Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 21, 1993 TAG: 9310210055
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-11 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
You wrote the Radford High girls basketball team off.
No?
Please. We're all friends here. You can come clean. You know you gave those girls no chance.
You considered their prospects slimmer than Kate Moss on a diet.
Their future bleaker than New Coke II.
The history of their campaign a thin volume that would ultimately be consigned to the circular file.
Well, think again, hoop head.
Because while the Bobcats aren't going to sending many foes to the hospital with heart flutters and chilly sweats, they have graduated from this-one's-in-the-bag, these-hightops-are-made-for-walkovers, let's-let-our-young'uns-get-some-playing-time status.
In other words, Radford just may yet live to hurt somebody's feelings.
Now certainly we can't presume that the Bobcats are soon going to be capable of sending scoreboards spinning like the fruit in a slot machine window. They'll have to leave that to their neighbors from Floyd County or perhaps their archenemies from Blacksburg.
But that Radford can be aggravating.
Doubts? That proves that you haven't been paying attention. After sinking to 12-11 last year and starting the current year 0-8, the mirror under the Bobcats' nostrils is showing signs of fog.
Quiet, now. Don't make any sudden gestures, but Radford started the week having won five of its last eight.
True, it's not exactly a Blacksburgian pace, but it's a heck of a sight better than Oh-and-8. And at Radford, they're again allowing themselves to consider the possibility of dreaming the impossible dream.
"People didn't give us much of a chance at the beginning of the year," Radford coach Brenda King said, "but we set as one of our goals that we would not have our streak broken."
As streaks go, it's a corker. Seven straight years in the Group AA Region IV tournament and nine of the last 10.
Realistically, Radford's shot at the postseason is only slightly better than the chances of a hung-over marksman with his hair in his eyes hitting a bull's-eye.
But Radford is still alive. And that means there's still hope.
A gym bag full of reasons:
They never gave up.
Zero-and-8 for a start was the pits for Bobcatball. The nadir. They stared into the jaws of oblivion, stuck their tongues out and made an ugly face, and proceeded on their way cheerfully.
King knows how to scout an opponent.
You notice that Radford is a lot tougher on people the second time around. Salem, Carroll County and Graham flogged the Bobcats the first time they met this season, then got tangled in their whips and fell over the water bucket the second time around. That's no accident.
They're unflappable underneath.
Cathy Richardson has been averaging eight rebounds per game and Shannon Bragg is blocking four shots per outing (she had eight against Carroll County last week).
They know how to win unattractively.
Radford is averaging a cover-the-eyes-of-the-young-children accuracy rate of 31 percent. But the Bobcats are holding their opponents to a 30-and-under rate.
Some of them are too young to be scared.
Charlee Taylor, the shooting guard who is leading the team by scoring almost 12 points per game, is a freshman. She's aggressive and sound, which may or may not have something to do with the fact that her father Chuck is an ex-coach or that her first tumble from a baby carriage landed her in a basketball camp.
Charlee is cheerful on that charity stripe, too. Foul her and watch her bang in about 76 percent of her shots.
Pressure? What does that mean, coach?
So Radford may yet fall flat as Kansas.
But of course you had that figured out, all along.
But maybe they'll get lucky and the pairings in the New River District tournament will be favorable and they'll make it past the first round and into the final and suddenly find themselves tumbling back into the regionals.
And that couldn't be any worse than taking a spill from a baby buggy.
Ray Cox covers New River Valley sports for the Roanoke Times & World-News
by CNB