The Out of Town Scoreboard

MERRILLVILLE (1-4-2006) - When high school players finish high school, sometimes they disappear into thin air, never to be seen again (at least until the next Homecoming). Truthfully, prep athletes often get more than their '15 minutes' of fame while they are in their teens and then the home town forgets about them as they go on to bigger (and sometimes better ) things.

What you'll read about here is what has happened to former Northwest Indiana (Lake, Newton, Porter, Jasper, Starke and LaPorte counties) players who are still in athletics outside this area. What you'll see is where they have gone and how they are doing. Unlike other such reports, what you will see here is the whole truth, the good or bad. Not a 'sugar pops' version of good stats.

That's the way it should be because it's okay that not everybody goes on to be a success. It's all right that not everybody goes on make headlines. As long as someone remembers the name of someone who still is involved in the game, that person can and probably will find their way up onto the "Out of Town Scoreboard."

The ultimate Out-of-Town guy was Merrillville's Gregg Popovich (1965) who took time out of his day job as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs to come back to Merrillville on Dec. 30 and have his jersey number 21 retired by his old high school. Popovich, who has coached San Antonio to three titles in nine years, was a two-year varsity player for the Pirates in the mid-60s. Popovich played three years at the Air Force Academy and, while he never actually played in the NBA, he has become a highly successful coach.

Crown Point's Nikki Borys (2002) scored eight points with three rebounds in 22 minutes last week as Purdue-Calumet (8-5) lost 66-36 to Division II Southern Indiana (8-5). Borys, a 5-11 forwards, was 3-for-11 from the floor in a game PUC, an NAIA school, didn't figure to win. Borys has scored 1,000 points and grabbed 500 rebounds in her four years at Purdue-Calumet.

SIU's Marshay Jollly (2004), a Merrillville graduate, played 22 minutes in a starting role, scoring six points. Jolly, a 5-9 wing player is avergaing four points and 12 minutes per game.

Boone Grove graduate Karissa Walter (2005) played 38 minutes and scored a season best 19 points in Oakland City's 82-73 win over NAIA Lindey Wilson College (8-5) of Columbia Kentucky. Walter, a 2005 all-NW Indiana player, was 7-of-13 from the field, 4-of-6 from the line with seven rebounds for Oakland City (3-5).

Boone grad Kim Sliwa (2003) was 7-of-11 from the field and 7-of-9 from the line for a game-high 23 points for Oakland City in the Dec. 19 game. Sliwa scored 1,000 points as a four-year starter for Boone coach Candy Wilson.

Hebron graduate Lauren Bechtold (2002) had six points, four assists, three steals and one turnover in Valparaiso's 58-50 loss at Notre Dame last week. The game was not as close as the score indicated as Valpo was down 30-18 at the half and by 15 points much of the second half. Andrean grad Jamie Gutowski (2005) played 22 minutes collecting six points and four rebounds with two assists and one turnover. Gutowski seems to have settled into the role of being the first guard off the bench for Valpo (6-5) and coach Keith Freeman. Valpo defeated UMKC 65-31 Friday (12-30-5) as Bechtold had six points, five assists, seven rebounds and no turnovers in 26 minutes of play. Bechtold has 17 turnovers in 11 games this season, an unheard of total for someone averaging 32 minutes a game. Gutowski had five points and three rebounds in 20 minutes against UMKC (2-10) in the Mid-Continent Conference opener for both schools.

On Monday, Jan. 2 Valparaiso (7-5) won at Oakland 69-55. Bechtold scored six points with four assists and two turnovers. Gutowski was 3-of-6 from 3-point range. Freshman Aimee Litka of South Bend St. Joseph's (2005) scored a career-high 13 points for the Women Crusaders on Monday.

Kankakee Valley's Adam Schaper (2002) grabbed 13 points in 11 minutes on Dec. 29 in Bethel College's 76-60 loss to Florida Memorial (8-8). Michigan City's 6-5 William Walker (2005) had eight points and eight rebounds with two assists and three turnovers in 19 minutes for Bethel. Portage's Jake Parker (2003) had just one basket in three minutes for Bethel. Parker reportedly has had problems recovering from a knee injury.

Valpo WR Jeff Samardzija (2003) came up short in the Fiesta Bowl as Notre Dame (9-3) lost 34-20 to Ohio State (10-2). Samardzija dropped a potential touchdown on the opening play of the game and the 6-foot-5 end who caught 71 regular season tosses, dropped two other passes in his poorest game of the season. To be fair to Jeff, though, he doesn't play defense and the Irish got smoked for 620 yards by Ohio State.

Merrillville's Josh Mayo (2005) had nine points, four steals and just one turnover in 21 minutes of the 75-61 University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) loss on Dec. 21 in front of 16,000 fans at the Syracuse Carrier Dome. Syracuse (9-2) led just 32-30 at halftime.

Crown Point's Cassie Pruzin (2005) scored five points with four assists, four rebounds, two steals, and two turnovers in 20 minutes of DePauw's 84-33 rout of Viterbo University of Wisconsin. DePauw (11-1) is ranked 10th nationally in Division III.

Gavit's Leslie Tyburski (2003) is averaging 3.4 points in 16 minutes per game for Georgetown (7-4). She has started four times.

Merrillville grad Julie DeMuth (2004) is leading Ball State in scoring after 10 games. DeMuth, an Indiana all-star for coach Bob Maicher at Merrilville, is averagng 11.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game in just 23 minutes of play for head coach and Crown Point graduate Tracy Roller (1989). Ball State (7-3) got the ultimate reality check on Dec. 19 in a game at second-ranked Duke (8-0). DeMuth was 0-for-12 from the floor in an unbelievable 110-24 loss. Ball State was an almost comatose 9-of-71 from the floor.

Gary West Side grad Isabell Rhenwrick (2005) is averaging 7.1 points and 2 assists per game in 26 minutes of action through 10 games for the Division II University of Indianapolis (6-4). Rhenwrick, a 5-9 guard, has 34 turnovers, a high total, but she is 13 of 15 from the foul line and 8-of-17 from 3-point range.

Eugene Wilson (1999) will be in the starting lineup Saturday night (1-7-2006) when the New England Patriots take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first round of the National Football League playoffs.

The Out of Town Scoreboard

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith