 Coach Campbell reaches 300th win: The Chesterton High School Girl’s Basketball team presented Coach Jack Cmpbell with a celebratory poster and a basketball signed by all the current team members in honor of his 300th win Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Seated left to right are Hannah VanDrie, Lindsay Gorman, Cassidy Scott and McKenzie Sullivan. Standing are Hannah McCafferty, Mary Mochen, Coach Jack Campbell, Annette Frank, Asst. Coach Fred Mitchell, Kelsey Conway, Sarah Richards, Caroline Puntillo, JV Coach Tom Berry, Jocelyn Lipscomb, Kelly Braun and Freshman Coach Gary Richardson. (Tribune photo by Margaret L. Willis)
The poster was drawn at Kelsey Conway's team pasta party on Thursday. Each player had signed the commemorative basketball. All the Chesterton girls had to do was go out and win Saturday afternoon's weather-delayed game at Portage to make the occasion complete. Not wanting to delay the celebration any longer, the Trojans polished off the Indians, 56-35, giving coach Jack Campbell 300 victories for his career. "We were talking before the game that this was more for coach, for Chesterton basketball, and all the teams who played before us," senior Lindsay Gorman said. "It was cool to be a part of it." Gorman scored 21 points, going 12 of 15 at the free throw line, where Chesterton (8-8, 4-8) outscored Portage a whopping 25-1. "We ask Lindsay to do a lot," Campbell said. "She's such a physical player. When she gets a matchup with somebody smaller, we try to recognize that and get the ball to her (inside) and get her to the foul line. She's been around so long, we expect her to make every one. She had a great ball game." The Trojans senior did most of her damage in the fourth quarter, scoring of 10 her team's 13 points as Chesterton pulled away for the one-sided win. "If they take away my drive and I've got a mismatch, I try to post up," she said. "If I take it inside, it opens things up for people like Jocelyn (Lipscomb) and Caroline (Puntillo)." The wide margin was a big swing from the early minutes, when Portage's Nicki Monahan drilled three straight 3-pointers to put the Trojans in a quick 9-2 hole, prompting a Campbell timeout. "All three were wide open. There was just some miscommunication," Campbell said. "She's a great physical talent. We just wanted to keep somebody near her all the time. It was important that we made the adjustments, box-and-one or whatever we did." Monahan wound up with 23 points -- no other Indian produced more than two -- but the Trojans kept her in check during a decisive 17-2 second quarter when a five-point deficit became a 10-point advantage. "The first game (a 45-31 Portage win), we weren't very aware of where she was," Gorman said. "I like the challenge of guarding the other team's best player." Five Trojans scored in a 13-0 second-quarter run. Sarah Richards' steal and layup gave Chesterton its first lead at 15-14 and Lipscomb followed with a 3. A Gorman trey extended the margin to 14 (32-18) before Monahan ripped off nine quick points, aided by three straight Trojans turnovers. The spread was just five at 34-29 when Lipscomb bottomed another triple. Six foul shots, four of them by Puntillo, restored a double-digit difference. Lipscomb backed Gorman with 13 points and eight rebounds. "I've said all year, this is a great group of kids," Campbell said. "We're .500, but I've had teams that were very successful and I was waiting for the season to end. These kids are a pleasure to coach in practice and a pleasure to coach in games, sometimes. We had to make some changes earlier in the season and it's worked out well." As for the milestone… "It just means you've been around a long time," Campbell said. Chesterton 56, Portage 35 AT PORTAGE Chesterton (9-17-17-13) Caroline Puntillo 1-5 6-6 8, Lindsay Gorman 4-7 12-15 21, Sarah Richards 2-3 0-1 4, Annette Frank 0-0 0-1 0, Jocelyn Lipscomb 3-4 5-6 13, Kelsey Conway 3-3 0-0 6, McKenzie Sullivan 1-1 0-0 2, Kassidy Scott 0-0 2-2 2, Hannah McCafferty 0-2 0-0 0, Kelly Braun 0-2 0-0 0, Mary Mochen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-27 25-31 56. Portage (14-2-13-6) Nikki Monahan 9-15 1-2 23, Sierra Piro 1-2 0-0 2, Hannah Glos 1-7 0-0 2, Alyssa Tampier 0-3 0-0 0, Kaitlin Doud 1-8 0-0 2, Alex Bustos 1-6 0-0 2, Allison Graveline 0-1 0-0 0, Salina McConnell 1-1 0-0 2, Heather Zengler 0-1 0-0 0, Alexis Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Randi Marshall 0-1 0-0 0, Jones 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 15-48 1-2 35. 3-point field goals: Monahan (P) 4; Lipscomb 2, Gorman 1 (C). Rebounds: Lipscomb 8 (C). Steals: Puntillo, Gorman, McCafferty, Conway 2 (C). Junior Varsity Chesterton 28, Portage 24 The Chesterton junior varsity outscored Portage 9-2 in the fourth quarter to get a come-from-behind 28-24 victory. Jordan Wadding scored a game-high 12 points for the Trojans, while McKenzie Sullivan added six points. Kristen Homme contributed five points with Mallory McKee scoring four points. Hayley Sekula rounded out the scoring with one point.
Posted 1/23/2012 A long coaching career and still goingDee Dunheim | Jan 8, 2013, 1:44 p.m.Last year Campbell hit a real milestone by reaching his 300th win. On the occasion, his team honored their coach by presenting him with a celebratory poster and a basketball signed by all the current team members. He modestly said: “Those 300 wins, simply mean I’ve been around for a long time.” On that 300th victory he had T-shirts made up with all the names of all the many coaches who coached for him and all the many players that who played for him. Needless to say the print on that T-shirt was very tiny. “Before girls’ basketball, I was involved with coaching seventh and eighth-grade boys basketball at Valparaiso Junior High School. Then,” he explained, “when I arrived at Chesterton, I coached boy’s eighth-grade basketball, junior varsity boys basketball, then became varsity assistant in boys basketball.” Nowadays his basketball teams couldn’t be busier with games and tournaments. “In the summer, we host a High School League on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 5:30 to 9:30 at night. About 40 teams play. “We have open gym basketball practice from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. from Monday through Thursdays. We will go to Indiana Wesleyan and play a four-game tournament for a day. Later, for two days in the summer we’ll play a four-game tournament at Plainfield High School.” And, it goes on and on. “If people believe that they are the only reason for the success of a team,” he said, “they’re just talking through their hat. I am blessed and able to do what I’ve done because of those who surround me like our athletic directors, assistant coaches and players.” Campbell and his wife, Carol, have four daughters, now 35, 32, 30 and 27. “All of them played basketball for me on the Chesterton High School teams,” he said. Campbell is a 1962 East Gary Edison High School graduate. He went to Indiana University on a basketball scholarship. During his college senior year, in addition to playing basketball, he was a baseball Big Ten batting champion for the college. As if coaching basketball isn’t enough, this year marks Campbell’s 43rd year of teaching and coaching varsity baseball at Chesterton High. He has won more than 650 games with 16 sectional and three regional titles. As one of the most respected coaches in the state, Campbell will, on Jan. 25 in Indianapolis, be inducted into the Indiana High School Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame. He has wonderful recollections of generous support from the community throughout the years. One in particular stands out: “When I started coaching baseball — even though long hair was a big deal back then — a requirement for team members was to have an over-the-ears-and-off-the-collar haircut. Ray Yagelski Sr. had a barber shop. At the beginning of the season, he and several of his stylists would invite my players to come in for free cuts. Then, they donated the money to our baseball program.”
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|