Happy birthday, N.J.!
Nichele Johnson, the area’s leading scorer and shot blocker in girls basketball celebrated her 18th birthday in fine fashion Friday night.
She, and her Conneaut teammates, disposed of visiting Fairport, 53-40, in a non-conference clash at Garcia Gymnasium. With an eye toward today’s 1 p.m. clash with visiting General McClane, Pa., Spartans coach Tony Pasanen limited the minutes of his stalwarts.
That didn’t faze Johnson, though, who blew out 18 candles on her birthday cake and toasted her teammates with 28 points, 13 rebounds, 3 blocked shots and 3 steals.
Oh, and just for good measure, the 6-foot senior center buried the first 3-pointer of her career.
But she had plenty of help, though. Junior guard Marissa Olmstead had 7 points, 4 assists and 5 steals and senior forward Sarah Campbell had 6 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.
Up 25 midway through the third, Pasanen, now in his fifth season at the helm, pulled the plug and emptied his bench.
“We were trying to save some of our legs,” he said. “We have to come right back and play at 1 (today).”
The victory improves Conneaut’s record to 13-4 on the season, the most wins by a Spartans girls squad since coach Tom Ritari led them to a 15-7 mark — and a Division II sectional championship — in the 2001-02 season.
The boxscore does not appear in today’s edition because of technical difficulties on our end. It will appear in Sunday’s edition.
Sports
Now THAT'S a B-Day!
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Comforts of home
A trip home led to a meteoric improvement for Ohio State Buckeye Mallory Kreider, who destroyed her personal best in the 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) by 52 seconds Friday night during the Spire Division I Indoor Track and Field Invitational.
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Look out for Lakeside
Lakeside coach Rob Pisano has been waiting for this moment. And waiting. And waiting.
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Falcons fall
As the Jefferson Falcons’ rise to respectability under first-year coach Jeremy Huber continues, they have continuously improved on certain aspects of their game.
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A case for the offense
Forget offense versus defense. When Edgewood hosted Conneaut on Friday night, It was offense versus offense. And the Warriors won, 69-59.
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Familiar refrain for Torok & Co.
Geneva boys basketball coach Scott Torok is no Bill Murray. However, he may feel like a character in the actor’s movie “Groundhog Day.”
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Perry raids Harvey
The Perry boys can celebrate the fact they have now won twice in a row, and they deserve to do that. But along with Friday’s 66-54 win against visiting Harvey came a sight that nobody ever wants to see.
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Scholastic Statistics:
BOYS BASKETBALL
PREMIER
Lakeside 89, Madison 76
at Madison -
Scholastic Schedule:
SATURDAY, FEB. 11
Girls Basketball
n Madison at Chardon (1)
n Lakeview at Edgewood (1)
n Conneaut at Jefferson (6)
n Lakeside at Riverside (1)
n SJP at Badger (2, varsity only) -
Riverside sneaks past Edgewood
Riverside wrestling coach Scott Blank learned a good deal of what he knows from Edgewood coach Greg Stolfer as a former Warrior great. Thursday, he used a bit of that knowledge to get the better of his old coach as the Beavers bested the Warriors, 31-28, at Edgewood.
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Madison rolls past Geneva
Madison recovered from coming out on the short end of a pin in the first match of the night by taking six of the next seven matches against Geneva and capped the night with pins from their last pair of grapplers in dismantling the Eagles, 49-17.
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