Post on 13-Oct-2020
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SPORTSTuesday, February 18, 2020—Section B
Adding an exclamation point
By Jack Miller
Adams Publishing Group
WHITEWATERThere aren’t many weaknesses to
the UW-Whitewater women’s basket-
ball team as it heads into the final
week of the regular season.
The No. 4-ranked Warhawks have
lost just two games and clinched a
share of the WIAC regular season title
Saturday. Whitewater has an overall
record of 21-2 and is 11-1 in WIAC play
with two conference games to go.
“As a coach you’re always looking
on improving every-
thing,” UW-Whitewa-
ter head coach Keri
Carollo said. “I would
say, statistically, tak-
ing care of the ball
a little bit better. It’s
going to be some-
thing we have to do.
“Then I would say
shooting a little bit
more consistently. But otherwise, I
think we’re in a pretty good place.”
The Warhawks are middle of the
pack in the WIAC with a 0.87 assist-
to-turnover ratio.
Whitewater is last in 3-point per-
centage (27.2) and tied for last in
3-pointers made (101).
“It’s just going to be repetition, get-
ting in the gym and getting extra work
in,” Carollo said. “Our girls know it’s
(3-point shooting) something they
have to work on and focus on.
“Shooting is such a streaky thing.
It’s just trying to get as many reps in
as we can. I feel like at some point the
ball is going to start falling in.”
Senior guard Becky Raeder is
sixth in the WIAC in 3-point shoot-
ing percentage and made 3-pointers
with a 36.3 percentage and 37 made
attempts, respectively.
By Tom Haudricourt
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
PHOENIXNo one has ever questioned
Keston Hiura’s ability to hit a baseball.
When the Milwaukee Brew-ers selected Hiura with the ninth pick in the 2017 major league draft, they immediately proclaimed him as the best hit-ter in the college ranks that year. It was hard to dispute that declaration after the right-hand-ed-hitting second baseman led
Division I hitters with a
.442 batting average and
.567 on-base percentage
at Cal-Irvine.
Hiura’s hitting prow-
ess remained on display
as he soared through the
Brewers’ farm system in
23 months before reach-
ing the major leagues
May 14. In 222 games in the
minors, he batted .317 with a
.382 on-base percentage, .546
slugging percentage, 36 home
runs and 122 runs batted in.
Hiura played his best at Class
AAA San Antonio last
year, compiling a 1.088
OPS in 57 games with 19
homers.
With that back-
ground, expectations
were high for the orga-
nization’s No. 1 pros-
pect when he donned
a Brewers uniform, but
he might have exceeded them,
considering the circumstances.
Thrust into a playoff race on
a team that would eventually
surge to the National League’s
second wild-card berth, Hiura
batted .303 with 19 home runs
and 49 RBI in 84 games, with a
.368 OBP and .570 slugging per-
centage.
Despite playing just over
half a season for the Brewers,
Hiura slugged the third-most
homers for a rookie in fran-
chise history, was named the
NL rookie of the month for July
(.355, six HRs, 18 RBI) and the
team’s player of the month in
both July and August. He com-
piled those impressive numbers
despite spending 11 days on the
injured list with a strained left
hamstring at the start of Sep-
tember.
Is there any wonder the
favorite descriptive line about
Hiura among media members
who followed him regularly was:
“The man can hit.”
“Keston did some really spe-
cial things and set a really high
bar for a player offensively,”
manager Craig Counsell said.
“Three hundred or so at-bats
into his career, he showed what
he can do.
Brewers’ Hiura focuses on defense with few issues at the plate
Hiura
Turn to HIURA on Page 4B
Carollo out to fine tune Warhawks
Photo courtesy Shelly SchmidtJanesville forward Arsenii Smekhnov skates up the ice during the Jets’ 5-4 win Feb. 7 over Kenai River at the Janesville Ice Arena. Smekhnov scored his first goal as a Jet in the game and will play big minutes for the team.
Team has no major flaws going into final week of
regular season
Carollo
By Benjamin Pierce
bpierce@gazettextra.com
JANESVILLE
Janesville Jets coach Corey Leiv-
ermann knew very little about for-
ward Arsenii Smekhnov when the
North American Hockey League
season started in September.
Janesville acquired Smekhnov
from the Fargo Force of the United
States Hockey League the first week
of February after Jets forward Jake
Dunlap got called up to the Force.
Leivermann and the Jets are still
learning about Smekhnov and his
abilities, but it’s clear the 19-year-
old native of Kirov, Russia, gives
the Jets another offensive threat.
Smekhnov has one goal and three
assists in four games.
“I think he’s going to fit in well
here, and it’s going to be a boost
for us. He came in and you saw the
point production right away for
him. It was nice for him to get some
points, but he also just plays the
game the right way,” Leivermann
said.
Smekhnov said the adjustment to
Janesville has been an easy one, and
he looks forward to finishing the
season as a member of the team.
“It’s definitely a really skilled
game and one of the most skilled
teams in the league, and they’re just
a great group of guys,” he said.
Smekhnov learned what it takes
to be an athlete at a young age. His
father was a professional ski jumper
in Russia, and his mother played
competitive volleyball.
Smekhnov makes a name for himself
It’s definitely a really skilled game
and one of the most skilled teams
in the league, and they’re just
a great group of guys
Arsenii Smekhnov about joining
the Jets and the NAHL
“ ”
Associated PressThe No. 6 car driven by Ryan Newman goes airborne after being hit by the No. 32 car driven by Corey LaJoie during the final lap of the Daytona 500 on Monday night. Newman, who led the race briefly during the final lap, was hospitalized in serious condition with non-life threatening injuries. Denny Hamlin won the race for the second straight year. Story on 3B
Scary finish at Daytona
By Josh Flickinger
Adams Publishing Group
CLINTON
When a conference’s top two teams
get together late in the season, one would
expect the stakes to be high.
Monday night in Clinton, the host Cou-
gars and Evansville were merely playing
for pride.
The Blue Devils solidified their standing
as the Rock Valley Conference’s top team
with a convincing 56-42 victory over the
second-place Cougars.
Both teams entered
Monday night’s clash with
seeds in their respective
WIAA Division 3 brackets
wrapped up and Evans-
ville’s conference title in the bag.
After Clinton raced to an 8-0 lead (with
all eight points by forward Olivia Roehl),
Evansville coach Tony Wiemiller had some
concerns about his team’s approach to the
game.
”We knew it was going to be a challenge
really getting ready for this game with the
conference title wrapped up,” Wiemiller
said. “And we definitely started slow. They
beat us down the floor a few times and
played with more energy.
“Once we woke them up a little bit, we
played the way we wanted to.”
Trailing 16-11, the Blue Devils went on
a game-changing 12-0 run.
Evansville 56
Clinton 42
Evansville puts frosting on Rock Valley Conference title
Turn to POINT on Page 3BTurn to WARHAWKS on Page 2B
Turn to JETS on Page 3B