JOURNAL AKD COURIER SPORTS EDITOR JIM D. STAFFORD Phone 420-5235 Fax 420-5246 E-mail Journal and Courier online: www.jconline.com Fed holds interest rates steady PORT Business C7 Hm 3 AYjvS PTE T. Hi 25 EC 32. Do to I Ims lm Gil 3 1 1 By Jeff Washburn Journal and Courier JEFFERSON Now that McCutcheon's Breanne Evans has incorporated finesse into a power-based game, the Maverick volleyball team's senior middle hitter has become the ultimate lethal weapon. Evans dominated Tuesday night's 3-1 victory at Class A's ninth-ranked Clinton Prairie, compiling 15 kills, two blocks and a pair of aces in the 21-17, 21-14, verdict.
The 5-foot-ll veteran is excelling all over the court, adding back row and serving to an array of shots at the net. "Tve always wanted to play back there," Evans said. Tve been taken out in the past, but this year, I decided I was going to work hard on defense, serving and passing so I could play all the way around. It helps get you into the flow of the game." Clinton Prairie coach Connie Garrett, whose Gophers slipped to 9-10, said her team never adjusted to Evans' as- it touch or deflect it on the block it was right through us. She is one of the better hitters we've seen so far as far being able to place shots and do some smart things." McCutcheon coach Jill Shambaugh certainly appreciates Evans' desire to become more than a power-hitting front line performer.
"She is working to extend her ability to do more with the ball than just hit it hard," Shambaugh said. "She is really good has been good at it since her sophom*ore Inside Associated Press top 10 football polls C3 High school roundup C5 year us being able to tell her what is open for a tip and immediately go there." With 6-2 Melissa Nance, 6-1 Angie Ping, 5-10 Janette Burgin and 5-9 Tabitha Mol-berg, Clinton Prairie's front line is a challenge Evans welcomed. "I knew they had big blockers," Evans said. "Melissa is an extraordinary player, and because we've played together, I knew she would be after me. So, I looked for holes in their defense and tried to find them.
Playing smart helps when there are big blockers. "I've always been able to hit the ball hard. It's fine if you can hit it hard, but sometimes, you have to dink it over. That works just as well." Shambaugh anticipated Evans would be at her best against the small-school Gophers who play a big-school schedule. See MAVERICKS, Page C5 7 National League Florida 9, Montreal 6 Pittsburgh 6, Mets 3 Philadelphia 5, Atlanta 3 Cincinnati 1 Cubs 0 Milwaukee 3, Houston 1 St.
Louis 3, Arizona 2 Colorado 1 Los Angeles 0 San Diego at San Francisco, late American League Toronto 1 1 Baltimore 1 Yankees 6, Tampa Bay 0 Texas 2, Anaheim 1 Minnesota 4, Cleveland 3 Boston 4, White Sox 2 Kansas City 17, Detroit 2 Seattle 8, Oakland 7 See roundup, Page C2 McCarty named assistant basketball coach at Logansport Former Seeger star Stephanie McCarty, who led Purdue to the 1999 national championship, was named as an assistant coach for the Logansport girls basketball team. The school board named her Monday to serve as an assistant for coach Jerry Hoover. McCarty was drafted by the WNBA's Charlotte Sting in 1999 and then traded to the Indiana Fever after one season. With the Fever, she started 57 of 62 games but missed last season so she could recuperate from three offseason surgeries. In three WNBA seasons, she averaged 6.1 points and had 167 assists.
McCarty will be introduced at a press conference today at the administration building. NFL Hall of Farner Webster dead at 50 Mike Webster's durability and toughness made him a mmmm By John TerhuneJournal and Courier DISTURBING TREND: Through the first four games of this sea- did in two of Joe Tiller's first five years at Purdue. The Boilers son, the Boilermakers have already lost more fumbles than they fumbled five times in a loss to Wake Forest last Saturday. crura Evans Garrett sortment of shots. "She swung her arm well, and of course, she can hit the ball," Garrett said.
"We had trouble stopping her at the net with the block or on the dig. "If we didn't get a hand on Saturday's game Minnesota (4-0) at Purdue (2-2) 5 p.m. TV: ESPN2 Radio: WAZY-FM (96.5) WLQI-FM (97.7) Fumbles in the Tiller era Year Fumbles-lost 1997...:.... 1998 22-10 1999 27-12 2000 2001 29-12 2002 14-10 teammates to be supportive of the guilty party. "They already know, so there's no need to be negative with them," said Orton, who has had only two of his 131 passes picked off.
"Just make sure they keep their head up. We've all been there, we've all turned the ball over. It's not just one person. "We just have to try to stay positive as much as we can." A five-year NFL study indicated that during the course of a season, there are nn wmm if? (STojro-'? 1 mm Is Bn By Andres Ybarra The Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS Heading into Big Ten play this weekend, the Minnesota Golden Gophers are the most unproven unbeaten team in the conference. This year's team is the 28th in school history to start out 4-0, although that was never a far-fetched idea with Toledo of the Mid-American Conference being its toughest preconference opponent.
"Starting the Big Ten season is a whole new thing," said quarterback Asad Ab-dul-Khaliq. "New competition, better competition." Case in point: Close losses by Purdue, this week's opponent, to unbeaten Notre Dame and Wake Forest look impressive when compared to Minnesota's blowout wins oyer small conference 'opponents Southwest Texas State, Louisiana-Lafayette and Buffalo. The Boilermakers represent the Gophers' toughest challenge so far this season. And it gets tougher. After home games against Illinois and Northwestern, Minnesota which finished last season tied for last in the Big Ten with a 2-6 conference record will be in for a grind with back-to-back road games at Michigan State and Ohio State.
The Gophers close out the season with home games against Michigan and Iowa, and finish on the road at Wisconsin. Minnesota is one of four undefeated Big Ten teams this season, although two of the other teams have beaten Top 25 opponents Penn State beat Nebraska 40-7 and Ohio State defeated Washington State 25-7 last weekend. Wisconsin hasn't beaten a ranked foe yet, but went 5-0 on a pre-conference schedule that included West Virginia and Arizona. The Gophers, who received a tongue-lashing after last weekend's lackadaisical win against overmatched Buffalo, know they can't afford to let their guard down again this season. "If we give them any breathing room, the caliber of teams that we're playing now, we won't have a chance to win," safety Eli Ward said.
"Once we have a team down in the Big Ten, we have to keep them down." Against Buffalo, Minneso- 4 no mm Abdul-Khaliq Mason ta went up 31-0, but allowed the Bulls to score two touchdowns before halftime, which angered Mason. "We lost our focus, we lost our intensity, we lost momentum, which is the most important thing," Mason said. Overall, Mason said he's pleased with the effort of his young defense, but added he's still concerned about defending the run and tackling. "That's the most glaring weakness we've had," he said. The defense's inexperience showed against Toledo, as last year's MAC champions ran the ball for 233 yards and threw for 195.
Still, Minnesota ranks fourth in the conference against the run, with opponents averaging 98 yards a game on the ground. The Gophers' defense ranks first among Big Ten teams against the pass. "We've got to continue to find ways to pressure the quarterback, and we have to continue to get turnovers," Mason said. Minnesota's strength remains its offense. Abdul-Khaliq leads the nation in pass efficiency (185.8) and is tied for sixth in points responsible for, averaging 18 a game.
And Minnesota's 244 rushing yards per game average is second in the conference behind Iowa's 271.5. But critics again point out that Minnesota's yards were gained against smaller, overwhelmed defenses, while Ohio State, which ranks third behind the Gophers in rushing, had success running the ball against the likes of No. 10 Washington State. "It's kind of understandable with the teams we've played," Abdul-Khaliq said of his team not getting enough respect despite its undefeated record. "If we come out with a against Purdue, a lot of people, they're going to have to give us our respect.
To come out with a win against these guys, it definitely means something." mm i th-wi A jfT mini irr Inside C4 Purdue notes only about a half dozen fumbles that could not have been prevented. "I think right now we ought to have one fumble," Tiller said. While turnovers, mainly the fumbles, are the obvious problem, Tiller said there are other things that need fixing for the Boilermakers to improve during the upcoming Big Ten Conference portion of the schedule. "We're not real good on third down conversions, which keep you on the field," he said. "Four games into the season, if you ask me where we have to improve the most, it would be turnovers No.
1 and third down conversions No. 2." Purdue has converted only 20 of its 61 third down plays (32.8 percent) to date. Tiller also said the Boilermakers aren't "finishing." "Finishing everything. Finishing your block, finishing your route, finishing your tackle. We're not finishing the way we should.
"Those are the little things. And maybe those little things will become bigger things as we move along." four-time Su per bowl champion and one of the NFL's best linemen ever. Those very e-i minht havp IptJ WebSter tn a hrain in. jury that sent him spiraling into drug use and homelessness. The bare-armed strongman nicknamed "Iron Mike" died Tuesday at age 50.
He was remembered as a great center whose sturdiness personified the Pittsburgh Steelers' championship teams. The Pro Football Hall of Fame lineman died in Allegheny General Hospital's coronary care unit.The hospital did not release the cause of death. See briefs, Page C3 Ticket sales down for U.S. Grand Prix While Sunday's U.S. Grand Prix still stands to be the best-attended Formula One race of the year, the crowd is expected to continue to decline from its first run in Indianapolis.
The crowd likely will be significantly smaller than the estimated 200,000 who attended in 2000 or last year's 175,000, Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George said. Sunday's crowd is expected to fall between 120,000 and 140,000. Speedway officials say the recession and the domination of Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher, who clinched the series championship several races ago, have contributed to the slower ticket sales. By R.B. Fallstrom The Associated Press ST.
LOUIS A day after the Arizona Diamondbacks lost Luis Gonzalez, the World Series champions made it back to the playoffs. Edgar Renteria singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 3-2 victory Tuesday night that extended Arizona's losing streak to five. But the Diamondbacks clinched a playoff berth 90 minutes later when Los Angeles lost to Colorado 1-0. "Teams go through losing streaks," manager Bob Bren-ly said.
"Unfortunately, this is a bad time to do it." Arizona tied it in the top of the ninth against closer Jason Isringhausen (3-2) as EsiraooMS Tiller Grton has thrown, Purdue has 12 turnovers in four games. After four games a year ago, the Boilermakers had only seven turnovers, five interceptions and two fumbles lost. The 2002 -Boilermakers have already equaled the number of fumbles that Tiller's first Purdue team had in 1997. That team fumbled only 14 times all season, losing only four of them. "Most turnovers are mental," Purdue quarterback Kyle Orton said.
"Sometimes you get a helmet on the ball, or some freak play causes a turnover. Turnovers happen, We're not going to have zero turnovers for the next eight games. "But you have to emphasize the mental part of the game." Orton is only a sophom*ore but, as the quarterback, he's one of the leaders of the team. When turnovers happen, he thinks it's important for season over Counsell and pitcher Todd Stottlemyre also are sidelined for the rest of the season, and pitcher Brian Anderson broke his foot Sunday and probably will not pitch again this year. Manager Bob Brenly said Erubiel Durazo will move from first base to right field, with Dave Dellucci moving to left and Mark Grace starting at first base.
1 1 i Practices will now end with scrimmage By Tom Kubat Journal and Courier Needless to say, coming off a five-turnover performance in Saturday's 24-21 loss to Wake Forest, the Purdue football team will concentrate on the 'F' word in practice this week. Fumbles. And how to drastically reduce them. After four games, the Boilermakers have fumbled 14 times and lost 10 of them. Purdue coach Joe Tiller, and his coaching staff have a plan on how to try to cure the disease.
"We're going to try to incorporate a little more live ones against the ones stuff in practice, without putting our entire team at risk for two-plus hours," Tiller said Tuesday. "We're going to wrap up our practices with 15-minute, live scrimmages. Keep score and try to make it competitive." With the two interceptions that quarterback Kyle Orton Gonzalez's By Jim Salter The Associated Press ST. LOUIS Luis Gonzalez, the Arizona Diamondbacks' top power hitter, will miss the rest of the season and the playoffs be-' cause of a shoulder injury. The left fielder, hurt Monday night in a collision with shortstop Tony Womack, might need surgery.
Second baseman Craig pinch-runner Mark Little scored from second on pinch-hitter Greg Colbrunn's infield hit up the middle. Renteria made a diving stab to keep the ball in the in- Sin tank Crap iaaii ner past first. He struck out four and walked two. Benes lowered his ERA to 2.93, a far cry from mid-April when he was saddled with a 10.80 ERA and contemplated retirement due to an arthritic right knee. Diamondbacks rookie John Patterson was even more effective, allowing only a first-inning infield single by Eli Marrero in six innings.
Patterson struck out eight and walked two and allowed only one runner past first base and wasn't happy about leaving the game. "My mechanics were starting to break down a little bit and I didn't have quite the command that last inning," Patterson said. "But I like to compete." 3) in the Cardinals ninth and pinch-runner So Taguchi stole second as Ivan Cruz struck out. Renteria, who's batting .363 with runners in scoring position, followed with a liner just inside the third-base line. "Oh my goodness, he's been unbelievable," starter Andy Benes said.
"I don't think you could put anybody at the plate in a clutch situation that we'd feel more comfortable with than Edgar." Arizona's lead for the home-field advantage in the NL playoffs was shaved to one game over the NL Central champion Cardinals, who have won 17 of 20. The teams close their three-game series today. Benes allowed four hits in seven scoreless innings for St. Louis, allowing only one run- i' field, but the shortstop had trouble controlling it as Little beat the. throw to the plate with a headfirst slide.
Albert Pujols drew a one-out walk from Mike Fetters (3- "1 By The Associated Press DIAM0NS3ACX DANCE: Arizona's David Dellucci can't avoid the tag by St. Louis catcher Mike Matheny on Tuesday. I.
