Kristy Crowley
Staff Reporter

What does attitude have to do with basketball? Just ask sophomore women's basketball player Torrie Baxter.

Her attitude affects all of the players on the women's basketball team at NIACC according to her teammates.

Baxter, who plays guard for the team, has a saying.

Baxter's saying for this season is, "Do what I want."

This saying influences the rest of her teammates to push themselves up a level to try and defeat Baxter on the court in practice.

If Baxter does not have a positive attitude on the court, who does? "I have a very positive attitude and I keep it positive," Baxter said.

Baxter, who is from Chicago, said she is a leader on the court this year because she has more skill and confidence to step up the level of playing against the opponent.

Her coach has also seen that confidence emerge this season.

"She demonstrates she wants to be a leader and that is a big factor on how consistent she wants to play the ball," head coach John Oertel said. "She is fun to be around and has tremendous potential that I look forward to this season."

Baxter's teammates enjoy her attitude on and off the court. They say she is exciting to be around and there is never a dull moment.

"She is fun to be around and she gets really excited," her teammate Kristi Benson said explaining her experiences with Baxter. "She is very positive when she is on and off the court at all times."

Baxter has improved from last year to become a bigger and stronger player on the court.

Oertel said that Baxter has grown from last year and her motivation in her game has made an enormous jump in improvement.

"Baxter is a good sophomore, one of our lead scorers this season and one of our better defensive players," Oertel said. "And one of our top rebounders this season so far."

Oertel said he thinks Baxter can take her game to yet another level.

"She also has the potential to excel even more in all three of those areas," Oertel said.

Driving the ball and dishing it off to open teammates on the court seems to be one of Baxter's strong points along with rebounding and scoring.

She can score and early this season notched 14 points in a win over the United Tribes in the Johnson Financial Classic.

Baxter is very aggressive when she is on the court and she pushes herself and the team to become better.

"Baxter gets me pumped up and we look out for each other on the court," Benson said.

Baxter is very outgoing and she has set many goals to help her game improve throughout the season for herself and the team.

"I want to develop more all-around and strengthen my left hand and then to move on to bigger and better things in basketball," Baxter said.

"As for the team, we already play as a team and win as a team - I just want us to go undefeated the rest of the season and go on to nationals," Baxter said.

Baxter also said she has finally realized that her coach is trying to help her reach those goals. "Last year, when Coach Oertel was yelling at me, I thought he was just yelling," Baxter said. "But this year, I realize that he is trying to help me improve my game."

Amanda Ouverson
Sports Editor

Steve Warren, a 6'6" sophomore from Mason City, has found success in his hometown playing for the NIACC Trojans this season.

Warren transferred back to NIACC last season for the second semester after starting out his college career at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake.

"I didn't really enjoy BV as much as I thought I would," Warren said.

Warren said that when he was registering for his second semester classes a friend of his dad told Coach Steve Krafcisin he was coming back to NIACC. Krafcisin invited Warren to come to his office to talk about practicing with the team. Warren said that he started practicing with the team at the beginning of the second semester last year.

Krafcisin has seen Warren improve since he started practicing with the Trojans.

"Mentally, he's gotten stronger, he undestands the game a whole lot more," Krafcisin said. Warren said that playing college basketball at NIACC isn't much different than playing high school basketball in Mason City.

"Most of the same people still come and watch," Warren said. "But now when I go out people notice me a lot more than in high school."

While prepping at Mason City High School, Warren was a multiple sport standout for the Mohawks.

Warren was a 3-year letter winner in basketball and track. He was also a member of the CIML all-conference team two times in basketball, and a second team all-conference defensive selection in football.

Warren's football honors continued as he was selected to participate in the Shrine Bowl.

Warren said that he competed in the state track meet three times and also in the Drake Relays.

In his senior campaign, Warren played on a team that went to the 2001 state basketball tournament.

While at BV, Warren said that he really noticed the difference between high school and college basketball.

"The speed and the strength are a lot different," Warren said. "I noticed it a lot at BV, it was a four-year school and I was a freshman playing against the seniors."

Warren said that the difference between BV and NIACC is that the games are played at a faster pace.

"I like the junior college basketball style better," Warren said.

Teammate Lucas Lee said that Warren doesn't just come to play during practices.

"He just plays hard all the time," Lee said. "He gets on me a lot and that helps me get better and become a better player."

This season, Warren said that he hopes that NIACC will accomplish what many other teams set out to do.

"I want us to have a 20-win season and win the conference championship," Warren said. "After that, I'd like to go to the national tournament and win the title."

Warren said that he doesn't really have any personal goals; he just wants the team to win. "Steve has rededicated himself to be the best player he can be," Krafcisin said. After NIACC, Warren hopes to continue his playing days at a four year college.

Amanda Ouverson
Sports Editor

With the passing of the New Year, many newspapers have presented their top sports moments of 2002. For my column I decided to tell you about one memorable sporting event that sticks out in my mind from 2002.

The Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers are no doubt the newest and best rivalry in the NBA.

The Kings and the Lakers battled it out in the 2002 Western Conference Finals; the series was packed with physical play, emotion and trash talking.

The Lakers came out victorious in seven games, but according to the Kings and many of their fans the referees aided the Lakers cause.

(By the way, I'm a Kings' fan and Chris Webber has been one of my favorite players since his Fab (or not so fabulous) days at Michigan.)

The feud continued throughout the off-season. At the Lakers championship rally, NBA super-star Shaquille O'Neal encouraged Laker fans to tell their children that the capital of California had been moved from Sacramento to Los Angeles.

When the Kings and the Lakers finally met in the pre-season, sparks flew. Rick Fox and Doug Christie fought on the court causing both of them to be ejected.

Upon the ejections the confrontation continued as Fox raced to the Kings tunnel causing the Kings' bench to clear and take part in the brawl.

The Kings started the regular season with a bundle of injuries, including the loss of starting point guard Mike Bibby and key off-season addition Keon Clark.

After a slow start by the Shaq-less Lakers, things were beginning to get back on track leading up to a Christmas day showdown.

I'm not the only one loving this new rivalry. It's also great for the NBA. Fans are beginning to return to the game after past strikes and players complaining about their contracts, and this rivalry is one of the reasons why.

It's great to see two teams who really hate each other go at it on and off the basketball court.