pancreatic cancer in 2009, Edward Waters had one request of his daughter Jessica: to set up a scholarship in his name.

For the third year, she’s delivering on that promise.

The Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School social studies teacher and boys basketball coach loved his job, said daughter Jessica Rubinow, a Valley Tech cheerleading coach.

“He was a (Blackstone Valley Tech) legend. He practically bled (the school colors) orange and purple,” Rubinow said of her father, who started the school’s golf team and was also the announcer at football games.

That’s why the scholarship keeping his memory alive is funded through sports he loved: golf, and now basketball.

Since Waters’ death in April 2009, an annual golf tournament has raised money for the Ed Waters Memorial Scholarship Fund for students in the boys basketball or golf programs.

“This year I wanted to do something a little bit different,” Rubinow said of tomorrow’s “Courts for Coach” Ed Waters Memorial 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament.

The scholarship will go to a Blackstone Valley Tech student in good academic standing in class and vocation, and who has shown a commitment to improving his community, she said.

“We want to give (the scholarship) to students who reflect what my dad stood for,” she said. “He personified hard work and determination. He also had a heart bigger than anyone I’ve ever met.”

The tournament is for all ages, from any community.

Players will be placed in divisions: elementary and middle school, high school, ages 18 to 30, and older than 30.

Each team of three players will compete on a half court, and each division will have a championship game. Certified referees will call the games.

Varsity boys basketball coach James Kahler, who was Waters’ assistant coach, helped put the event together.

“I think Ed would be proud of Jess no matter what she did, but the fact that she’s giving back to the school and the kids is great,” Kahler said.

Blackstone Valley Tech athletic director Michele Denise said Waters would be pleased to know he is still remembered by the community.

“Ed would be honored to think that his alumni, the students he coached over years, his family and friends, are all coming together to play game the loved,” Denise said.

The cost is $100 a team and $3 for spectators. The tournament will be held between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the school’s Competition Center.

About 200 people are already lined up to play, but Rubinow said more are still welcome and can sign up by calling 774-696-4153 or emailing edwatersbball@gmail.com.

Morgan Rousseau can be reached at 508-634-7546 or at mrousseau@wickedlocal.com.

Basketball tournament honors Blackstone Valley Tech coach’s memory

Before losing a battle with pancreatic cancer in 2009, Edward Waters had one request of his daughter Jessica: to set up a scholarship in his name.

For the third year, she’s delivering on that promise.

The Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School social studies teacher and boys basketball coach loved his job, said daughter Jessica Rubinow, a Valley Tech cheerleading coach.

“He was a (Blackstone Valley Tech) legend. He practically bled (the school colors) orange and purple,” Rubinow said of her father, who started the school’s golf team and was also the announcer at football games.

That’s why the scholarship keeping his memory alive is funded through sports he loved: golf, and now basketball.

Since Waters’ death in April 2009, an annual golf tournament has raised money for the Ed Waters Memorial Scholarship Fund for students in the boys basketball or golf programs.

“This year I wanted to do something a little bit different,” Rubinow said of tomorrow’s “Courts for Coach” Ed Waters Memorial 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament.

The scholarship will go to a Blackstone Valley Tech student in good academic standing in class and vocation, and who has shown a commitment to improving his community, she said.

“We want to give (the scholarship) to students who reflect what my dad stood for,” she said. “He personified hard work and determination. He also had a heart bigger than anyone I’ve ever met.”

The tournament is for all ages, from any community.

Players will be placed in divisions: elementary and middle school, high school, ages 18 to 30, and older than 30.

Each team of three players will compete on a half court, and each division will have a championship game. Certified referees will call the games.

Varsity boys basketball coach James Kahler, who was Waters’ assistant coach, helped put the event together.

“I think Ed would be proud of Jess no matter what she did, but the fact that she’s giving back to the school and the kids is great,” Kahler said.

Blackstone Valley Tech athletic director Michele Denise said Waters would be pleased to know he is still remembered by the community.

“Ed would be honored to think that his alumni, the students he coached over years, his family and friends, are all coming together to play game the loved,” Denise said.

The cost is $100 a team and $3 for spectators. The tournament will be held between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the school’s Competition Center.

About 200 people are already lined up to play, but Rubinow said more are still welcome and can sign up by calling 774-696-4153 or emailing edwatersbball@gmail.com.

Morgan Rousseau can be reached at 508-634-7546 or at mrousseau@wickedlocal.com.

Palestra to host 3-on-3 charity hoops tourney

In its 84 years on 33rd Street, the Palestra has been the home of Penn basketball and a West Philadelphia landmark. Now the venue will also help house others.

This Saturday, the “Cathedral of College Basketball” will host the first annual Palestra Charity 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament, organized by a Wharton MGMT 100 team to support two local nonprofit organizations, the Philadelphia chapter of Say Yes to Education, Inc. and My Place Germantown shelter.

The event was the brainchild of University Chaplain Rev. Charles Howard and Penn basketball coach Jerome Allen. Over the last year, the two have discussed how they could give back to the community and benefit local organizations.

“One of the great gifts that Penn gives is being in an urban setting with all the good that a place like Philadelphia brings — the history, the culture, the heritage and diversity and all the challenges as one of the poorest and largest cities in America,” Howard said.

Howard, who is a 2000 College graduate, was drawn to a religious life, but his continued focus has been assisting others to get the help they need.

As Chaplain, he spoke with Mary Ellen Graham, the president and executive director of My Place Germantown, who wanted to create a fully supportive shelter for men from the Germantown community. Three years after being founded, My Place Germantown finally acquired a permanent occupancy certificate and opened its doors in Northwest Philadelphia to 12 men in November 2010.

“She had nothing. To watch her raise the funds, get the permits and everything to open the shelter was amazing,” said Howard, who has been involved with several homeless advocacy projects in the past. “For a shelter and local program, a thousand dollars goes a long way.”

The tournament will support My Place Germantown in addition to the Philadelphia chapter of Say Yes to Education, a national foundation that provides educational support for children and their families, including promise of a full college or vocational education.

“I just found out that esteemed alum George Weiss has been actively involved in the Bryant School chapter of Say Yes to Education,” said Allen. “I kind of fell in love with the things that he has done.”

Weiss, who is one of the University’s largest benefactors, donated the naming rights for the renovation of the North side of Franklin Field. and has been no stranger to charity work.

“It’s pretty amazing that he walked into a classroom of 50 students and said if they graduated high school, he would pay for their college.”

After deciding on the organizations to benefit, Howard and Allen turned to one of Anne Greenhalgh’s MGMT 100 teams to organize the event.

“It was a no-brainer to help a management cohort,” said Allen, a 2009 Wharton graduate. “Obviously it gives the students work experience in a real life setting.”

The team has only had a month to prepare for the event and has worked non-stop to ensure the tournament runs smoothly.

“What we are focusing on right now is getting as many teams we can to play in the tournament,” said Jamal Taylor, a member of Team Rebound’s public relations committee. “Our main objective is to get the word out there to the community.”

The event will feature a three-on-three tournament and raffle with prizes that include a jersey autographed by Shaquille O’Neal and an iPad. In addition, the men’s basketball team will make an appearance, and Howard will enter a team to compete.

“I love challenging students to care for those in need … in whatever vocation our students are drawn into,” he said.