Star-Phoenix from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada • 15

Monday, March 12, 1984 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Star-Phoenix Sports B3 Evan Hardy girls break Holy Cross defence If with nothing to prove and plenty to gain. Coach Pat Wegner said as much. Yet her 'just-hope-to-play-well' discourse reeked of a con job. Recent history noted that Wegner-coached Hardy teams had traditionally performed well in the playoffs. And why should this season be any different? But the '84 Souls may have surpassed tradition.

They were the story of the playoffs. In fact within the last week, Souls defeated Feehan, City Park and Holy Cross; teams which had combined for 40 regular-seasons wins. Holy Cross, meanwhile, hadn't lost to a Saskatoon school since Dec. 12. Plus it had home court for the final.

Plus it was deeper on the bench. All of which apparently meant nothing to Hardy. Souls never trailed by more than four points, and when Rhonda Bashnick drained a jumper from the head of the key with minutes remaining, Hardy was on its way to the provincial championship as the No. 1 Saskatoon seed. Holy Cross will be paired against the top Regina team in the first round of the provincial By Bob Florence of the Star-Phoenix Evan Hardy 65 Holy Cross 60 Evan Hardy Souls snuck out from wherever it was they'd been hiding all season, offered a crash course in cracking a zone defence and lo and behold, won the Saskatoon high school girls' 5A basketball championship 65-60 over Holy Cross on Saturday.

That, in a nutshell, is the whole story folks. It had been easy to lose Hardy in the shuffle during the regular season. You had Holy Cross plowing through the league, stacking victory upon victory, and finishing the campaign at 16-0. City Park was sounding its swan song and furnished with scoring aces Barb Dmytryshyn and Lisa Zink-iewich aka the Alphabet Soup Gang would compile a 13-3 record. And there was E.D.

Feehan Troys, who happened to have three starters returning from the 1983 provincial championship team. Hardy, Team Dangerfield, simply went about its business. Twelve-and-four during the regular season and largely anonymous, Souls entered the playoffs playoff. Colleen Venne scored 18 points for Hardy, while Kathy Morrow exploited a soft baseline defence to the tune of 13 points. Ramona Moldenhauer, whose take-charge approach was largely responsible for keeping Holy Cross within range, had a game high 20 points.

Erica Pasmeny added 12. Hardy, which was due to be fitted with plastic noses and phony mustaches, is a stranger no more. Welcome to the playoffs Souls. Nice that you could make it. Northern 4A Prince Albert Carlton and North Battleford Comprehensive secured northern 4A berths in both the boys' and girls' division following playdowns during the weekend.

Carlton advanced as the No. 1 seed in the boys' division, following wins over Nutana 122-78) and North Battleford. In the game to determine the second qualifier, North Battleford beat Nutana 90-78. North Battleford claimed the top seed in the girls' division, while Carlton beat Nutana in the second qualifying game. Marauders march to boys' cage title jso Emotion and players soar for Evan Mardy (upper right) and Walter Murray as final Davis steals Classic from Marauders 77, Trojans 75 As the playoff round began last week in the Saskatoon High School Basketball League, a bit of a sticky issue surfaced.

Could a team of runners and gunners, a team that thinks nothing of putting up 50 and more shots each half, a team that some coaches refused to take seriously, find success and happiness in the second season? Well, yes as a matter of fact. "Hey, I tell you what," says coach Jack Seel, "this is just the beginning." Some beginning. Walter Murray Marauders have proven plenty already. When Marauders defeated E.D. Feehan Trojans 77-75 on Saturday for the Saskatoon boys' 5A championship, they completed one of the more impressive, and altogether exacting, playoff spurts in recent memory.

Beating Holy Cross and Feehan in the space of three nights, and this is playoffs remember, is big stuff. Holy Cross happened to have the best defence in the league this year (so what's new); and Trojans, who had allowed just 64 points per game on average, were hardly a sieve. "No question," Seel says, "those are two excellent, well-coached teams. Especially come playoff time." So what happens Marauders go on a tear. They knocked oft Holy Cross 68-65 in the semis, and then in a show of offence that was largely ad lib creative mind you, but strictly off the cuff Walter Murray captured the cily title outright.

There was an abbreviated stint of fast breaking in the final. There was a smattering of jumpers from the perimeter and bundle of one-on-ones. Oh. how Murray enjoys those one-on-ones. There was even a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am jam, that courtesy of Marauders' Mike Phillips.

Seel gang was having fun out there. After all, Marauders have no shortage of players who are willing, in the vernacular, to take it to the iron. "(Dave) Denowski likes to take it in," Seel began. "And (Davei Pekush. And Jeff Balzer." And Larren Kowaluk.

Gripes, even Roberta Bates probably drives the lane, and she's the te'am manager. Actually, the situation looked fairly cozy for Feehan at the outset. The Trojans play a 2-3 zone, and rather well thank you. Marauders, meanwhile, had fumbled and fussed with attacking a zone defence all season. But not Saturday.

"We've had a lot of practice." reasoned Seel, mindful of the carve job Marauders had just performed. "Outside of a game against Holy Cross, since the second round i of the schedule i began (Jan. 101 I don't think we've seen man-on-man for more than 20 minutes." Kowaluk finished with 15 points, while Phillips added 14. Feehan, which trailed by 17 at one stage, but was ll-of-14 from the line in the final seven minutes, was led by Rob Cherneski with 24 points. Ed Povhe contributed 17.

Both teams advance to the provincial championship this week in Regina. Yet for all the talk of offence. Seel assumed the stance that defence wins in the playoff's. "We knew we had to play good defence," he says. "It's something we spend a lot of time on.

I mean a lot. And it's something we rely on. Of course the last time I said that, Holy Cross went out and scored a hundred points on That was two months ago. Later that same week. Marauders stumbled through what for them was a forgettable BRIT.

They've won eight of their last nine games since. "Like I told the players." Seel says, "it's not where you are in January, it's where you are in March finds the Marauders as city champs. Perhaps Seel is right. Maybe this is just the beginning. FLORENCE to make Atlanta Falcons in 1970, Herron went to Winnipeg.

The Blue Bombers dropped him after police arrested him on charges of possession of illicit drugs. He pleaded not guilty. He signed with New England as a free agent for the 1973 season and returned to Winnipeg where he pleaded guilty to charges of possession of marijuana and cocaine. He was given a suspended sentence and fined $1,000. Dallas Cowboys' quarterback Danny White has been charged with assault in following allegations he punched a youth after running his car off the road.

'iLmJmL -l S-P Photos by Jeff Vinnick buzzers sound Kerr stead, she wrecked on one of the guards and came within a measure of giving Kerr two instead of the single point she did manage. "I thought if I hit the front stone just right that it could get me two," Davis said. "I was pretty sure it was there for me but instead I moved some rocks around. I didn't think there was much chance of doing any real damage." Davis tied the score with a pair in the eighth as she showed some classic marksmanship. With her first rock she removed a Kerr counter and in the process received a nice roll which left her covered with a partial bite of the button.

Kerr subsequently came up light when trying to draw. That left Davis a draw for two. "No question the hit and roll on the eighth was a big one," Davis said. "Rolls had been few and far between for us this weekend. We curled 10 games and that was about the only real good roll we got.

It couldn't have come at a better time." Davis had to claw her way back through the Event and it meant she had to win her last five games. The triumph over Kerr avenged an earlier 6-4 loss to the Regina skipper on side. Moreover, it was also a rematch of the provincial final when Davis emerged as the victor. In the battle for third place, Merle Kopach of Saskatoon, a late replacement in the 'spiel, claimed the $2,300 prize as the result of a 5-3 win over Elaine Anderson of Winnipeg. The game ended on the ninth end when Kopach appeared to have counted an additional five points.

In addition, the Kopach foursome earned $500 for winning the A-event challenge over fellow Saskatonian Kathy Wooff. Earning $1,000 each as qualifiers for the eight-team playoff were Wooff, Myrna Lewis of Saskatoon, Susan Seitz of Calgary and Brenda Elder of Coronach (the only repeat qualifier from last year). By Jens Nielsen of the Star-Phoenix Few who have negotiated a raise from their employer would be bold enough to try it again soon after. Chances for success are slim. But the moral of that story was lost to Nancy Kerr of Regina during Sunday's final of the women's Molson Mid-Winter Curling Classic at the Nutana.

In the decisive extra end, Kerr had just succeeded with a tricky raise takeout on her first shot. When the time came for her final, brick, she must have thought it was deja vu when she found herself again staring at a partially- covered Carol Davis counter. Defying the odds, Kerr played the raise again. As it turned out, she had gone to the well once too often and Davis stole a 6-5 triumph. After, Davis grinned when asked if she was surprised with Kerr's gamble.

After saying she wasn't surprised with Kerr's call, Davis conceded she probably wouldn't have played the shot. "When I came around the guard with my second shot, I thought there was enough room for her to follow me. If she had the weight, she could have moved me out of there. "I don't know, but if it had been me I think I would have tried to come-around." Davis and her Saskatoon contingent of Sandra Schmirler, Heather MacMillan and Laurie Secord pocketed the winner's cheque of $6,000 in the $18,000 event. Kerr, a former world champion with the late Marj Mitchell, and her supporting cast of Kathy Fahlman, Debbie Fiola and Wendy Leach left with $3,400.

The rich payday for Davis helped ease the, frustration of losing the provincial final to fellow Saskatoon shotsmith Lori McGeary. "Obviously, I would trade this for the provincial, it's still nice," Davis said. But, it is "bet- Mack Herron faces drug trafficking charge Carol Sandra Schmirler Heather ter to be disappointed and rich, than disappointed and poor," she quipped. "Right after the provincials, I felt like the season was all over for us. But since then we just all took a big holiday from curling and we only curled four games in the last month.

So we were fresh and ready to get back at it in this 'spiel." There wasn't much to choose 1 Davis MacMillan Laurie Secord between the two rinks in the final as Kerr held a slim 3-2 lead after six ends thanks to a deuce she collected in the fourth. Whereas both teams had been keeping it clean, matters became somewhat dicey in the seventh when the teams went to the draw game. Davis tried to throw a missile through the garbage in front in hopes of picking up a deuce. In S-P Smires Mack Herron, a Canadian Foot- ball League all-star with Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1971 and 1972, is among 25 people indicted by an Atlanta grand jury on drug trafficking charges. One indictment charges Herron and 17 other defendants with conspiring to distribute and distributing cocaine from 1976 to 1982.

Herron, 35, of Chicago, led the National Football League in kickoff return yardage in 1973 after leaving the CFL to join New England Patriots, with whom he played from 1973 to 1975. In 1974. he set an NFL record for total yards in a season. After trying out with, but failing.