The Pantagraph Bloomington, IL

Flanagan Earns Crown

EL PASO - El Paso-Gridley High School's girls basketball team slowed favored Flanagan to a crawl Thursday night, never allowing the Falcons to get their transition game in gear. While the seventh-seeded Titans had No. 2 seed Flanagan squirming, trailing by just three points in the final minute, EPG could not stop the Falcons' run to what they hope is a second straight Class A State Tournament berth.

Iwumen Third, Women Fourth in Cciw Swim

WHEATON - The Illinois Wesleyan men are third, while the Titan women stand fourth after the first day of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Swimming Championships Thursday. Wheaton leads both divisions. The Thunder men scored 276 points, followed by Carthage (217.5) and IWU (155).

Raiders Turn Away Rivals for Big 12 Title

NORMAL - The deficit had ballooned to 23-16, but the Normal Community girls basketball team still felt that, despite playing so inconsistent in the first half, the game was within its grasp. "In some ways, we actually felt pretty good going into halftime," NCHS coach Dave Feeney said.

Millikin Halts Iwu Rally, Win Streak

BLOOMINGTON - One second-half timeout had not produced the desired result. A mere 48 seconds later and with Illinois Wesleyan still closing fast, Millikin women's basketball coach Lori Kerans spent another timeout.

7-3a Title Caps Fieldcrest's Undefeated Season

Trent Hartzler led the way with 19 points as Fieldcrest capped an undefeated season with a 52-41 victory over Herscher Limestone in the Illinois Elementary School Association Class 7-3A championship game Thursday night at Clinton. Fieldcrest (28-0) also received 13 points each from Zak Schwiderski and Reed Klendworth. Hartzler made five of Fieldcrest's six 3-pointers.

Prairie Central Outlasts Eureka for Title

Prairie Central High School freshman guard Kaley Corban sank a 3- point basket with 3.2 seconds left in regulation to tie the score and the No. 3 seeded Hawks went on to defeat sixth-seeded Eureka 48- 40 in overtime to win the LeRoy Regional championship Thursday night. The Hawks rallied from a six-point deficit to start the fourth quarter as Eureka outscored Prairie Central 10-5 in the third period to stretch a 21-20 halftime advantage to 31-25 with one period to play.

Schonauer's Big Night Sends Lincoln to Victory

SPRINGFIELD - Chrissy Schonauer scored a game-high 20 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead the Lincoln High School girls basketball team to a 57-55 Central State Eight Conference victory Southeast on Thursday night. Natalie Boward scored 15 points for the Railsplitters, who improved to 9-17 overall and 4-10 in league games.

A Childhood Dynasty Crumbles Into Ruins

We used to mention them in the same breath as the 27 Yankees and Lombardi Packers. Now, the Boston Celtics are closing in on the Vancouver Grizzlies, a team so bad, it relocated to Memphis. Many of us grew up admiring the Celtics, marveling at their ability to reinvent themselves year to year, decade to decade.

Loser of Bet Proves to Be Popular Manning

FORSYTH - The Forsyth man who would be Peyton Manning now finds himself in the center of a media frenzy. Newspapers, TV and radio stations started calling soon after the Herald & Review reported on Wednesday that Scott Wiese, an impassioned Chicago Bears fan, was ready to legally change his name to that of the star quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts.

Donoho's Late Shot Lifts Mahomet to Win

Kathleen Donoho sank a short jumper with four seconds remaining to lift the Mahomet-Seymour High School girls basketball team to a 46-44 victory over University High and clinch the Corn Belt Conference title outright Thursday at Mahomet. The win, in the regular season finale for both teams, improved Mahomet-Seymour to 23-3 overall and 13-1 in the league. U High slipped to 11-15 and 6-8.

Crusaders Rout Decatur Christian

NORMAL - Zach Howerton scored 20 points, making six 3-pointers, as Calvary Baptist Academy downed Decatur Christian 70-38 in an East Central Illinois Conference basketball game Thursday night. Howerton had four 3-pointers in the third quarter as Calvary Baptist (11-13 overall, 5-5 ECIC) outscored Decatur Christian 23-6 to take a 56-30 lead.

Freeman Selected All-District

BLOOMINGTON -- Illinois Wesleyan senior Zach Freeman has been elected to the first team of the all-District V academic men's basketball squad. Freeman will join players from seven other districts on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America national ballot.

Saints Press On to Sectional

BLOOMINGTON - Central Catholic High School's full-court press forced six turnovers before Tri-Valley scored its first basket Thursday night and four more before the Vikings scored their second. That trend continued most of the way as the Saints won their own Class A girls regional championship, 73-43.

Tanney Makes His Mark

LEXINGTON - When Fred Hardman set the Lexington High School career scoring record, Lyndon Johnson was president, the Beatles were the rage and basketball uniforms had belts. Alex Tanney wasn't around for any of that. Still, he was aware of the 6-foot-5 Hardman, who went on to play college basketball at Indiana State.

Twin Engines ; Rohlfses, Bolens Help Drive Hartem While Foes See Double

HARTSBURG - Being double teamed is usually a sign of respect, but Hartsburg-Emden High School basketball player Josh Rohlfs knows in his case, sometimes it's an accident. That's because one defender meant to guard his identical twin, Jason, instead.

Creighton, Siu Class of the League - Again

NORMAL - The two most dominant basketball programs in the Missouri Valley Conference the past 10 years are slugging it out again for the league title. Not much of a surprise there.

Brosal Stepping Downas President Ofuhl

LAKE ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The United Hockey League announced Tuesday that Richard Brosal, UHL President/CEO, has accepted a position as the Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing for B2 Networks and will leave the UHL after this season. "On behalf of the UHL Board of Governors, we express our gratitude for the passion and efforts that Richard has displayed over the past 10 seasons," said Paul L. Pickard, UHL Chairman of the Board.- "We look forward to working with Richard the rest of this ...

Isu Swimmers Third in Valley Meet

Jamie Haseman finished second in the 500-yard freestyle to pace Illinois State during the first day of the Missouri Valley Conference Championships at the Shea Natatorium in Carbondale on Thursday. Haseman, who swam a personal best time of 5 minutes, 6.33 seconds in the preliminaries, went 5:07.98 in the finals to finish behind Missouri State's Matana Wellman (5:04.73).

Waropay Hopes Comebacktrail Leads All the Way to State

NORMAL - Wrestlers believe that what they put into their sport is what they'll get out of it. But an injury can wash a season of hard work and big dreams down the drain.