KFDM COOP

Predictions?

Predictions for Friday?

Congrats

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Cat 22 maybe?

The start of the baseball season for McNeese State, the defending Southland Conference champion, is three weeks away but head coach Chad Clement has decided on his first game starting pitcher. "Derek Blacksher will be out first game starter," Clement said. A year ago the senior right hander from Bridge City was a second team all-Southland Conference and all-Louisiana performer, posting a 7-3 won-lost record with a 3.01 ERA.

Thursday, March 1st 2:30 pm Nederland vs. Bridge City 5:00 pm Leesville vs. Bridge City 7:30 pm Nederland vs. Sulphur Friday, March 2nd 2:30 pm Bridge City vs. Sulphur 5:00 pm Leesville vs. Sulphur 7:30 pm Nederland vs. Leesville Saturday, March 3rd 12:00 pm Conlsolation Game (3rd vs. 4th Finishers) 2:30 pm Championship Game (1st vs. 2nd Finishers) Tie Breakers 1. Fewest Runs Allowed 2. Most Runs Scored 3. Most Runners to 3rd 2nd and 1st 4. Most Team Strikeouts

Thoughts that's where i got it from.

Shepherd-44 Splendora-60 Coldspring-70 Cleveland-84 Tarkington-55 Liberty-50

Yea let's pony up some for Football. 8)

PN-G girls claim shootout victory PORT NECHES -- Struggling to establish any sort of offense on either side, Port Neches-Groves owned the happier end of a 35-yard shootout, outscoring Lumberton 2-0 in the shootout Tuesday night. The victory improved coach Aimee Bates' Lady Indians to 5-1 and 2-0. The loss dropped coach Paula Droddy's Lady Raiders to 4-2 and 1-1. Senior forward Emily Pacetti and junior midfielder Brittany Ansel each converted a shootout goal for PN-G. Standout senior goalkeeper Brittney Fruge managed eight saves for the Lady Indians. The teams battled scoreless throughout the night on an Indian Stadium field battered last weekend by the 16-team girls soccer tournament. The sloppy conditions worsened after a junior varsity game when rain pelted the field throughout the varsity contest. "The field probably was the biggest obstacle for both sides," the Lady Indians coach said. "I don't think either coach was pleased. It was just sloppy. Players were kicking it mainly to get it out of the mud. "I thought Lumberton took us out of our game and dominated the shots in the first half. Then I thought we came back and dominated in the second half."

Lady Bulldogs open district with win The Port Arthur News NEDERLAND -- Nederland's Lady Bulldogs picked the most messy night to open their District 20-4A girls soccer schedule that they could find. With Bulldog Stadium serving as the venue, Nederland scored five times in each half and blitzed a Silsbee squad for a 10-0 win on Tuesday night. The game was played with rain throughout the entire proceedings and harder in the second half than the first. Nederland (4-1 and 1-0) received three goals from sophomore Stephanie Karam, who now has converted seven goals in coach Julie Johnson's five games. Lauren Matt delivered three goals and one assist. Another standout sophomore scorer, Megan Melancon, knocked home two goals while Erin Binagia and Evan Austin added one apiece. Lauren and Logan Matt each had one assist along with Ashley Bombek. The shutout belonged to Lady Bulldogs goalkeeper Heather Hussey as Silsbee dropped to 0-5 and 0-2. Nederland will return to action on Friday night in Bear Stadium against Little Cypress-Mauriceville at 7 p.m. PN-G girls claim shootout victory PORT NECHES -- Struggling to establish any sort of offense on either side, Port Neches-Groves owned the happier end of a 35-yard shootout, outscoring Lumberton 2-0 in the shootout Tuesday night. The victory improved coach Aimee Bates' Lady Indians to 5-1 and 2-0. The loss dropped coach Paula Droddy's Lady Raiders to 4-2 and 1-1. Senior forward Emily Pacetti and junior midfielder Brittany Ansel each converted a shootout goal for PN-G. Standout senior goalkeeper Brittney Fruge managed eight saves for the Lady Indians. The teams battled scoreless throughout the night on an Indian Stadium field battered last weekend by the 16-team girls soccer tournament. The sloppy conditions worsened after a junior varsity game when rain pelted the field throughout the varsity contest. "The field probably was the biggest obstacle for both sides," the Lady Indians coach said. "I don't think either coach was pleased. It was just sloppy. Players were kicking it mainly to get it out of the mud. "I thought Lumberton took us out of our game and dominated the shots in the first half. Then I thought we came back and dominated in the second half."

'Catters' coach has outstanding memories of NHL phenom DALLAS - Sharing ice time with Sidney Crosby at a hockey camp might be like saying you saw National Football League star LaDainian Tomlinson at a college scouting combine when he was in high school. Texas Wildcatters hockey coach Malcolm Cameron had barely begun a professional coaching career when he was an instructor at a camp attended by Crosby. Now a 19-year-old star with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Crosby will play tonight in the NHL All-Star Game at the American Airlines Center. "I had him on the ice when he was 13 or 14, and he's just a special, special player," Cameron said during a recent interview at Ford Arena. "I thought when he was 15 he was good enough to play in the NHL." Crosby is in his second NHL season and leads the league in points (72) and assists (48) through 43 games. He was also the leading fan vote-getter for his first all-star selection. Crosby likely would have been selected last year, but the NHL didn't hold an All-Star Game because its top players competed in the Winter Olympics. Cameron is in his first season coaching the Wildcatters and has another Crosby connection that goes farther back than that hockey camp. Cameron played against Crosby's father, Troy, when both were in the Canadian junior leagues. "He's a few years older than me, so he was in his last season when I was just starting," said Cameron, a 37-year-old native of Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia, on Canada's eastern edge. Cameron played professionally for six seasons and is now in his fifth season as a head coach. The elder Crosby, born near Cameron's hometown, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, never played above the major junior level. The younger Crosby has been likened to hockey legend Wayne Gretzky for his star power, but Cameron puts Crosby more on par with longtime Detroit Red Wings player Steve Yzerman, whose No. 19 was recently retired by the team. Cameron noted Yzerman as a player who entered the league primarily known for his offensive prowess. "But within eight, nine years, he turned himself around to be probably the best two-way player in the NHL, and he could play in all situations," said Cameron, who noted that Crosby is already a polished player at both ends of the ice. Crosby grew up in a home that had an inline staking rink installed in the basement and became a sensation in Nova Scotia by the time he entered his teenage years. At 14, he played against players two and three years older than him and scored 106 goals with 217 points and a plus-103 rating, all in one season. "I was always playing against guys that were a little bit bigger, a little stronger and older," Crosby said during a Monday press conference. "So when I made the jump to the next level, I was always able to make it a little more comfortable than the other kids." Among the league's young stars, Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals are considered to be the brightest. Ovechkin, a 21-year-old from Moscow, ranks third in the league in points (65), sixth in goals (29) and is considered by Cameron also to be a fine two-way player. "I've seen him play live, and the guy is a menace out there," Cameron said. "He leads the team in hits every night." With less than two full seasons of NHL experience, both players are already being hailed as saviors for a league still reeling from a labor dispute that wiped out an entire season two years ago. Both are starting forwards for the Eastern Conference stars in tonight's game. Many believe the duo's impact on hockey can be like what Magic Johnson and Larry Bird did for the National Basketball Association in the 1980s. Gretzky stood as the face of the game in the United States when he was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988, popularizing the sport in one of the United States' largest nontraditional hockey markets. The impact of Crosby and Ovechkin is yet to be determined. "I don't think it's up to one or two guys," Crosby said. "I think there's a group of guys and I think we take it upon ourselves to be good role models or to bring interest to the game. But for the most part it's going to be our on-ice performance that does that." HONOR FOR ROSA Marco Rosa missed 11 straight Texas Wildcatters games while playing in the American Hockey League but wasted little time making an impact when he returned last week. Rosa earned ECHL player of the week honors for Jan. 15-21 by scoring six goals with two assists to help Texas win three of four games. The Wildcatters won only three times during Rosa's absence. Kevin Baker also returned to play the last four games after he missed seven while in the AHL. Baker and Olivier Proulx also earned player of the week honors this season. The Wildcatters open a three-game series with South Carolina at 7 p.m. Thursday at Ford Arena. BANNER DAY The Wildcatters plan to unveil a banner on the message board along Interstate 10 outside Ford Park at 3 p.m. today, weather permitting.

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Lamar women's soccer program closer to fruition BEAUMONT - Matthew Dillon has something to say. It's not a long message, really; just short and to the point. To his wife, Gina, and to his son Zachary, he offers this up: thank you. It's for all those lost weekends that Dillon, the new women's soccer coach at Lamar University, has spent in Houston or Fort Worth or some other outpost, chasing down teenage girls, convincing them to play on the school's first team. It's for all the upcoming weekends this summer and fall, which Dillon will spend ordering shin guards and taking the team on its first set of road trips. "They're the best," Dillon said. "It takes a lot for them, for any family, to support a coach. So I try to tell them all the time how much I appreciate it." In two weeks, the Lamar soccer program will receive letters of intent from its first recruiting class - some from junior-college transfers, others from walk-ons already on campus, but mostly from high school seniors. Together, they'll try to create the kind of magic that happened 280 miles west of Beaumont on Interstate 10 last fall. There, Texas-San Antonio - in its first year of competitive women's soccer - finished second in the Southland Conference standings. It can be done, Dillon said, whether it's next season or shortly thereafter. But with the first game just seven months away, plenty of work remains. A rundown of everything that happens from here to there: å Recruiting. Regardless of sport or school, recruiting is the lifeblood of any college program, since no team wins without talented players. For a start-up program like the one at Lamar, however, recruiting has taken almost all of Dillon's time since the coach arrived here Aug. 1. Lamar will announce its first class of players on what is commonly referred to as national signing day, which is Feb. 7 this year. But this class will be different from any other in the Southland Conference because of sheer volume. In programs that are already up and running, teams might sign a half-dozen athletes each year. But Dillon has to bring them all in at once - and he can't bring in an entire class of freshmen. Dillon, who cannot talk about specific recruits because of NCAA rules, said he has about 15 commitments already, with the expectation of signing 18 to 24. Although he'd like to have a few more experienced players on the roster, Dillon said he expected about six junior-college transfers and about six students who are on campus already. The rest are freshmen. So how do you sell recruits on something that doesn't exist? "You've got to sell the kids, or talk to the kids, about potential," Dillon said. "Obviously at Lamar, the potential is in their education. None of these kids are coming here to become pro soccer players. There's no professional league anymore. The best they can aspire to is the national team, and it'd be great if they can get on the national team. But the bottom line is the kids come to school for education." å Finding an assistant coach. Until now, Dillon has done all the heavy lifting by himself. He'll have some help soon enough. Dillon has gotten the go-ahead to hire an assistant coach this spring, keeping in line with most of his competitors. While some Southland Conference schools have as many as three coaches, most programs have a head coach and an assistant. The model worked at Texas-San Antonio, where the administration hired Steve Ballard in 2005 and gave him more than a year to start up the program. "Ideally you want to have a coach on campus a year in advance of your first season," said Liz Dalton, associate athletics director and senior women's administrator at UTSA. "At first, when we added soccer we tried to play that very next year. But we ran into some problems ... and we just couldn't do it. So I think the way we did it, and the way Lamar looks like they're doing it, is the best way to go." Dillon said Lamar will likely post the position as early as next month, with the intent to hire an assistant coach in May or June. "Hiring an assistant is probably the biggest thing this spring," he said. å Equipment. As with players, established programs only need to update and replenish some equipment from year to year. With seven months before the regular season begins, Lamar has to buy it all. UTSA, anticipating the start of the program a year in advance, added extra money in its 2005-06 budget to buy soccer equipment. Otherwise, the soccer program wouldn't have the money until August - when the season begins. Dillon said Lamar has not yet bought most of the equipment it needs, but that bids and purchases will begin early this summer. He also expects that to be one of the first true logistical headaches of the program's first year. "Equipment, I'm sure that there's going to be some fires with that when we order things in June," Dillon said. "Oh, we couldn't get those shorts we needed, or they only come in guys' sizes - that kind of stuff. But at this point, there hasn't been a big fire to put out yet." å Facilities. Dillon went ahead and said it Monday afternoon: Lamar is discussing the possibility of a soccer-only facility. For the first season, however, the team will practice and play in Cardinal Stadium - whose field is a bit smaller than the standard college soccer field (120 yards long, 75 yards wide) but within NCAA regulations. "Cardinal Stadium will be a little bit tight on that, just because it was built for football and not for soccer," Dillon said. "But there is some talk about building a facility for us, hopefully for the '08 season, whether it be by baseball (Vincent-Beck Stadium) or even where the old football practice facility might be (behind J.B. Higgins Field House). We're not really sure yet, but the talking phase is kind of where we're at."

Congrats Horns!

Lady Rebels looking good.

Jasper boys 46, Bridge City 27 BRIDGE CITY — The Bridge City Cardinals kept the scoring down against Jasper as the Bulldogs left Cardinals’ Gym with a 46-27 victory. Ben Garcia led the Bridge City (1-19, 0-8) attack with 13 points while Jason Clark added six points. The Cardinals trailed 23-10 at the break and were out-scored 23-17 the rest of the way. Guaham scored a team-high 10 points for Jasper. Bridge City returns to action Friday when they travel to Orangefield.

Deweyville girls 44, Warren 35 WARREN — Tera Gibson’s 20 points and seven rebounds led the way for the Deweyville Lady Pirates Tuesday night who downed Warren 44-35. The Lady Pirates (11-12, 5-4) jumped out to a 12-2 lead after the first period and were up 21-13 at the break. Deweyville then out-scored Warren 23-20 in the second half to preserve the victory. Deweyville’s Theresa Brown added 10 points and six steals while teammate Krista Goleman finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and five steals. Sam Smart added another 10 rebounds for the Lady Pirates. Warren’s Tiffany Weise had 22 while Megan Olivia finished with 11 points in the loss. Deweyville will host Anahuac on Friday.

McBride. Lady Bears down Lady Panthers, 47-46 Leader Sports The Orange Leader Little Cyress-Mauriceville’s Nardis McBride hit two free throws Tuesday with two seconds remaining on the clock as the Lady Bears took down Beaumont Ozen 47-46. LC-M’s Taylor Denton struck for 15 points while Ashley Anderson hit for 16 points and six rebounds. McBride had six points in the game while sophomore Amber Solieau finished with 10 rebounds, two steals and three assists. The two teams were tied after the first period and LC-M was able to take a 23-19 lead into half-time. The Lady Panthers trailed by one point heading into the fourth. LC-M returns to action Friday when they travel to Dayton.

Final/Comments

No. 9 OF scratches past K'ville, 65-60 Gabriel Pruett The Orange Leader KIRBYVILLE — Two down and one more big road trip to go for the No. 9 Orangefield Lady Bobcats in the second round of District 21-3A action. So far, so good as well after the Lady Bobcats took down the Kirbyville Lady Wildcats 65-60 at Wildcats’ Gym. The victory kept Orangefield (22-6, 9-1) in a first-place tie with Silsbee in the district standings. Silsbee was a 86-70 winner Tuesday against Hamshire-Fannett. Orangefield has already defeated No. 10 Silsbee (74-69) on the road in the second half of district. The last major road hurdle on tap this district season for the Lady Bobcats is a Feb. 2 date at West Orange-Stark. Tuesday’s win was just as hard as Kirbyville’s Denetra Kellum poured in a game-high 34 points and 18 rebounds to continue her stellar play. “She (Kellum) is a real good player,†Orangefield senior guard Kristy Sanders said. “I did not get real up close to her because she is so quick.†Sanders may not have put the clamps all the way around Kellum but she did her own on the offensive side of the ball to help key the Lady Bobcats’ win. Sanders knocked in a team-high 21 points to go with seven assists and five rebounds. Junior Kaylin Little put in 19 points to go with four assists, four steals and four rebounds. Senior Jessica Shores rounded out the Lady Bobcats in double-digit scoring with 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals. The Lady Bobcats led 57-44 heading into the fourth but the Lady Wildcats opened with a 6-0 run to make it 57-50. Sanders then knocked home a free throw and then the Lady Bobcats did a little number on the score clock. After a Kirbyville possession, Orangefield passed the ball around long enough to run 1:47 off the clock to bring the game time down. Then with 3:19 left and Orangefield up 62-55 remaining, the Lady Bobcats ran another :54 off the clock to put 1:41 left on the game clock. Little went 2-for-3 from the free throw line the rest of the way to put the game on ice. “We came in knowing Kirbyville wanted to knock us off on their home court,†Orangefield coach Sondra Ancelot said. “Our kids once again responded real well tonight. There were several let downs. This was definitely a playoff type game because we had to play buzzer to buzzer.†Kirbyville took their last lead of the game in the midway point of the second period after Kellum scored six straight points giving the Lady Wildcats a 26-23 advantage. Sanders then popped a three before Paige Roy, who had eight points, and Shores followed with a bucket. The scoring was capped when Sanders drilled her second three-pointer of the period giving the Lady Bobcats a 33-26 lead. “It feels good to come here and get another district win,†Sanders said. “This points us a little closer to that district championship. Now we have to win out, especially at WO-S, and hope Silsbee slips up.†Orangefield jumped out to a 8-2 lead to start the contest but Kirbyville would later fight back after a 11-0 run gave the home team a 15-12 lead. Shores tied the game up with a trey to finish off the first period scoring. The Lady Bobcats also got six points and eight rebounds from Laura Riddick. Orangefield continued its improvement from the free throw line by going 16-for-20 from the line while Kirbyville was 10-for-19. The Lady Bobcats travel to face the Bridge City Lady Cardinals Friday. Lady Bobcat tibits: The Orangefield JV squad is now 22-5 overall and 10-0 district play after Tuesday’s 49-24 win over Kirbyville. Allie Beach put in 17 points while Jessica Weldon added nine in the victory.

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Go Bucs!!