Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 8, 1992 TAG: 9203080217
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"This is the best of the five because it's the biggest one," Cave Spring senior forward Lisa Hodges said. "This one was for the medal."
The medal was the Group AAA Northwestern Region championship, which belonged to the Knights after a resounding 60-39 rout of Cougars at the Cave Spring gym Saturday night.
Cave Spring's fourth victory in five meetings with its Roanoke Valley District rival was worth an advantageous first-round pairing in next week's Group AAA state tournament. By winning, Cave Spring (24-2) dodged playing James Madison, ranked sixth in the nation by USA Today, in the opening round.
Pulaski County, however, will get James Madison, the Northern Region champion, in the opening round.
The sites and dates of the Cave Spring and Pulaski County games will be determined today or Monday.
Cave Spring simply had too many weapons for Pulaski County (21-5), which was armed with senior guard Terri Garland and a ton of blanks.
The Knights' defense effectively cut off the Cougars' inside threat, Cindy Martin, holding the senior forward without a basket and only four points. Martin was averaging more than 15 points entering the night.
Without an inside game, the Cougars had to rely almost solely on Garland, who scored 27 of her team's 39 points.
Pulaski County hit 15 of 56 field-goal attempts for 26.8 percent compared to 17-of-37 shooting for 45.9 percent by Cave Spring. Although their floor marksmanship was only average, the Knights would have made Billy Packer proud at the free-throw line, hitting 25 of 29 free throws for 86.2 percent.
Junior guard Kim Stewart led the Knights with 20 points, Hodges added 14 and freshman guard Aimee Beightol had 10.
"Our balance is what did it for us," said Knights coach Dave Layman. "Lisa could average 25 a game, Kim could average 20, but we go for balance.
"And our shooting is phenomenal. It's the greatest shooting team we've ever had, maybe one of the best ever around here."
Pulaski County started strong, hitting six of its first eight shots. Leading 14-8 with 2:04 left in the first quarter, the Cougars then went dry. They made only three of 17 shots, went scoreless for nearly four minutes midway in the second quarter and fell behind 25-20 at halftime. Stewart's 3-pointer and breakaway layup sparked a decisive 9-0 run for Cave Spring.
After the teams struggled to a 6-6 standoff in the third quarter, Cave Spring put it away in the first 4:12 of the fourth quarter, outscoring Pulaski County 8-0.
With the Cougars having to foul in desperation, the Knights salted the victory at the line, hitting 21 of 24 free throws in the final quarter, including their final 10 in a row.
Cougars coach Rod Reedy had seen enough when the final horn mercifully sounded.
"Credit Cave Spring," Reedy said. "They did a good job keeping the ball out of Martin's hands. We couldn't get the ball inside, and unfortunately for us no one else could step up. It was either Terri or nothing, it looked like."
Although players from both teams admitted to being tired of seeing each other, the coaches seemed all in favor of arranging a sixth meeting of the season. It's improbable, but it could happen.
"I believe Pulaski can beat Madison," Layman said. "I'd love to see Rod again. We've seen so much of each other lately that we're about like brothers now. Shoot, we might be going to the same family reunion together soon."
\ see microfilm for box score
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB