Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 10, 1993 TAG: 9311100142
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Until Tuesday night, that is.
The Cavaliers broke their 30-game losing streak against New River teams with a 41-39 victory over Blacksburg in a semifinal of the district tournament.
That's the same Blacksburg that won this year's regular-season title and the 1992 Group AA state championship. The same Blacksburg that had won 20 consecutive games, including a 34-point victory over Carroll County last week.
"We've worked all year for this," Sarah Puckett said after she and her Cavaliers teammates beat a district foe for the first time since 1989. "We stepped it up a notch. And we stopped making the mental mistakes."
Carroll County (10-10) will meet the winner of tonight's Radford-Christiansburg game in the district final Thursday at Blacksburg High School. The tournament winner will earn the district's second berth in the Region IV tournament, joining Blacksburg. The Indians (20-2) will miss the New River tournament final for the first time since 1989.
The lead changed hands five times in the last nine minutes. But the Cavaliers' Sheila Bunn ended that when she hit a short jumper with 1 minute, 18 seconds left, giving Carroll County a 40-39 lead.
"It was open and I just went up with it," Bunn said. "I was looking around. I heard the bench, so I was looking for the shot."
In the next 40 seconds, Blacksburg twice missed shots to take the lead. Then, after a timeout with 32 seconds left, the Indians turned over the ball.
The Cavaliers set up their delay game, the Indians fouled Puckett, and she made the front end of a one-and-one to extend the lead to two points with 13 seconds left.
Blacksburg called another timeout with 9 seconds to go after the ball was knocked out of bounds on a pass. The Indians set up a 3-pointer for Mary Thorn, but the shot bounced off the rim and Billie Gutherie could not convert the offensive rebound into a basket.
Then, Carroll County's celebration began.
"They [the Cavaliers] hit the shots they needed to. They were very patient with their offense," said Mickey McGuigan, Blacksburg's coach. "We started to get in a hurry, rushing our shots. There were times we got the shots and just didn't make them."
The Indians hit only 20 percent of their field-goal attempts in the second half. They were outscored 18-13 from the field as the Cavaliers made up a three-point deficit. \
see microfilm for box score
by CNB