8/2/2019 Sports Feature Delta Harris HM

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The Delta Collegiate Monday, February 27, 2012

Student support can mean

the difference between awin or lose situation, es-pecially for home games.

A home crowd who isan electrifying crowd cangive extra energy to thehome team, hence the termsixth man, said AthleticDirector Michelle Raube.

Raube believes lack ofpromotion is one of themain reasons for Deltaswaning student support.

I plan to work with thestudent engagement centerto try to get the students

more aware of our sportsat the school, Raube said.

Raube plans to have stu-dent activites and giveawaysduring the games and at half-time. She also plans to makeDeltas home basketballgames more family-orientedin the future. This wouldinclude fun camps andclinics prior to each game.

Delta Pioneer JodyHill, sophomore guard,is currently the leadingscorer in the MichiganCommunity College

Athletic Association with26.1 points per game.Recently covered in

The Saginaw News, heknows his scoring abilitycan carry the team.I just try to make the bestplay, rather than scoringor passing, Hill said.

Hill has noticed theteam has came togetherthroughout the season.We have grown as a team.

We are making the extrapass and helping eachother on defense more.

The team decided to

come together and not playas individuals anymore,said George Smithers,who agreed that teammorale has improved.

The Pioneers have wonthree out of the last fourgames. Delta is currentlytied for seventh in the

Pioneers on trail for regional contest

Being a former playerin high school and ata college level, Lady

Pioneers Head BasketballCoach Kelly Millerknows how importantteam chemistry is.

Team chemistry isvital, said Miller. Italso makes up whereyou lack in talent, butmakes you one unit.

Due to team chemistry,the communicationbetween the players hasgotten better on the court.Our girls arecommunicating morenatural, Miller said.

She believes this is the

reason for their successin the conference thus far.The Lady Pioneers are

currently tied for 4th placein the conference at 11-4and their overall seasonrecord stands at 14-12.They had lost three straightgames before winning onthe road against WayneCounty CommunityCollege on Feb. 18.

Before the three gamelosing streak, the LadyPioneers had won six in arow. Freshman point guard,Taylor Schwellenbach

knew the team hadto get back on track.

We couldnt lose focuson what got us this far,Schwellenbach said.

The Lady Pioneers haveovercome many obstaclesduring the current season,such as roster changes.

Coach Miller understanthis the most, becausemade her job more difficu

We have been haviplayers in and out

season, because injuries or grades, but have overcame all thochallenges, Miller sa

Not just teammatbecoming friends the court has made tLady Pioneers closer aunit. Krystal Hernandsophomore guard, wbe missing those timspent off the coafter the season is ov

This years team islot closer, than last yeateam,, Hernandez sa

Credit can be given

Assistant Coach JasBrown, a former playerDelta, who recommendthe girls becocloser off the cou

He was the one wtold the girls a tewho hangs togethplays better togethe

The Lady Pioneers whave to keep focus headiinto the post seaso

Nationals is still onumber one goal, saKayla Spohn, a playwho is leading with neatwo blocks per gam

Coach Miller wanthe Lady Pioneers head into the post season a positive noYou want to be playi

your best basketbheading into tournameplay, because its one adone, Miller said.

Kelly Dineen goes for a basket.

Sophomore guard, Jody Hill, rushing down the court.

conference at 7-8 and standat 11-15 for the season.

It is important for Deltato hold the seventh spot,because the top seventeams qualify for the

regional tournament.Our goal is still to

make the tournamentand I believe we have thetalent to do it, said Hill.

Many players onthe team want morestudents in the bleachers.

We have a very

talented exciting teamto watch, said GrantFoley, freshman guard.

Freshman Tyler Dwyer,from Arthur Hill HighSchool and averages

11.0 points per gameand 8.0 rebounds pergame. He says that hemisses home crowds.

Im used to playing infront of big crowds in highschool. The crowd cangive us that extra sparkwe need, Dwyer said.

Empty stands spell less supportBY BRANDON HARRIS

Staff Writer

BY BRANDON HARRIS

Staff Writer

Lady Pioneers take on achallenging season

I also want to see morefaculty members support

student athletes, since theyinteract with them on adaily basis, Raube said.

Womens basketball As-sistant Coach Jason Brownbelieves more studentsmight show up more forhome games during theweek, versus games tak-ing place on a Saturday.

As I was once a studenthere at Delta, I understandhow hard it is to get hereon a Saturday, Brown said.

He believes if studentsare not already on campus,

they may not be able to af-ford to make the extra trip.We got a good prod-

uct here at the school,!"#$% &'((#)% *+#,-(.% /)(0!%head basketball coach.

Deltas men basketball teamhas the leading scorer in theconference and NJCAAssecond leading scorer, JodyHill. Hill is a sophomorefrom Ferndale and is aver-

aging 27.1 points per game.Deltas men nearly pulled

off an upset against MottCommunity College, thenumber one team in thecountry. 12)%-("3%!4'+)%5"!%74-79. The crowd surelygave the extra energy tothe Pioneers, who nearlyovercame a 12 point leadby Mott, late in the game.

The Lady Pioneers aretied currently number onein the conference along Ma-comb. Both teams are 10-1in the conference. The LadyPioneers have currently won10 of their 11 games and

"+)% '(% "% 46++)(7% -8)% 9"/)%winning streak at home.

We need all the energyin the gym we can get,said Courtney Neider-quill, sophomore center.They are very importantto a successful season.

All Deltas home games arefree to all students and facul-ty staff members who bring aDelta student ID.

BY BRANDON HARRIS

Staff Writer

Photo by Ronny Lat

Photo by Ronny Latimore

8/2/2019 Sports Feature Delta Harris HM

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2012 Michigan Community College Press Association Judging Form

Place of award:

First Place Second Place Third Place Honorable Mention

Category: Sports feature

Headline/title of entry: Empty stands spell less support

Contestants name: Brandon Harris

College name: Delta College

Judges comments: I liked this story a look at how students who aren t athletes can

make a difference in Delta s athletic program. I would have liked to see you do just acouple of things differently, though. I would have rewritten the lead to get the lack ofstudent support in the first graf maybe something like:

Student support can mean the difference between a win and a loss, especially at a homegame. But with student support dwindling, Deltas athletic teams are losing an importantedge against their competitors.

A home crowd who is an electrifying crowd

I would have also liked to see you move the quote from Courtney Neiderquill up higher

in story, as it supports the entire premise of the story. For example, you could haveplaced it just after the first quote from Raube with a minor transition:

Delta athletes agree that student support can help them win games.

We need all the energy in the gym we can get

Otherwise, a nice job.

pcm