We just got a new driveway basketball hoop last Saturday. It's been a lot of fun pulling off alley-oops, slam-dunks and 360s. I dunk better than LeBron on a 7-foot rim!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Need a side bump?
BY TIM DEVANEY
Your Sports editor
He’s not the superstar of the basketball team - or even on the roster.
But Kyle Cohen takes his role — all 15 seconds of it — just as seriously as any member of the team. And without him, team captain Matt Kingshott would be lost.
Cohen is his personal one-man-warm-up-squad.
Before each home game, he’s the fan who runs out from the student section to shoulder-bump Kingshott in mid-air as part of a pregame introduction routine for the Golden Eagles’ leading scorer and rebounder.
As the starters are introduced, Cohen shakes the jitters out, waiting for Kingshott’s name to be called last. Then he races several steps onto the court and leaps in the air to meet Kingshott near the free throw line three feet above ground level.
“It brings a new level of intensity for me,” Kingshott said. “It gets me ready for the game mentally. This is just another way to get me focused.”
For Cohen, it’s his one moment of glory — his moment of sheer joy and excitement. His 15 seconds of fame. And Cohen, a junior, wouldn’t miss it for anything.
“I was late for work. I was like 15 minutes late,” Cohen said about the recent homecoming game. “I didn’t want to blow off Kingshott, and I thought that would show a sign of … commitment. I don’t want him to get mad before a game, or discouraged.”
Inspired is more like it.
“That’s truly dedicated to the side-bump,” Kingshott said several days after the game when he realized Cohen showed up late for work to squeeze the side-bump into his schedule. “That’s impressive.
“I just see Cohen as a dedicated Cornerstone basketball fan. I think it’s another way for him to get involved in the basketball games. He’s at almost all the games, and he’s always near the front row cheering.”
Cohen spends all day preparing for his moment in the spotlight.
“Yeah, it’s more like I have to focus mentally, you know? And have in my mind what I’m going to do, what it’s going to look like, and make sure I don’t mess anything up.
“I almost did the game before last. My shoes were wet and I slipped on the floor. I seemed to regain my momentum, but it didn’t seem like as good of a shoulder-bump as I wanted it to be.”
He analyzes each shoulder-bump to see how they can improve.
“I noticed that every time we jump, he has his handout and mine are tucked in,” Cohen said. “It would be better if I could work on getting my hands out…”
Like a Golden Eagle soaring?
“Yeah, like that.”
Cohen got the job after the previous side-bumper was late, and he does not want to lose the role.
Cohen said Kingshott used to call the prior bumper, “My boy,” “but now that I’ve been doing it, it kind of raised my level of friendship with him. That’s how Kingshott sees it, anyway.”
And he does.
“Kyle and I are pretty good friends,” Kingshott said. “We get along really well. It’s just a really good friendship that we have, because it’s just really easy going and laidback.”
Every other starter side-bumps with teammate Dennis Jones during the pregame introductions, but at the beginning of the season Kingshott started the relatively new ritual to recognize his fans.
“I just wanted to do something to show that I’m glad that we have fans that come to the games, and I appreciate each one of them,” Kingshott said. “I think the more people you get involved, the more intensity you can bring to the game.”
Ever since, Kingshott has made sure Cohen shows up to each home game.
“I think it’s 50-50 both ways,” Kingshott said. “We both make sure and know that it’s going to happen.”
“If he sees me in person, he’ll ask me,” Cohen said. “But if not, he’ll text me over the phone and say, ‘Yo, shoulder-bump today?’ I’ll say, ‘Yeah, sure.’ If he can’t reach me over the phone, he’ll usually message me on Facebook.”
Cohen said it was “nerve-racking” at first.
“But right before we shoulder-bump, it’s kind of an energy rush,” Cohen said.” It gets me pumped too. It makes me feel special. It makes me feel like I’m kind of part of the team.”
Kingshott agreed.
“Anybody that comes to any of the Cornerstone basketball games and supports us is part of our team,” he said.
This feature was published in The Herald during the spring of 2009.
Your Sports editor
He’s not the superstar of the basketball team - or even on the roster.But Kyle Cohen takes his role — all 15 seconds of it — just as seriously as any member of the team. And without him, team captain Matt Kingshott would be lost.
Cohen is his personal one-man-warm-up-squad.
Before each home game, he’s the fan who runs out from the student section to shoulder-bump Kingshott in mid-air as part of a pregame introduction routine for the Golden Eagles’ leading scorer and rebounder.
As the starters are introduced, Cohen shakes the jitters out, waiting for Kingshott’s name to be called last. Then he races several steps onto the court and leaps in the air to meet Kingshott near the free throw line three feet above ground level.
“It brings a new level of intensity for me,” Kingshott said. “It gets me ready for the game mentally. This is just another way to get me focused.”
For Cohen, it’s his one moment of glory — his moment of sheer joy and excitement. His 15 seconds of fame. And Cohen, a junior, wouldn’t miss it for anything.
“I was late for work. I was like 15 minutes late,” Cohen said about the recent homecoming game. “I didn’t want to blow off Kingshott, and I thought that would show a sign of … commitment. I don’t want him to get mad before a game, or discouraged.”
Inspired is more like it.
“That’s truly dedicated to the side-bump,” Kingshott said several days after the game when he realized Cohen showed up late for work to squeeze the side-bump into his schedule. “That’s impressive.
“I just see Cohen as a dedicated Cornerstone basketball fan. I think it’s another way for him to get involved in the basketball games. He’s at almost all the games, and he’s always near the front row cheering.”
Cohen spends all day preparing for his moment in the spotlight.
“Yeah, it’s more like I have to focus mentally, you know? And have in my mind what I’m going to do, what it’s going to look like, and make sure I don’t mess anything up.
“I almost did the game before last. My shoes were wet and I slipped on the floor. I seemed to regain my momentum, but it didn’t seem like as good of a shoulder-bump as I wanted it to be.”
He analyzes each shoulder-bump to see how they can improve.
“I noticed that every time we jump, he has his handout and mine are tucked in,” Cohen said. “It would be better if I could work on getting my hands out…”
Like a Golden Eagle soaring?
“Yeah, like that.”
Cohen got the job after the previous side-bumper was late, and he does not want to lose the role.
Cohen said Kingshott used to call the prior bumper, “My boy,” “but now that I’ve been doing it, it kind of raised my level of friendship with him. That’s how Kingshott sees it, anyway.”
And he does.
“Kyle and I are pretty good friends,” Kingshott said. “We get along really well. It’s just a really good friendship that we have, because it’s just really easy going and laidback.”
Every other starter side-bumps with teammate Dennis Jones during the pregame introductions, but at the beginning of the season Kingshott started the relatively new ritual to recognize his fans.
“I just wanted to do something to show that I’m glad that we have fans that come to the games, and I appreciate each one of them,” Kingshott said. “I think the more people you get involved, the more intensity you can bring to the game.”
Ever since, Kingshott has made sure Cohen shows up to each home game.
“I think it’s 50-50 both ways,” Kingshott said. “We both make sure and know that it’s going to happen.”
“If he sees me in person, he’ll ask me,” Cohen said. “But if not, he’ll text me over the phone and say, ‘Yo, shoulder-bump today?’ I’ll say, ‘Yeah, sure.’ If he can’t reach me over the phone, he’ll usually message me on Facebook.”
Cohen said it was “nerve-racking” at first.
“But right before we shoulder-bump, it’s kind of an energy rush,” Cohen said.” It gets me pumped too. It makes me feel special. It makes me feel like I’m kind of part of the team.”
Kingshott agreed.
“Anybody that comes to any of the Cornerstone basketball games and supports us is part of our team,” he said.
This feature was published in The Herald during the spring of 2009.
Women seize WHAC title
BY TIM DEVANEY
Your Sports editor
Your Sports editor
Cornerstone held on to an early lead despite a furious run by Davenport late in the game Monday, winning the WHAC Tournament Championship 73-69, and earning an automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament.
With 41.6 seconds remaining, Jenna Plewes muscled in a baseline layup over a swarm of Davenport defenders for the game-winning basket.
“Kara just found me [by the hoop],” Plewes said. “I’m like, ‘I’m going to go up strong with this and see what happens. I’m not going to let our team lose right here.’ I got kind of emotional at the end.”
The Golden Eagles closed the game with a 10-2 run during the last four minutes to pull out the win, led by senior captains Kara Overbeek and Plewes, who scored Cornerstone’s last 10 points.
“In the second half the seniors really pulled it through,” head coach Carla Fles said. “We just had to dig in on defense and pull it out.”
Cornerstone jumped out to an early 13-point lead at one point in the first half and led 41-30 at halftime.
“The last time we played them here we were down 26-6 [in the first half],” Riemersma said. “It’s hard to come back and win games like that when you’ve expended so much energy just to get back into the game, and we didn’t want to let that happen. I felt like the girls were more focused, and it showed early on.”
Cornerstone kept fighting after Davenport took several seemingly decisive leads in the second half, including a 67-63 lead with 4:17 to play.
“We felt if we were in a close game with them, we were going to win because of the experience that we’ve had in those types of games,” Riemersma said.
“There was no panic, and it was just one possession at a time,” he said. “I felt that was very important for us. I think that we have learned to become a team that does not panic, and that is something special.”
Kara Overbeek kept her composure down the stretch to lead Cornerstone.
“Every time they made it, I wouldn’t let myself get frazzled,” she said.
This season, No. 7 Cornerstone has a 2-1 record against divisional-rival Davenport, which is the No. 4 team in NAIA Division II."
“It’s just the excitement of the game,” Overbeek said. “Beating Davenport is always a big game. I just knew it was my last chance, so I was going to give it all I had. I’m glad we won.”
Cornerstone is the only team to beat Davenport this season, both wins coming at Davenport.
“Our team is kind of different,” Riemersma said. “It’s kind of funny. We almost play better on the road. They have a sense of urgency more when they’re on the road. It’s an interesting dynamic to have. But one that can be very beneficial come tournament time.”
This article was published in The Herald in the spring of 2009.
Nationals: Watch Out!
BY TIM DEVANEY
Your Sports editor
The women’s basketball team (26-7) is headed to the NAIA National Tournament in Sioux City, Iowa, following its WHAC Tournament Championship victory over Davenport on Monday.
But the Golden Eagles still have their eye on one more tournament championship trophy.
“We’ve beaten Davenport who (was) the No. 3 team in the county,” head coach Carla Fles said. “If we can beat them twice, I don’t see why we can’t beat (No. 2) Shawnee State or (No. 1) Morningside.”
No. 7 Cornerstone, a No. 2 seed in the national tournament, will face Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) in the first round on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.
The last time Cornerstone and Cardinal Stritch met up was earlier this season on Dec. 6 at Cornerstone when the Golden Eagles won 78-57.
“They always are a good program,” Fles said. “We got a lot of fastbreak opportunities [last time]. We just played very well against them to get the win. We can go on a little bit of confidence that we beat them the first time too. I thought that our experience outplayed them, but now it’s two months later and I’m sure they’ve improved. Having to beat a team for the second time around isn’t easy either.”
Cardinal Stritch (20-10) won the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, beating Trinity International 80-71.
Until this season, Cornerstone had not beaten Cardinal Stritch since Nov. 13, 2004. Last season Cornerstone lost at Cardinal Stritch, 68-63.
Cornerstone is 2-1 against Davenport this season, and after Monday’s conference championship victory, assistant coach Mike Riemersma is confident the Golden Eagles can stack up with any team in the nation.
“Any time you play that caliber of competition, it’s going to make you better,” he said. “So I feel that playing teams like that will help us.”
“The question is which team is going to put the best five games together in a row to make that run, and we want to be that team,” Riemersma said. “In the tournament one team gets hot, and that’s all it can take sometimes.”
Heading into the tournament, Cornerstone has won five games in a row and is 16-2 since January. And Fles thinks the Golden Eagles may still have room to improve.
“I’m not sure if we were peaking yet going into the WHAC Tournament,” she said. “I’m still not 100 percent sure if we’re playing our best basketball. I think we kind of saw that against Davenport. I think we’re about there now.”
Late in the season, Cornerstone racked up an impressive resume of wins that came down to the final moments of each game, including a game-winning runner in the lane by Jenna Plewes against Aquinas recently.
“We’ve had close games down the stretch,” Riemersma said. “Those are games earlier in the year that we were losing that now we are winning, and I feel that our preparation in being in those games early in the season has prepared us that now we know how to win those close games. That’s very important particularly when you get into any tournament situation.”
Riemersma said he believes Cornerstone’s 66-54 loss at Aquinas on Jan. 28 was the turning point.
“Sometimes when it goes bad, it just goes really bad, and out of that, you can turn it around,” he said. “That was probably the worst that we played all year, and I think that it woke us up a little bit and gave us a sense of urgency.”
Cornerstone’s three senior captains – Jenna Plewes, Kara Overbeek and Tami Thelen – have been the driving force behind the team all season long.
“The seniors are not just satisfied with getting to the tournament, and they won’t let the team be satisfied with getting to the tournament,” Riemersma said. “They want to make a deep run.”
The coaching staff expressed its complete confidence in these three players.
“I think there comes a point when you’ve played in enough games and you’ve been in situations at this level that you know what you need to do,” Riemersma said, “and they know what they need to do.”
“They want the ball in their hands at crunch time, and they’ve come through,” he said. “That’s what you expect seniors to do, and I think that type of attitude is going to carry over to the tournament because they’re hungry, and this is their last shot.”
Fles said she is confident her team can compete well against any style of basketball, including up-tempo teams like Davenport and half-court-grind-it-out teams like Aquinas.
“We’ve played a wide variety of teams and have done well against the majority of them,” she said.
Furthermore, Riemersma said Fles is the best in the business at preparing her team for its next opponent on a game-by-game basis.
“The girls will be ready,” he said. “I think that her track record proves that.”
Riemersma indicated the team will take it one step at a time.
“All we need to do is win five, and you do that by winning the first one and you just play game-by-game, one game at a time,” he said.
This article was published in The Herald in the spring of 2009.
Your Sports editor
The women’s basketball team (26-7) is headed to the NAIA National Tournament in Sioux City, Iowa, following its WHAC Tournament Championship victory over Davenport on Monday.
But the Golden Eagles still have their eye on one more tournament championship trophy.
“We’ve beaten Davenport who (was) the No. 3 team in the county,” head coach Carla Fles said. “If we can beat them twice, I don’t see why we can’t beat (No. 2) Shawnee State or (No. 1) Morningside.”
No. 7 Cornerstone, a No. 2 seed in the national tournament, will face Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) in the first round on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.
The last time Cornerstone and Cardinal Stritch met up was earlier this season on Dec. 6 at Cornerstone when the Golden Eagles won 78-57.
“They always are a good program,” Fles said. “We got a lot of fastbreak opportunities [last time]. We just played very well against them to get the win. We can go on a little bit of confidence that we beat them the first time too. I thought that our experience outplayed them, but now it’s two months later and I’m sure they’ve improved. Having to beat a team for the second time around isn’t easy either.”
Cardinal Stritch (20-10) won the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, beating Trinity International 80-71.
Until this season, Cornerstone had not beaten Cardinal Stritch since Nov. 13, 2004. Last season Cornerstone lost at Cardinal Stritch, 68-63.
Cornerstone is 2-1 against Davenport this season, and after Monday’s conference championship victory, assistant coach Mike Riemersma is confident the Golden Eagles can stack up with any team in the nation.
“Any time you play that caliber of competition, it’s going to make you better,” he said. “So I feel that playing teams like that will help us.”
“The question is which team is going to put the best five games together in a row to make that run, and we want to be that team,” Riemersma said. “In the tournament one team gets hot, and that’s all it can take sometimes.”
Heading into the tournament, Cornerstone has won five games in a row and is 16-2 since January. And Fles thinks the Golden Eagles may still have room to improve.
“I’m not sure if we were peaking yet going into the WHAC Tournament,” she said. “I’m still not 100 percent sure if we’re playing our best basketball. I think we kind of saw that against Davenport. I think we’re about there now.”
Late in the season, Cornerstone racked up an impressive resume of wins that came down to the final moments of each game, including a game-winning runner in the lane by Jenna Plewes against Aquinas recently.
“We’ve had close games down the stretch,” Riemersma said. “Those are games earlier in the year that we were losing that now we are winning, and I feel that our preparation in being in those games early in the season has prepared us that now we know how to win those close games. That’s very important particularly when you get into any tournament situation.”
Riemersma said he believes Cornerstone’s 66-54 loss at Aquinas on Jan. 28 was the turning point.
“Sometimes when it goes bad, it just goes really bad, and out of that, you can turn it around,” he said. “That was probably the worst that we played all year, and I think that it woke us up a little bit and gave us a sense of urgency.”
Cornerstone’s three senior captains – Jenna Plewes, Kara Overbeek and Tami Thelen – have been the driving force behind the team all season long.
“The seniors are not just satisfied with getting to the tournament, and they won’t let the team be satisfied with getting to the tournament,” Riemersma said. “They want to make a deep run.”
The coaching staff expressed its complete confidence in these three players.
“I think there comes a point when you’ve played in enough games and you’ve been in situations at this level that you know what you need to do,” Riemersma said, “and they know what they need to do.”
“They want the ball in their hands at crunch time, and they’ve come through,” he said. “That’s what you expect seniors to do, and I think that type of attitude is going to carry over to the tournament because they’re hungry, and this is their last shot.”
Fles said she is confident her team can compete well against any style of basketball, including up-tempo teams like Davenport and half-court-grind-it-out teams like Aquinas.
“We’ve played a wide variety of teams and have done well against the majority of them,” she said.
Furthermore, Riemersma said Fles is the best in the business at preparing her team for its next opponent on a game-by-game basis.
“The girls will be ready,” he said. “I think that her track record proves that.”
Riemersma indicated the team will take it one step at a time.
“All we need to do is win five, and you do that by winning the first one and you just play game-by-game, one game at a time,” he said.
This article was published in The Herald in the spring of 2009.
Plewes named All-American
BY TIM DEVANEY
Your Sports editor
After leading the Golden Eagles to a 27-8 record and the NAIA Sweet Sixteen, Jenna Plewes was named First Team All-American.
“I couldn’t be any more proud of Jenna, and I’m just so pleased that she is getting recognized in this way,” head coach Carla Fles said.
Plewes willed Cornerstone to win several games late in the season, hitting go-ahead baskets with the game on the line against Davenport in the WHAC Tournament Championship and against Aquinas during the final game of the regular season.
“She plays so hard,” Davenport coach Mark Young said. “I probably don’t have any more respect for any player that I’ve ever coached against than her. She brings it every single night.”
“She’s not a great shooter, and she’s not the fastest, but she plays so hard,” he added. “For someone to be as successful as she’s been it all comes down to her work ethic.”
Plewes averaged 17.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game during the conference season, but Fles said it was her hustle plays that made the difference for the team.
“She’s a gamer,” Fles said, comparing her to North Carolina star Tyler Hansbrough. “Sometimes we called her the one-man-full-court-press because she’d just stay back there all by herself, she’d pick someone off and score a layup.”
“She’s probably the hardest worker that I’ve coached here,” Fles added. “She just really loves to run and she works on her game all the time. She always puts her whole heart into every game and she hustles, and it’s great to see someone who works so hard get that recognition.”
Fles said she saw the All-American list when it was released on Tuesday night, and she was hoping Plewes, who received an honorable mention the previous two seasons, would make the second or third team. So she was “overjoyed” to learn Plewes was named to the first team.
“I just couldn’t wait to tell her,” Fles said. “When I told her she was really surprised.”
But Plewes, being the team player that she is, said she would trade her All-American status for a national championship in a split-second.
“For sure. Without a doubt. I just wish we could have went further,” Plewes said. “That would have been way more important than individual honors. I would’ve rather made a bigger run at the tournament.”
No one understands her devotion more than her teammates, who saw her hustle day-in-and-day-out.
“Jenna is a one-of-a-kind player,” teammate Krista Vink said. “She is constantly pushing and encouraging you. She led by example. I think she is a great player and person. She deserves the All-American nomination because she gives 110 percent all the time, and you can always count on her.”
Plewes praised her team, saying she wouldn’t have done it any other way.
“I can’t describe how much this team has meant to me,” Plewes said. “Everyone knows I love Cornerstone so much. The biggest thing is playing for God, and playing with teammates and coaches who just care about you, love you and represent God. That’s about the best feeling ever. I’ve absolutely loved it.”
Plewes was named to the All-American Team along with nine other NAIA Division II athletes around the nation, including Davenport’s Kallie Benike, who was the WHAC Player of the Year. Benike averaged 14.85 points and 7.38 rebounds per game.
The other All-Americans include Morningside’s Dani Gass, who was the NAIA Player of the Year, and Autumn Bartel, Ozarks’ Kayli Combs, Northwestern’s Becca Hurley, Concordia’s Whitney Stichka, Hastings’ Lindsay Ducey, Shawnee State’s Becky Babione and Dickinson State’s Kia Herbel.
Madonna’s Kim Olech and Aquinas’ Josyln Narber were named Third Team All-Americans. Davenport’s Kristi Boehm, Indiana Tech’s Hannah Thieke and Aquinas’ Carrie Abdo were named honorable mention.
Young hopes having two All-Americans in the conference will start to turn eyes toward the WHAC.
“It’s great for the present of our conference, and it’s great for the future,” he said. “People are starting to understand. We’ve got a legitimate claim…We’re becoming a legitimate No. 2 conference. It was great to see.”
This article was published in The Herald during the spring of 2009.
Your Sports editor
After leading the Golden Eagles to a 27-8 record and the NAIA Sweet Sixteen, Jenna Plewes was named First Team All-American.“I couldn’t be any more proud of Jenna, and I’m just so pleased that she is getting recognized in this way,” head coach Carla Fles said.
Plewes willed Cornerstone to win several games late in the season, hitting go-ahead baskets with the game on the line against Davenport in the WHAC Tournament Championship and against Aquinas during the final game of the regular season.
“She plays so hard,” Davenport coach Mark Young said. “I probably don’t have any more respect for any player that I’ve ever coached against than her. She brings it every single night.”
“She’s not a great shooter, and she’s not the fastest, but she plays so hard,” he added. “For someone to be as successful as she’s been it all comes down to her work ethic.”
Plewes averaged 17.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game during the conference season, but Fles said it was her hustle plays that made the difference for the team.
“She’s a gamer,” Fles said, comparing her to North Carolina star Tyler Hansbrough. “Sometimes we called her the one-man-full-court-press because she’d just stay back there all by herself, she’d pick someone off and score a layup.”
“She’s probably the hardest worker that I’ve coached here,” Fles added. “She just really loves to run and she works on her game all the time. She always puts her whole heart into every game and she hustles, and it’s great to see someone who works so hard get that recognition.”
Fles said she saw the All-American list when it was released on Tuesday night, and she was hoping Plewes, who received an honorable mention the previous two seasons, would make the second or third team. So she was “overjoyed” to learn Plewes was named to the first team.
“I just couldn’t wait to tell her,” Fles said. “When I told her she was really surprised.”
But Plewes, being the team player that she is, said she would trade her All-American status for a national championship in a split-second.
“For sure. Without a doubt. I just wish we could have went further,” Plewes said. “That would have been way more important than individual honors. I would’ve rather made a bigger run at the tournament.”
No one understands her devotion more than her teammates, who saw her hustle day-in-and-day-out.
“Jenna is a one-of-a-kind player,” teammate Krista Vink said. “She is constantly pushing and encouraging you. She led by example. I think she is a great player and person. She deserves the All-American nomination because she gives 110 percent all the time, and you can always count on her.”
Plewes praised her team, saying she wouldn’t have done it any other way.
“I can’t describe how much this team has meant to me,” Plewes said. “Everyone knows I love Cornerstone so much. The biggest thing is playing for God, and playing with teammates and coaches who just care about you, love you and represent God. That’s about the best feeling ever. I’ve absolutely loved it.”
Plewes was named to the All-American Team along with nine other NAIA Division II athletes around the nation, including Davenport’s Kallie Benike, who was the WHAC Player of the Year. Benike averaged 14.85 points and 7.38 rebounds per game.
The other All-Americans include Morningside’s Dani Gass, who was the NAIA Player of the Year, and Autumn Bartel, Ozarks’ Kayli Combs, Northwestern’s Becca Hurley, Concordia’s Whitney Stichka, Hastings’ Lindsay Ducey, Shawnee State’s Becky Babione and Dickinson State’s Kia Herbel.
Madonna’s Kim Olech and Aquinas’ Josyln Narber were named Third Team All-Americans. Davenport’s Kristi Boehm, Indiana Tech’s Hannah Thieke and Aquinas’ Carrie Abdo were named honorable mention.
Young hopes having two All-Americans in the conference will start to turn eyes toward the WHAC.
“It’s great for the present of our conference, and it’s great for the future,” he said. “People are starting to understand. We’ve got a legitimate claim…We’re becoming a legitimate No. 2 conference. It was great to see.”
This article was published in The Herald during the spring of 2009.
Plewes driving Golden Eagles
BY TIM DEVANEY
Your Sports editor
When Jenna Plewes steps on the basketball court, everyone knows where she is. You can’t miss her. The Golden Eagle senior captain speeds up and down the court so much that everyone’s attention is naturally drawn to her aggressive play.
Cornerstone basketball fans have grown accustomed to hearing plenty of thuds and clunks each time they see her play.
Plewes plunges into defenses to draw fouls, tussles in the paint for rebounds and pesters opposing guards for feisty steals.
Sometimes she wobbles off the court after a collision, and other times she jumps right back up. Yet, tumble after tumble, Plewes hangs in, and then comes back for more.
“I hate to lose,” Plewes said. “I go out there every game knowing we can win if we play our hardest. Hustle takes a lot of heart and work. You got to work hard to chase after all the loose balls and never give up. That’s just been my style of play forever.”
It is the same style of play that has given her a reputation as one of the fiercest players in the WHAC.
“It’s a good thing she wears knee pads,” assistant coach Mike Riemersma said. “She goes after anything. She doesn’t care about her body and wants to hustle after everything. That’s how she’s wired. So if there’s a loose ball, she’s going to dive after it and do what it takes to get it.”
Plewes’s passion for basketball drives the team. She is the key that revs up the Golden Eagles’ engine each game, each practice, each moment.
“Jenna gives us that driving force,” head coach Carla Fles said. “Everyone knows she loves to drive. She gets it done.”
In a nutshell, she is all a coach could ask for.
“She gives you everything, all the time,” Riemersma said. “When she goes out, whether it’s a practice or a game, she’s going to hustle and work as hard as she can all the time. That type of personality and competitiveness is rare. People can feed off of that type of energy. And you can see how that type of personality can be infectious to others.”
The infectiousness — if that is what it is called — has become more of an epidemic on her team.
“When you see her do all her hustle plays it motivates you, because she’s just working her heart out,” teammate Tami Thelen said. “She’s a great teammate, encourager, hard worker, hustle player.”
She is the type of player Cornerstone would love to clone.
“She’s just one of those people you wish you could have a few more of on your team,” Fles said. “It’s kind of like, what doesn’t she contribute? She just contributes heart and hustle. She just likes to out-work everyone.”
Fortunately for the Golden Eagles, she has done just that for nearly four seasons. Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, her ride is about to come to an end. But it is not over yet. Cornerstone is about to enter the national tournament and is only five wins away from a national championship. And you can bet anything that Plewes and the rest of the seniors will do everything in their power each game to make sure their ride does not end.
“It’s the seniors not wanting it to be their last game,” Fles said. “They play with a sense of urgency.”
It is a tall task, but with Plewes pushing the pedal to the metal, you never know what could happen. And that is exactly what scares opponents.
This column was published in The Herald during the spring of 2009.
Your Sports editor
When Jenna Plewes steps on the basketball court, everyone knows where she is. You can’t miss her. The Golden Eagle senior captain speeds up and down the court so much that everyone’s attention is naturally drawn to her aggressive play.Cornerstone basketball fans have grown accustomed to hearing plenty of thuds and clunks each time they see her play.
Plewes plunges into defenses to draw fouls, tussles in the paint for rebounds and pesters opposing guards for feisty steals.
Sometimes she wobbles off the court after a collision, and other times she jumps right back up. Yet, tumble after tumble, Plewes hangs in, and then comes back for more.
“I hate to lose,” Plewes said. “I go out there every game knowing we can win if we play our hardest. Hustle takes a lot of heart and work. You got to work hard to chase after all the loose balls and never give up. That’s just been my style of play forever.”
It is the same style of play that has given her a reputation as one of the fiercest players in the WHAC.
“It’s a good thing she wears knee pads,” assistant coach Mike Riemersma said. “She goes after anything. She doesn’t care about her body and wants to hustle after everything. That’s how she’s wired. So if there’s a loose ball, she’s going to dive after it and do what it takes to get it.”
Plewes’s passion for basketball drives the team. She is the key that revs up the Golden Eagles’ engine each game, each practice, each moment.
“Jenna gives us that driving force,” head coach Carla Fles said. “Everyone knows she loves to drive. She gets it done.”
In a nutshell, she is all a coach could ask for.
“She gives you everything, all the time,” Riemersma said. “When she goes out, whether it’s a practice or a game, she’s going to hustle and work as hard as she can all the time. That type of personality and competitiveness is rare. People can feed off of that type of energy. And you can see how that type of personality can be infectious to others.”
The infectiousness — if that is what it is called — has become more of an epidemic on her team.
“When you see her do all her hustle plays it motivates you, because she’s just working her heart out,” teammate Tami Thelen said. “She’s a great teammate, encourager, hard worker, hustle player.”
She is the type of player Cornerstone would love to clone.
“She’s just one of those people you wish you could have a few more of on your team,” Fles said. “It’s kind of like, what doesn’t she contribute? She just contributes heart and hustle. She just likes to out-work everyone.”
Fortunately for the Golden Eagles, she has done just that for nearly four seasons. Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, her ride is about to come to an end. But it is not over yet. Cornerstone is about to enter the national tournament and is only five wins away from a national championship. And you can bet anything that Plewes and the rest of the seniors will do everything in their power each game to make sure their ride does not end.
“It’s the seniors not wanting it to be their last game,” Fles said. “They play with a sense of urgency.”
It is a tall task, but with Plewes pushing the pedal to the metal, you never know what could happen. And that is exactly what scares opponents.
This column was published in The Herald during the spring of 2009.
Roark: The champ who missed out
BY TIM DEVANEY
Your Sports editor
Sometimes the best opportunities in life are just one step further. Too bad Lance Roark didn’t take that last step.
It’s been 18 years since Roark joined the men’s basketball program at Cornerstone University. He’s been a Golden Eagle for 17 of them, including this season.
But it’s that one year gap that still haunts him – at least that’s the running joke on the team.
The team won its only NAIA National Championship in 1999, but Roark wasn’t on the team – officially. He took the boys basketball head coaching position at Sparta High School. Not a bad move – just bad timing, considering he missed the only NAIA championship in team history.
“We always tell him to take a year off so we can win another national championship,” head coach Kim “Coach E” Elders said.
“Coach E always brings it up,” Roark said. “Coach E always rags me about it. The guys always tell me if they want to win another championship then I’ve got to quit for another year. That’s the big joke.”
The truth is, if Roark had really taken the 1999 season off, the outcome may have been different. While he wasn’t receiving a paycheck from Cornerstone that season, he was still very much a part of the team.
“I was involved with the team that whole year anyway,” Roark said. “I was still supportive of the team. I was still around all the guys. I would go to games and root them on. So I still felt like I was involved.”
“I’m still a part of Cornerstone basketball,” he added. “That will never change.”
The joke originally caught Roark off guard.
“I didn’t even really think about it [at first],” he said about not officially being a coach. “Coach E’s the one who brought it up to me. [Soon after we won the championship] he said, ‘Yeah, it’s too bad you couldn’t be here the year we won it.’”
But Roark was there – on the sidelines – and they did win it.
“I didn’t feel like that until he said it,” Roark added. “It didn’t even occur to me to think, ‘Oh, you weren’t there.’”
It didn’t occur to the players either.
“He recruited every single person on the team,” said Mark Zichterman, who was the starting center on the team. “To say he didn’t have an influence is ludicrous. He was still a coach to all of us that year even though he wasn’t on the bench. Always a good mentor.”
In fact, Brad Tilma, the starting point guard on the team that season, believes Roark deserves more credit than the NAIA has given him.
“Lance taught us for three years, and on that last year he should have got a ring because of what he did three years previous,” Tilma said. “He taught me the point guard game. I still believe he should get a ring, but whatever.”
Roark doesn’t care. He’s just glad the team won.
“It’s all good,” he said about the team hassling him with jokes. “I’ve busted their chops too about stuff. It goes both ways.
“I was happy to be around those guys, because you watch those kids grow up. You get to see the culmination of those four years.”
Roark said he has better things to worry about than whether he was officially part of the team.
“I appreciate how many teams are out there that don’t even make it to one national tournament, let alone win a national championship,” he said. “I cherish each day of practice and games. We’ve been fortunate to win as many games as we have. That’s unheard of. There’s only a handful of teams that have a record like that [over the last 18 years].”
But what if he could do it over?
“Knowing what I know now, I would have to coach Sparta again,” Roark said. “I have to learn lessons the hard way. Just riding that gravy train to the Promise Land I wouldn’t have learned the lessons I needed to learn to be a coach. If I wouldn’t have stepped back and I wouldn’t have taken my own job, I wouldn’t be as good a coach as I am now for sure.
“It gave me a greater appreciation for what a head coach does, so I feel like I can help Coach E more now because I know what he goes through on a daily basis. So it was a positive for me. I learned a ton during that year.”
And now CU players are learning a ton from Roark – officially – once again. Thanks to Roark the 2008-09 Golden Eagles are poised to make yet another run at a national championship.
“I’m glad Lance came back,” Tilma said. “He has a huge impact on our players.”
This feature was published in The Herald in the spring of 2009.
Your Sports editor
Sometimes the best opportunities in life are just one step further. Too bad Lance Roark didn’t take that last step.
It’s been 18 years since Roark joined the men’s basketball program at Cornerstone University. He’s been a Golden Eagle for 17 of them, including this season.But it’s that one year gap that still haunts him – at least that’s the running joke on the team.
The team won its only NAIA National Championship in 1999, but Roark wasn’t on the team – officially. He took the boys basketball head coaching position at Sparta High School. Not a bad move – just bad timing, considering he missed the only NAIA championship in team history.
“We always tell him to take a year off so we can win another national championship,” head coach Kim “Coach E” Elders said.
“Coach E always brings it up,” Roark said. “Coach E always rags me about it. The guys always tell me if they want to win another championship then I’ve got to quit for another year. That’s the big joke.”
The truth is, if Roark had really taken the 1999 season off, the outcome may have been different. While he wasn’t receiving a paycheck from Cornerstone that season, he was still very much a part of the team.
“I was involved with the team that whole year anyway,” Roark said. “I was still supportive of the team. I was still around all the guys. I would go to games and root them on. So I still felt like I was involved.”
“I’m still a part of Cornerstone basketball,” he added. “That will never change.”
The joke originally caught Roark off guard.
“I didn’t even really think about it [at first],” he said about not officially being a coach. “Coach E’s the one who brought it up to me. [Soon after we won the championship] he said, ‘Yeah, it’s too bad you couldn’t be here the year we won it.’”
But Roark was there – on the sidelines – and they did win it.
“I didn’t feel like that until he said it,” Roark added. “It didn’t even occur to me to think, ‘Oh, you weren’t there.’”
It didn’t occur to the players either.
“He recruited every single person on the team,” said Mark Zichterman, who was the starting center on the team. “To say he didn’t have an influence is ludicrous. He was still a coach to all of us that year even though he wasn’t on the bench. Always a good mentor.”
In fact, Brad Tilma, the starting point guard on the team that season, believes Roark deserves more credit than the NAIA has given him.
“Lance taught us for three years, and on that last year he should have got a ring because of what he did three years previous,” Tilma said. “He taught me the point guard game. I still believe he should get a ring, but whatever.”
Roark doesn’t care. He’s just glad the team won.
“It’s all good,” he said about the team hassling him with jokes. “I’ve busted their chops too about stuff. It goes both ways.
“I was happy to be around those guys, because you watch those kids grow up. You get to see the culmination of those four years.”
Roark said he has better things to worry about than whether he was officially part of the team.
“I appreciate how many teams are out there that don’t even make it to one national tournament, let alone win a national championship,” he said. “I cherish each day of practice and games. We’ve been fortunate to win as many games as we have. That’s unheard of. There’s only a handful of teams that have a record like that [over the last 18 years].”
But what if he could do it over?
“Knowing what I know now, I would have to coach Sparta again,” Roark said. “I have to learn lessons the hard way. Just riding that gravy train to the Promise Land I wouldn’t have learned the lessons I needed to learn to be a coach. If I wouldn’t have stepped back and I wouldn’t have taken my own job, I wouldn’t be as good a coach as I am now for sure.
“It gave me a greater appreciation for what a head coach does, so I feel like I can help Coach E more now because I know what he goes through on a daily basis. So it was a positive for me. I learned a ton during that year.”
And now CU players are learning a ton from Roark – officially – once again. Thanks to Roark the 2008-09 Golden Eagles are poised to make yet another run at a national championship.
“I’m glad Lance came back,” Tilma said. “He has a huge impact on our players.”
This feature was published in The Herald in the spring of 2009.
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