A field of 64 teams will compete in team regional competition Wednesday (Jan. 31) at 16 sites across the state. Each site will have four teams, with two rounds of competition. The 16 regional champions will move on to semi-state action Feb. 7 at eight sites.

In the sectional round, top-ranked and defending state champion Evansville Mater Dei won its 25th consecutive sectional championship at Evansville Central. Overall, the Wildcats collected their state-best 31^st sectional title.

Elsewhere, Lawrence North amassed the largest team total in the state with 294.5 points in winning the Lawrence Central Sectional. Westfield won its first sectional title in wrestling by capturing the Hamilton Heights Sectional. North Central (Indianapolis) ended an 11-year title run by Indianapolis Cathedral in winning the Indianapolis Cathedral Sectional. Griffith snapped host Calumet’s eight-year sectional run and Hammond stopped a six-year string by host East Chicago Central.

New Castle, which won the Shenandoah Sectional, has the longest active sectional title streak with 26 straight after capturing the Shenandoah Sectional.

Evansville Mater Dei will try to extend its state-best run of 22 consecutive regional crowns when it takes on Southern Indiana Athletic Conference rival Castle at the Evansville Mater Dei Regional.

In other regional action, there are four ranked teams at Indianapolis Manual as No. 2-ranked Lawrence North takes on No. 18 Carmel and No. 7 Beech Grove meets No. 12 North Central (Indianapolis). The only other first-round match of ranked teams comes at Huntington North where No.3 Bellmont battles No. 9 Fort Wayne Snider.

Meanwhile, the 63^rd Annual IHSAA Individual Wrestling Tournament Series moves to the regional round Saturday (Feb. 3) at 16 sites. The field includes the champions and runner-up in each weight class from the 64 sectional tournaments last week. The top three regional finishers in each weight class at the 16 regionals will advance to the semi-state competition Feb. 10 at Evansville (Roberts Stadium), Merrillville, New Castle and Fort Wayne (Memorial Coliseum).

January 31, 2001

6 p.m. (local time); two rounds

Tickets: $6.

Perry Meridian vs. Ben Davis.

Cloverdale vs. Avon.

Franklin vs. Columbus North.

Madison vs. Floyd Central.

Fort Wayne Luers vs. East Noble

Fort Wayne Northrop vs. Columbia City.

Hobart vs. Crown Point.

Benton Central vs. Portage.

Frankfort vs. Tri-Central.

Lafayette Jefferson vs. Winamac.

Martinsville vs. Vincennes Lincoln.

Bloomington South vs. Terre Haute South.

Jasper vs. Princeton.

Evansville Mater Dei vs. Castle.

Hammond Morton vs. Hammond Noll.

Griffith vs. Merrillville.

Bellmont vs. Fort Wayne Snider.

Huntington North vs. Peru.

North Central (Indianapolis) vs. Beech Grove.

Carmel vs. Lawrence North.

Fremont vs. Jimtown.

Warsaw vs. NorthWood.

South Dearborn vs. East Central.

New Palestine vs. Eastern Hancock.

Elwood vs. Oak Hill.

Muncie Central vs. Yorktown.

Pendleton Heights vs. Jay County.

Richmond vs. New Castle.

Westfield vs. South Vermillion.

Southmont vs. Zionsville.

Culver Community vs. South Bend Clay.

Mishawaka vs. LaPorte.

Pairings for the 26^th annual IHSAA Girls Basketball State Finals will be drawn next Monday (Feb. 5) beginning at noon (EST) at the IHSAA office. The draw will be posted by 1:30 p.m. (EST) on the IHSAA website under Girls Basketball/2001 Tournament Pairings. The draw also will be sent via e-mail to the IHSAA media release list.

Tournament play begins Feb. 13 (Tuesday) at 64 sectional sites. The sectional semifinals will be Feb. 16 (Friday), with the sectional championship games Feb. 17 (Saturday). The regional round will consist of one game at each of the 32 regional sites on either Feb. 20 or 21. The 32 regional champions – eight in each of the four classes – will advance to semi-state competition Feb. 24 at eight sites. The state finals are March 3 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Wawasee’s Shanna Zolman became the first Indiana girl to score 2,000 points while still a junior when she tallied 38 points in a 77-55 victory over visiting Tippecanoe Valley on Jan. 23. Zolman also contributed 12 rebounds and six steals in the triumph while hitting 18 of 18 free throws.

She followed with a 38-point effort on Jan. 27 as the Warriors won their homecourt season finale, 85-37 over Northern Lakes Conference rival Concord. Zolman hit all 11 free throw attempts against Concord to run her current free throw streak to 55 straight. She had a run of 54 consecutive free throws earlier in the season and a string of 63 straight during the 1999-00 season. She has hit 172 of 180 (.955) free throws this season and 470 of 505 (.930) for her career.

Zolman is tied for 12^th on the state’s career scoring list with Angela Hamblin of Gary Wallace (1990-94) with 2,053 points.

Wawasee (19-0), ranked second in Class 3A, is one of eight undefeated teams left in the state with two weeks left in the regular season.

Among this week’s top games is a Saturday (Feb. 3) matchup in Class 4A where top-ranked Terre Haute South (17-0) entertains No. 4-ranked and defending state champion Ben Davis (17-2) in a Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference showdown.

Class 4A – Kokomo (18-0), Highland (18-0), Terre Haute South (17-0).

Class 3A – Franklin County (19-0), Wawasee (19-0).

Class 2A – Forest Park (17-0), Fort Wayne Luers (19-0), Shenandoah (17-0).

Class A – None.

A complete list of the state’s top scorers is available at:

Losses by Bloomington South, Cass, Evansville Mater Dei and New Albany last week dropped the list of unbeatens in the state to just two with five weeks remaining in the regular season.

Northeast Hoosier Conference rivals Bellmont (11-0) and DeKalb (12-0) are the only teams left with unblemished records. The two are scheduled to meet Feb. 9 at Bellmont.

A complete list of the state’s top scorers is available at:

The 27^th annual IHSAA Girls Swimming and Diving Tournament series begins Thursday (Feb. 1) with sectional competition at 20 sites. Preliminary action is Thursday, with championship competition on Saturday (Feb. 3).

The event champions at each of the 20 sectional sites will advance to the state finals Feb. 9-10 at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis. In addition, any contestant who equals or betters the state time standard in her respective event in the sectional championship or consolation finals also will qualify.

Additional information on the state tournament series, including a list of schools at each sectional site is available at: