32 — Thursday, May 1, 2014
The Holmes County Hub Shopper
Snyder shines in final high school hoops appearance Anyone who has had the pleasure of watching West Holmes’ Laina Snyder play basketball over the years would not be surprised by the MVP effort she turned in to lead the Div. I-II North All-Stars to a 95-48 thumping of the South All-Stars Sunday in the second game of four All-Star clashes at Ohio Dominican University. Snyder yanked down 12 rebounds, hit 4-of-5 shots from the floor for eight points and ignited several fastbreak baskets with her hard work and hustle on the boards. She finished with four assists. “That’s Laina. She just makes things happen,” West Holmes coach Lisa Patterson said. “And she did it on fumes. She had prom last night.” Snyder admitted she got off to a slow start. “Omigosh, after the first few minutes, you wouldn’t think that I would be the MVP,” Snyder said. “It took me a little while to wake up from prom. It’s quite an honor. I thought a lot of the other girls deserved it.” The North jumped out to an 8-0 lead and led 14-3 before Snyder even entered the game, alongside future Ashland University teammate Julie Worley. “It was a lot of fun working with Julie to see what we’re going to have next year,” Snyder said. The North completely dominated the battle of
who were better than me. I just had to know Kevin my role. My shots were Lynch falling today, and that’s always good.” Staff Writer Hochstetler knew her role, even though she didn’t get to practice the boards, ripping down with the team because of 66 rebounds, including 30 prom. The North opened up offensive boards, as Snyder and Worley combined a 16-point lead at the for 17 offensive rebounds, half (49-33) as Besancon which led to several sec- ignited a 5-0 run with a 3-pointer and a layup, ond-chance points. and Hochsteter added “That shows on the scoreboard,” Snyder said a five-point run of her own to help jump-start The North ran away the offense in the second in the second half, turnhalf. ing the 53-28 halftime “Competing against lead into a 40-plus point these girls all season and advantage. throughout high school, Div. III-IV Girls Game it is so cool to get to play with all these great playThe North All-Star ers,” Hochstetler said. “It team in the Div. III-IV was so much fun. Everygame was so stacked, it one was creating shots had the luxury of bringfor everyone else, and the ing Regina Hochstetler players are so good, they and Olivia Besancon off were able to create some the bench. on their own.” The two stars from “There’s a lot of great Hiland and Smithville, talent here. It’s very respectively, provided exciting to be picked to plenty of firepower off play here,” Besancon the bench to help the added. “There are a lot of North to a 89-62 victory great basketball players in the first game of the Ohio High School Coach- who are continuing on their careers in college. It es Assocation’s annual was a really fun weekend All-Star Classic. Hochstetler and Besan- meeting the new girls and getting to play with difcon combined for 25 points off the bench, with ferent people.” Haley Horstman, who Hochstetler’s 13 taking will be heading to Unigame scoring honors. versity of Findlay to play “I didn’t come off the next season, was named bench very often this the MVP for the North. season, and when I did, it usually meant I was in She scored 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting, grabbed foul trouble,” Besancon six rebounds and added said. “But there were a two assists. lot of great players, kids “The girls did a tremendous job,” co-coach Gary Isler of Canton Central Catholic said. With baseball back on the field, let’s pause to Garaway’s Courtney remember Virgil Trucks, a great name in its own right, made better by his nickname – Fire. Trucks was a Putt also enjoyed a big right-handed pitcher who helped steer Detroit to the game for the North 1945 World Series and won 177 games in his career. squad. Putt added nine But his oddest year – one of the strangest in major points and an assist for league history – occurred in 1952, when Trucks won just five games and lost 19. But get this – of those the winners, who had six meager five wins, two were no-hitters and a third was different players score in a one-hitter. Trucks died in 2013 at age 95. double digits. Scott Piercy has been making golf history. Who?
SPORTS FANS!
Scott Piercy, the answer to this question: Who won the largest single-event check in golf history? Piercy came off the Hooters Tour to capture the $2 million Ultimate Game in 2007 at the Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas. He finally made the big Tour in 2009, but did nothing until the third round of the 2011 Reno-Tahoe Open, when out of nowhere he dropped eight straight birdies and shot 61, going on to his first win. And since the start of 2012, Piercy shot 64 or lower seven times – as many as Tiger Woods, Phil Michelson and Rory McIlroy combined. Midway though the 2013-14 NBA season, Miami’s LeBron James became the 22nd player in league history to score 60 points in a single game. But only four players have posted at least 60 multiple times in their careers. Can you name them? No surprises if you’re a basketball fan – Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor and Kobe Bryant. But who did it the most? Wilt the Stilt, an astonishing 31 times.
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Kevin Lynch photos
Above, Hiland’s Regina Hochstetler is stuffed by Jenna Burdette during the Div. III-IV All Star girls basketball game at Ohio Dominican’s Alumni Hall in Columbus Sunday. Hochstetler came off the bench to lead the North team with 15 points. In the photo on the right, West Holmes’ Laina Snyder is presented an autographed ball after being named MVP of the Div. I-II Girls Ohio North-South All-Star Game. Snyder scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting, pulled down 12 rebounds and also came away with four assists and two steals in a 95-48 North win over the South.
Arnold enjoys all-star experience By KEVIN LYNCH Sports Writer West Holmes’ Brady Arnold could not remember the last time he watched a game he was playing in come down to a final shot, and he wasn’t even on the floor to take it. But when your teammates are players bound for Ohio State (like Garfield Heights’ 6-foot-10 David
Bell) or Purdue (like Elida’s Dakota Mathias), or any number of the North All-Stars playing in the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Div. I-II North-South All-Star game, it was easy to understand how the final seconds of the game played out. When Arnold’s five left the floor with just under five minutes remaining in the game, the North
trailed 86-84. The West Holmes star was part of the starting five, and the players rotated every five minutes during the two 20-minutes halves. Arnold scored four points on 2-of4 shooting. He basically brought the ball up the court and dished it inside to one of the big guys. See Pg. 33 — ARNOLD