Curt Miller

Girard native Curt Miller, the women’s basketball coach at the Big Ten Conference’s Indiana University, will be inducted into Girard’s version of the Hall of Fame – the Hive of Fame — Saturday night at the Bel-Aire Clarion Hotel.

Miller will be inducted along with his sister, Lori Miller, who was a multi-sport star for Girard in the 1970s.

Earlier today on his Twitter account (@CurtMillerIUWBB), Curt Miller tweeted: “My sister’s HS honors blow mine away.  The 12 varsity letters will be just the start of her bio. Love my hometown.”

Curt Miller played basketball for Girard High School in the mid-1980s and graduated from Baldwin-Wallace in 1990. He worked his way up through the coaching ranks as an assistant at Kent State, Cleveland State, Syracuse and Colorado State. His big break came when he was hired as the head coach at Bowling Green in 2001.

After the Falcons went a combined 21-35 in his first two seasons, Miller turned the program around. Bowling Green went 237-57 during the next nine years for an average of more than 26 wins per season. The Falcons won eight consecutive Mid-American Conference regular-season titles, and Miller was named MAC Coach of the Year six times.

In his first season with Indiana in 2012-13, the Hoosiers posted an 11-19 record, a dramatic improvement over the team’s 6-24 record of 2011-12.

Check out this touching moment from the Nebraska spring football game:

Here’s a look at some of the recent results of area athletes and coaches connected with women’s basketball programs:

• General McLane graduate Sarah Hansen shot 7-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, on her way to 18 points Saturday in Florida Gulf Coast University’s 89-38 rout of Lipscomb (Tenn.). Hansen, a junior guard, now has 1,325 points and is just 91 from becoming the school’s all-time leading scorer. FGCU now has won 15 games in a row and has won 35 straight Atlantic Sun games.

• Mercyhurst Prep grad Kirsten Olowinski scored 15 points and added eight rebounds, but Miami (Ohio) lost to visiting Central Michigan 72-60 in a Mid-American Conference game Saturday. Olowinski, a 6-foot 1-inch senior forward, also had four steals and three blocked shots. She moved into the No. 15 spot on Miami’s career scoring list with 1,203 points. The Redhawks (14-10) have lost three in a row and four of their past five.

Jessica Zoltowski

• Harbor Creek graduate Jessica Zoltowski scored a career-high 32 points while adding 10 rebounds, four steals and two assists in Elmira (N.Y.) College’s 79-75 win over Utica Saturday. Zoltowski, a junior guard, shot 12-of-24 from the field, including 4-of-10 from 3-point range.

• McDowell graduate Allison Braun had 10 points and six rebounds, but Canisius College lost to Iona 84-79 Saturday. The senior guard is averaging 4.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

• Girard native Curt Miller led the Indiana University basketball team to a strong 10-5 start in his first season with the Big Ten’s Hoosiers. However, Indiana has struggled in Big Ten play. The Hoosiers have lost 10 in a row to drop to 10-15. They are 1-11 in the Big Ten. Indiana will try to end its losing streak Wednesday at home against Purdue.

Edinboro 6-foot 9-inch  junior center Bryan Theriot had the support of his parents Curtis and Cheryl, who for two years would make the drive from Middleburg, Ohio, to see the Fighting Scots men play at home or at some reasonably distanced sites on the road.

Enter sister Rachel, who like her older brother starred at Midpark High School in the Cleveland area. Rachel accepted a scholarship to Division I Nebraska, where the 6-foot point guard has started 25-of-31 games as a freshman for the 25-9 Cornhuskers of coach Connie Yori, who contended for the Big 10 regular season title and lost in the semifinals of the tournament, then reached the Division I Sweet Sixteen before falling to No. 5 Duke 53-45.

The folks have been putting on the miles to watch both of their younger children. Two older boys did not pursue athletics.

“They have been hopping in rent-a-cars and driving where they can to see both of us play,” said Bryan, who i averaged 18.4 points and 9.2 rebounds for the Division II Scots. Edinboro finished 18-10 in the PSAC West, losing to champion Indiana 89-87 in overtime in the second round of the playoffs. Theriot missed five games with a knee injury. Theriot played three seasons for coach Greg Walcavich, who resigned after 24 seasons at Edinboro. Assistant Pat Cleary, who helped recruit Theriot, was elevated to head coach.

“The nice thing is, we play Wednesdays and Saturdays, and they play Thursdays and Sundays,” Bryan said. “I’m able to live-stream their games, and Nebraska played Purdue on a CBS game that went overtime that I was able to watch. You can also see games on the  Big Ten Network.”

Rachel, with imposing size for guard, averaged 6.2 points, 2.8 rebounds,and 3.0 assists. She had 12 points and 3 assists in a 77-59 win over Tennessee-Chattanooga in the first round of the tournament, and 7 points and 3 assists as the Huskers, a  No. 6 seed, upset 3 seed Texas A&M 74-63. She had 7 points and 2 assists in the loss to powerhouse Duke.

“She had offers elsewhere, but she picked Nebraska (under 11th-year coach Connie Yori), and luckily they moved to the Big Ten. Lincoln (Neb.) is a long haul, but they can easily make it to places like Ohio State, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan and Michigan State and even Penn State,” Bryan Theriot said. “Our parents just love to follow us, and we’re grateful for that.”

– Bob Jarzomski

Patrick Cochran

McDowell graduate Patrick Cochran, a junior at the University of Michigan, placed third among 22 competitors in the triple jump Saturday at the Spire Invitational in Geneva, Ohio. It was his first indoor meet of the season. Cochran’s personal-best distance of 49 feet 1 3⁄4 inches (14.98 meters) was the eighth-best mark in the Big Ten standings during the indoor season.

Cochran’s former McDowell teammate, John Dahlstrand, a sophomore at Akron, placed eighth in the Spire Invitational triple jump with an effort of 48-1⁄2.

Another former Erie high school standout, Cathedral Prep’s Joe Oduho, placed eighth among 28 competitors in the long jump at the Spire Invite. The freshman turned in a leap of 22-5 3⁄4.

Cochran and Michigan will return to the Spire Institute Feb. 22-23 for the Big Ten Championships. The Spire Institute is less than an hour’s drive from Erie on Interstate 90.

The website, footballscoop.com, has posted a video featuring a look at the Michigan State coaching staff during National Letter of Intent Day. Erie fans and Cathedral Prep followers, in particular, might find this intriguing.

The end of the video features MSU head coach Mark Dantonio talking via conference call with Cathedral Prep’s Damion Terry and Delton Williams, who signed with the Spartans. Williams shared an extra message of thanks with Dantonio. It’s an interesting inside look at the day.

Today’s Erie Times-News featured a story on Erie County’s four major-college football recruits.

Michigan State Mark Dantonio talked about Cathedral Prep seniors Damion Terry and Delton Williams, both of whom will be Spartans in the fall. When talking about McDowell senior James Conner, Pitt coach Paul Chryst simply said, “There is a football player.”

Read more about what the coaches had to say about Erie’s major-college recruits.

———————————-

Let’s recap Week 14, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 3 Georgia

Final score: Tide 32, Bulldogs 28

Pregame rant: Some would say this is the national championship game.

The winner will likely be the favorite to beat Notre Dame in next month’s BCS title game.  Alabama and Georgia are in this position because Oregon and Kansas State lost.

The Bulldogs are not as good on defense as Alabama, but have better skilled players on offense than the Tide.

So special teams could be the difference. If it is, edge Alabama.

The Tide have a senior kicker in Jeremy Shelley, who is 10-for-10 on field goals this season.

Georgia has a freshman kicker in Marshall Morgan, who is 8-for-12.  He’s missed two of his last four attempts.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 14.

Game of the week: No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide (11-1, 7-1 SEC) vs. No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs (11-1, 7-1 SEC), Saturday, 4 p.m., Georgia Dome, Atlanta, WSEE (CBS).

Pregame rant: Some would say this is the national championship game.

The winner will likely be the favorite to beat Notre Dame in next month’s BCS title game.  Alabama and Georgia are in this position because Oregon and Kansas State lost.

The Bulldogs are not as good on defense as Alabama, but have better skilled players on offense than the Tide.

So special teams could be the difference. If it is, edge Alabama.

The Tide have a senior kicker in Jeremy Shelley, who is 10-for-10 on field goals this season.

Georgia has a freshman kicker in Marshall Morgan, who is 8-for-12.  He’s missed two of his last four attempts.

Read the rest of this entry »