Versatility serves Wood well

Being able to do a lot of things well on the basketball court with determination and confidence are the main reasons that Jessica Wood capped her playing career for Ursuline College (Pepper Pike) with four school records and all-league league honors.

“I have coached college basketball for 10 years and she is by far the most versatile offensive player that I have coached and someone who willed herself to be the best out on the court,” said Ursuline coach Nelson Schorr in describing Wood, a 5-foot-9 senior forward from Champion High.

Wood set career school records for points (1,627) and rebounds (1,015) and season school records for points (432) and rebounds (298).

She also wound up No. 2 in career assists (224), steals (142) and blocks (39), and No. 4 in season assists (81), steals (56) and blocks (16).

“I think that Jessica was able to set all of her records due to her ability to work hard every day in practice and during the games. During practice, she played just like it was a game and was always looking for ways to improve herself,” said Schorr. “She played so many positions and we put her in situations that tried to take advantage of all of her skills.”

This season Wood led the Arrows, who finished with a 14-14 record, in field goals with 146 (of 324 for 45.1 percent), and was named to the American Mideast Conference second team.

She also was second on the team in scoring average (14.7) behind Whitney Blackburn (16.4), and averaged 7.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.7 steals.

The daughter of Barb and Jess Wood, Jessica said her teammates and coaching at Ursuline helped to make her a better player.

“I think it was my experience with my teammates. They helped me a lot, getting me the ball. The coaches also helped me a lot, not only in games but in practice and drills,” said Wood, who is majoring in visual communications and graphic design with a 3.75 grade-point average. She will graduate in May.

“They brought out what was best in me. But being around people of quality rubs off.”

Wood said that Ursuline “is predominantly a women’s college. Only 10 percent are males [but] males don’t have athletic teams.”

Also on the Ursuline team is Elizabeth Hughes, a 5-8 sophomore forward from Jackson-Milton.

Schorr said that Hughes, who played in only seven games this past season, has been improving steadily.

“Elizabeth Hughes has consistently improved herself during her two years at Ursuline. She played [junior varsity] exclusively her freshman year and worked herself onto the varsity program this past year,” said Schorr. “She can shoot from the outside and is working on her post game to become and inside/outside threat.”

Meanwhile, in college swimming, Brian Worhatch. a sophomore on the Ashland University swimming team from Boardman High, became an All-American recently in Houston.

Worhatch, a 2007 Boardman graduate, was part of the 200 freestyle relay that broke a school record and gained All-American honors at the NCAA Division II swimming and diving championships.

In the first day of the meet, Worhatch teamed with Matt Cook, Sean McGraw and Ben Monti for a school-record finish of 1 minute, 31.84 seconds.

Then in the finals, Worhatch, McGraw and Monti teamed with Chewy Vogele for a finish of 1:22.51 to place eighth and garner All-American honors.

XJohn Kovach covers college athletics for The Vindicator. E-mail him at kovach@vindy.com