Sports briefs for Wednesday, March 15

Merrell helps Wesleyan reach NAIA quarters

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Former Northwestern High School athlete Klair Merrell helped No. 1-seed Indiana Wesleyan beat No. 4-seed Briar Cliff 88-77 Tuesday in the round of 16 at the NAIA women’s basketball national tournament.

Merrell finished with 12 points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal. With IWU leading 83-77 with :29 remaining, she made 3 of 4 free throws over the next six seconds to help seal the win.

Lilli Frasure scored 17 points to lead five IWU players in double figures. Jade Nutley recorded a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds.

“That was quite an adventure,” IWU coach Ethan Whaley said in IWU’s story from the game. “It was a game of runs. I thought we did a nice job staying together and responding to their runs with great poise and connection.”

The Wildcats (31-3) face No. 6-seed Dakota State in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. EDT today.

4 KT-area gridders are North All-Stars

Kokomo’s Shayne Spear and Lewis Cass’ Luke Chambers helped their respective basketball teams win regional titles Saturday, but they also have football news to celebrate.

Spear and Chambers have been named to the North roster for the Indiana Football Coaches Association’s North-South Classic this summer. The 46-player North roster also includes Western’s Mitchell Knepley and Tipton’s Eli Carter.

Spear made the North team at linebacker after anchoring the defense for Kokomo, which went 12-2 and won Class 4A sectional and regional titles. Knepley (free safety) also made the defense. Carter (running back) and Chambers (tight end) made the offense.

Spear, Chambers and Carter have signed to play football in college — Spear with the University of Findlay and Carter and Chambers with the University of Indianapolis.

Kats say go online for semistate tickets

Tickets for the Class 4A boys basketball semistate at Michigan City are available online at: public.eventlink.com/tickets?t=30952. That is a revised link for what was previously announced.

Electronic tickets purchased through the link will be the only tickets available in advance. The tickets are for all sessions and are $20.

Any remaining tickets will be sold at the gate for walk-up purchase Saturday.

Martin receives call to work semistate

Tipton’s Dean Martin, who’s a member of the North Central Officials Association, has received a boys basketball semistate assignment.

Martin is part of the officiating lineup for the Class 3A Elkhart Semistate on Saturday.

Western, Carroll earn baseball rankings

The Indiana Baseball Coaches Association on Monday announced its preseason rankings and Western and Carroll earned lofty spots.

Western is No. 2 in Class 3A and Carroll is No. 3 in Class 2A. The Panthers went 27-3 and won a sectional last season. The Cougars went 26-2 and won Hoosier Heartland Conference and sectional titles.

Outside of the Top 10 in their respective classes, Northwestern (3A) and Eastern (2A) were among teams that also received votes.

The No. 1 teams are the defending state champs — Penn (4A), Andrean (3A), former Illinois school Illiana Christian (2A) and Lafayette Central Catholic (A).