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SPORTSTuesday, February 18, 2020—Section B

Adding an exclamation point

By Jack Miller

Adams Publishing Group

WHITEWATERThere aren’t many weaknesses to

the UW-Whitewater women’s basket-

ball team as it heads into the final

week of the regular season.

The No. 4-ranked Warhawks have

lost just two games and clinched a

share of the WIAC regular season title

Saturday. Whitewater has an overall

record of 21-2 and is 11-1 in WIAC play

with two conference games to go.

“As a coach you’re always looking

on improving every-

thing,” UW-Whitewa-

ter head coach Keri

Carollo said. “I would

say, statistically, tak-

ing care of the ball

a little bit better. It’s

going to be some-

thing we have to do.

“Then I would say

shooting a little bit

more consistently. But otherwise, I

think we’re in a pretty good place.”

The Warhawks are middle of the

pack in the WIAC with a 0.87 assist-

to-turnover ratio.

Whitewater is last in 3-point per-

centage (27.2) and tied for last in

3-pointers made (101).

“It’s just going to be repetition, get-

ting in the gym and getting extra work

in,” Carollo said. “Our girls know it’s

(3-point shooting) something they

have to work on and focus on.

“Shooting is such a streaky thing.

It’s just trying to get as many reps in

as we can. I feel like at some point the

ball is going to start falling in.”

Senior guard Becky Raeder is

sixth in the WIAC in 3-point shoot-

ing percentage and made 3-pointers

with a 36.3 percentage and 37 made

attempts, respectively.

By Tom Haudricourt

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

PHOENIXNo one has ever questioned

Keston Hiura’s ability to hit a baseball.

When the Milwaukee Brew-ers selected Hiura with the ninth pick in the 2017 major league draft, they immediately proclaimed him as the best hit-ter in the college ranks that year. It was hard to dispute that declaration after the right-hand-ed-hitting second baseman led

Division I hitters with a

.442 batting average and

.567 on-base percentage

at Cal-Irvine.

Hiura’s hitting prow-

ess remained on display

as he soared through the

Brewers’ farm system in

23 months before reach-

ing the major leagues

May 14. In 222 games in the

minors, he batted .317 with a

.382 on-base percentage, .546

slugging percentage, 36 home

runs and 122 runs batted in.

Hiura played his best at Class

AAA San Antonio last

year, compiling a 1.088

OPS in 57 games with 19

homers.

With that back-

ground, expectations

were high for the orga-

nization’s No. 1 pros-

pect when he donned

a Brewers uniform, but

he might have exceeded them,

considering the circumstances.

Thrust into a playoff race on

a team that would eventually

surge to the National League’s

second wild-card berth, Hiura

batted .303 with 19 home runs

and 49 RBI in 84 games, with a

.368 OBP and .570 slugging per-

centage.

Despite playing just over

half a season for the Brewers,

Hiura slugged the third-most

homers for a rookie in fran-

chise history, was named the

NL rookie of the month for July

(.355, six HRs, 18 RBI) and the

team’s player of the month in

both July and August. He com-

piled those impressive numbers

despite spending 11 days on the

injured list with a strained left

hamstring at the start of Sep-

tember.

Is there any wonder the

favorite descriptive line about

Hiura among media members

who followed him regularly was:

“The man can hit.”

“Keston did some really spe-

cial things and set a really high

bar for a player offensively,”

manager Craig Counsell said.

“Three hundred or so at-bats

into his career, he showed what

he can do.

Brewers’ Hiura focuses on defense with few issues at the plate

Hiura

Turn to HIURA on Page 4B

Carollo out to fine tune Warhawks

Photo courtesy Shelly SchmidtJanesville forward Arsenii Smekhnov skates up the ice during the Jets’ 5-4 win Feb. 7 over Kenai River at the Janesville Ice Arena. Smekhnov scored his first goal as a Jet in the game and will play big minutes for the team.

Team has no major flaws going into final week of

regular season

Carollo

By Benjamin Pierce

bpierce@gazettextra.com

JANESVILLE

Janesville Jets coach Corey Leiv-

ermann knew very little about for-

ward Arsenii Smekhnov when the

North American Hockey League

season started in September.

Janesville acquired Smekhnov

from the Fargo Force of the United

States Hockey League the first week

of February after Jets forward Jake

Dunlap got called up to the Force.

Leivermann and the Jets are still

learning about Smekhnov and his

abilities, but it’s clear the 19-year-

old native of Kirov, Russia, gives

the Jets another offensive threat.

Smekhnov has one goal and three

assists in four games.

“I think he’s going to fit in well

here, and it’s going to be a boost

for us. He came in and you saw the

point production right away for

him. It was nice for him to get some

points, but he also just plays the

game the right way,” Leivermann

said.

Smekhnov said the adjustment to

Janesville has been an easy one, and

he looks forward to finishing the

season as a member of the team.

“It’s definitely a really skilled

game and one of the most skilled

teams in the league, and they’re just

a great group of guys,” he said.

Smekhnov learned what it takes

to be an athlete at a young age. His

father was a professional ski jumper

in Russia, and his mother played

competitive volleyball.

Smekhnov makes a name for himself

It’s definitely a really skilled game

and one of the most skilled teams

in the league, and they’re just

a great group of guys

Arsenii Smekhnov about joining

the Jets and the NAHL

“ ”

Associated PressThe No. 6 car driven by Ryan Newman goes airborne after being hit by the No. 32 car driven by Corey LaJoie during the final lap of the Daytona 500 on Monday night. Newman, who led the race briefly during the final lap, was hospitalized in serious condition with non-life threatening injuries. Denny Hamlin won the race for the second straight year. Story on 3B

Scary finish at Daytona

By Josh Flickinger

Adams Publishing Group

CLINTON

When a conference’s top two teams

get together late in the season, one would

expect the stakes to be high.

Monday night in Clinton, the host Cou-

gars and Evansville were merely playing

for pride.

The Blue Devils solidified their standing

as the Rock Valley Conference’s top team

with a convincing 56-42 victory over the

second-place Cougars.

Both teams entered

Monday night’s clash with

seeds in their respective

WIAA Division 3 brackets

wrapped up and Evans-

ville’s conference title in the bag.

After Clinton raced to an 8-0 lead (with

all eight points by forward Olivia Roehl),

Evansville coach Tony Wiemiller had some

concerns about his team’s approach to the

game.

”We knew it was going to be a challenge

really getting ready for this game with the

conference title wrapped up,” Wiemiller

said. “And we definitely started slow. They

beat us down the floor a few times and

played with more energy.

“Once we woke them up a little bit, we

played the way we wanted to.”

Trailing 16-11, the Blue Devils went on

a game-changing 12-0 run.

Evansville 56

Clinton 42

Evansville puts frosting on Rock Valley Conference title

Turn to POINT on Page 3BTurn to WARHAWKS on Page 2B

Turn to JETS on Page 3B