Floor leaders: Terre Haute South's Joyner, North's Jahn lead teams into battle

Sports

Terre Haute North vs. Terre Haute South

The action — The annual Vigo County doubleheader in Hulman Center features Terre Haute North’s girls (13-6, 2-4 Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference) meeting Terre Haute South’s girls (12-7, 2-4), followed by the Patriot boys (9-6, 0-2) against the Braves (8-9, 1-2).
The time — Girls varsity tipoff is 6:30 p.m.; the boys game should begin around 8.
The airwaves — No broadcasts are scheduled.
The coaches — Mike Allen is 97-114 in his 10th season with North’s girls, Cara Stuckey 25-18 in her second season with South’s girls. Todd Woelfle is 72-43 in his fifth season with North’s boys, Scott Ridge 16-24 in his second season with South’s boys.
Probable starting lineups — For North’s girls, 5-11 senior Lindsay Clark, 6-2 junior Adrienne Pritchard and 5-8 junior Sierra Sykes will be up front with 6-1 senior Nicole Anderson and 5-9 junior Layne Curley in backcourt.
South’s girls will have 5-11 senior Emily Bell and 5-9 freshman Lauren Hambrock up front with 6-0 senior Tasia Brewer, 5-7 junior Kylie Fendrick and 5-3 senior Labrea Joyner in backcourt.
North’s boys will start 6-5 seniors Calvin Blank and Austin Lewis at forwards, 6-2 senior Steven Davis and 5-10 senior Nate Jahn at guards, with the fifth starter being either 6-5 senior forward Patrick Hart or 5-11 senior guard Casey Vickers.
Certain starters for South’s boys are 5-10 senior guard Kevaris Gregory, 6-4 sophomore center Timmy Herrin and 6-2 senior forward Jeffrey Turner. The other two starters will come from a group that includes 5-11 sophomore Conner Shipley, 6-0 senior Logan Steward and 6-2 senior Preston Tofaute.
Key reserves — For North’s girls: 5-10 junior Jennifer Bendickson, 5-7 freshman Abby Howes, 5-5 junior Abby Middleton and 5-10 sophomore Gabby Staub. For South’s girls: 5-7 senior Kelli Buchanan, 5-5 freshman Riley Davis, 6-4 sophomore Lindley Higham and 5-7 senior Abby Shanks.
For North’s boys: 6-0 senior Charles Dillahunt, 6-2 senior A.J. Grady, 6-2 senior Evan Low and 6-2 senior Chris Schenck. For South’s boys: 5-11 senior Shane Stanley, 5-11 sophomore Spence Tofaute, 5-10 sophomore Jared Wolfe.
Team leaders — Anderson, a four-year starter and an all-state possibility, averages 14.5 points and 6.9 rebounds for North’s girls, with Curley and Pritchard near double figures in scoring and Pritchard leading in rebounds with 8 per game.
Brewer, also a four-year regular and all-state possibility, leads South in scoring at 17.8 points per game with four-year regular Bell at 9.4, Joyner at 8.0 and Hambrock at 7.5. Bell leads in rebounds at 6.8 per game, while Joyner averages 5.2 assists and 2.2 steals per game.
Blank and Lewis are double-figure scorers for North’s boys, with Steven Davis close to double figures. Blank and Lewis are the leading rebounders, and Jahn has 61 assists and only 20 turnovers.
Turner is Vigo County’s leading scorer of either gender by a wide margin, averaging more than 25 points per game, with Gregory also averaging in double figures.
Recent games — Both the North and South girls won conference games on Saturday, the Patriots thumping Warren Central 52-29 and the Braves routing Carmel 71-41. South lost 48-46 to Mooresville on Tuesday.
North’s boys lost 53-45 at Warren Central and won 54-51 at home over Bedford North Lawrence last weekend, while South’s only boys game was a 66-49 loss at second-ranked Carmel; the Braves were within six points going into the last quarter there.
Last meeting — North’s girls beat South 49-33 on Nov. 10 in the championship game of the Terre Haute Savings Bank Tipoff Tournament. South won the regular-season game between the two teams a year ago by a 46-35 score.
North’s boys beat South 57-49 in Hulman Center last year. South’s most recent win in the series was by a 49-46 score on Jan. 30, 2009.
Coaches’ quotes — Allen on the Patriot girls: “I’m happy with our progress. We’ve improved and South’s improved [since November], so [today] is a matter of who steps forward and takes care of business.”
Stuckey on the Braves: “This time of year your goal is always to be peaking at the right time. This is a big week. We’ll see how we stand [as far as the upcoming sectional is concerned] and what improvements we have to make in a couple of weeks.”
Allen on the Braves: “They are well coached. Tasia is their leader and the others asll play their roles, and as a coach that’s what you want to get your players to do.”
Stuckey on the Patriots: “They’ve had a great year. We have got to rebound and make shots to have a chance to beat them.”
Woelfle on the Patriot boys: “I was very pleased with the way we competed Friday on the road, and then we were able to come back Saturday and grind out a win against a Bedford team that played very well.”
Ridge on the Braves: “It’s nice to know we can play with No. 1 or No. 2 [in the state], but we would like to have finished it off a lot better.”
Woelfle on the Braves: “They’re playing with a lot of confidence right now and they have a lot of guys who can really shoot the basketball. That makes them difficult to defend, because Turner demands so much [defensive] attention.”
Ridge on the Patriots: “We have a lot of respect for them. They got us the last few times [we’ve played each other]; they’ve had the upper hand lately, so I hope that gives our guys a chip on their shoulder.”
— Compiled by Andy Amey

Related Photos

Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis Free: Labrea Joyner tallies two of her points from the free throw line early in the Braves win over West Vigo.
Speed: North guard #12 Nate Jahn pushes into the front court being defended by Rockville's #11 Joel Wittenmyer during game action Saturday night.
Not here: Terre Haute North guard Nate Jahn blocks the way of Evansville Central's Andrew Coffman in second quarter action Wednesday night on the Patriot's gym. (Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis)

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January 25, 2013

Floor leaders: Terre Haute South's Joyner, North's Jahn lead teams into battle

Andy Amey The Tribune-Star The Tribune Star Fri Jan 25, 2013, 05:03 AM EST

TERRE HAUTE — They have similar on-court leadership responsibilities, and they play for coaches with a little playing experience of their own at the position.

So help and scrutiny are always available for Terre Haute South’s Labrea Joyner and Terre Haute North’s Nate Jahn, who figure to bring leadership to tonight’s high school basketball doubleheader in Hulman Center — even though both might have teammates scoring more points.

Joyner’s Braves face North at 6:30, with Jahn’s Patriots playing South in the second game.

And if their teammates get the headlines in the Tribune-Star on Saturday, that’s all part of the job, the two senior point guards said earlier this week.

Jahn might be the least likely player in either game to lead his team in scoring, but both coach Todd Woelfle — who did lead North in points from the backcourt a few times during his career — and the other Patriots know how valuable Jahn is in making sure somebody on the team does get baskets.

“[Jahn] does a good job getting the basketball to people we need in scoring position,” Woelfle pointed out. “His assist-to-turnover ratio is crazy (61-20 for the season) … we have a lot of confidence in his decision-making.”

“We have guys on this team who can score,” Jahn agreed, “so I don’t have to worry about that very often.”

Joyner is not averse to scoring, particularly when she can beat defenders to the basket, but that’s just a bonus according to both the player and coach Cara Stuckey.

“I have to get everyone organized, get my teammates the ball, and make plays,” Joyner said when asked about her role. “I think I’m doing a pretty good job. I’ve got a lot of assists, [so I’m] helping my teammates out.”

“Saturday she had career highs in points [15] and assists [10],” said Stuckey, one of the best of an impressive list of former South guards. “She makes her teammates better, and that helps our success as well.”

Both players are two-year starters for teams with winning records during their tenures, and it’s not a coincidence.

Joyner improved steadily while running the South offense as a junior and the Braves finished strong as a result. Both she and her team have continued to get better this season.

“She’s really stepped up this year,” Stuckey pointed out. “She leads us in assists [5.2 per game] and steals … she does what I expect a point guard to do: she finds her teammates so they can make shots, and she puts pressure [defensively] on [the other team’s] point.”

“[Stuckey] wants me to make good passes, and not turn the ball over so much,” Joyner said. “Just play basketball.”

Jahn was a sparkplug on a team that reached a Class 4A regional championship game last winter, and proved his mettle by stepping outside his role and making some big shots in North’s biggest win along that road, an upset of second-ranked Pendleton Heights.

“He’s been a floor leader for us the last two seasons,” Woelfle said. “He understands the game of basketball, our program and what we’re trying to do. He’s passionate about his teammates and about winning.”

“My coach put me at point guard in the fourth grade, and I just started passing,” Jahn said. “My role was to make other people look good, and I kind of continued that. The guys seem to like it … and I kind of like the role of being bossy.”

Unquestionably the more soft-spoken of the two guards, Joyner probably hasn’t been described as “bossy.” But she might be getting closer.

“She’s been a vocal leader this year,” Stuckey said. “She organizes what we want to run.”

That might make Jahn might a fan of hers. Asked what he looks for when watching other teams play, he said, “I look at how the point guard controls the game. I don’t look at the boxscore all that much, but I do look at assist-to-turnover ratio.”

Neither player claims to be as much of an off-the-court leader, but for good reasons.

“We have good chemistry,” said Joyner, whose teammates include a pair of four-year regulars in Tasia Brewer and Emily Bell who provide leadership themselves. “We do stuff together and all hang out.”

“I guess I kind of coordinate the team meals [before games],” said Jahn, one of 10 seniors on the North roster. “We always have a good time … these guys are like my brothers.”

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