Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, December 5, 1993 TAG: 9312050187
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B15 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That was the theme Saturday for the Blacksburg High School girls' basketball team.
The fans knew it. They chanted it before, during and after the Group AA state tournament final at the Salem Civic Center.
The players knew it, too. And they made it a reality by beating Charlottesville 49-42 to earn their second consecutive championship.
The Indians (26-2) became the third team to win back-to-back titles in Group AA since state tournament play began in 1975, joining Radford (1983 and 1984) and York (1986 and 1987). They also won their fourth state title overall, tying Radford for the most ever.
The loss was the first in the postseason for the Black Knights (22-6).
"I knew what it felt like my freshman year, when we came here and lost in the final," said Mary Thorn, Blacksburg's senior point guard.
"I told myself then that if we ever got back here again, I wasn't going to let us lose. We've been fortunate enough to get back here two more times and we didn't lose."
Thorn did her part to help Blacksburg repeat. She hit four 3-pointers, tying the tournament record for a game, and scored a team-high 14 points.
"We would be packing it inside and they would start to forget about me," said Thorn, who established a record with seven 3-pointers for the tournament. "I'd get open and my teammates would find me. And I knew I had to hit the shots to keep them honest inside and outside."
\ see microfilm for box score
Memo: longer version ran in the New River edition.