Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 18, 1994 TAG: 9407180064
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The Roanoke Stars' 14-and-under girls' basketball team has been together since most of the players were 11 years old (some since they were 9), and had played in three national AAU tournaments in the past four years.
They also had entered three Commonwealth Games of Virginia tournaments, and they'd won three silver medals.
Sunday, the Stars beat the Richmond-based James River Rapids 45-38 at Hidden Valley Junior High School for the gold medal.
"We wanted to be known as the winners," said Sarah Hicks of Roanoke, whose take-charge second half included bringing the ball upcourt and scoring seven points in the last seven minutes.
The Commonwealth Games' last full day of competition was dampened as daylong rain hampered many events and cut short a couple of others.
Part of the track and field competition was postponed and will be finished Saturday at Glenvar High School. Tennis was forced indoors to Hunting Hills and Hidden Valley country clubs and may not be completed until today or Tuesday.
About 70 youth golfers will complete the '94 Games schedule in competition at Hanging Rock Golf Course today and Tuesday.
Basketball ran smoothly Sunday, unlike the Stars' trip to their gold medal. Roanoke could have had a blowout - it led 10-2 with 8 minutes, 16 seconds left in the 16-minute first half - but frequent turnovers held back the Stars. James River took a 32-31 lead with 8:09 left on two free throws by Sara Wright. Before that, the Rapids were 1-for-14 from the line.
Roanoke's Catie Redick scored underneath to forge a 33-32 Stars lead, and Hicks' 15-footer made it 35-32 Roanoke with 7:10 left.
A fast-break layup by James River's Sarah Burkett - she scored 12 points in the second half - made it 35-34, but Hicks followed with a coast-to-coast layup with 5:40 left.
James River cut its deficit to a point twice thereafter, the last time on a Burkett free throw with two minutes left. After a Hicks free throw made it 40-38 with 1:41 to go, Roanoke spread the floor and Fincastle's Sara Moore twice drove for layups, one of which became a three-point play, as the Stars sealed the victory.
Hicks played with tape job on the right (shooting) wrist she sprained in the team's first game.
"We had to do it all together," she said. "[I thought] if I came back I might be able to have a chance to help."
The Blacksburg team in the men's open basketball competition spent even more energy than the Stars earning a gold. The team, which included Virginia Tech players Ace Custis and Delwyn Dillard and former Hokies walk-on Mike Davis, played three games against the Roanoke Jazz, who included former Patrick Henry High School star Troy Manns (bound for Virginia Tech) and former William Fleming standout Joe Fitzgerald.
In the double-elimination event, Roanoke gave Blacksburg its first loss 121-117 in overtime Sunday morning (Custis had 39 points and Manns 33). In the afternoon, the Tech gang won 100-99 to keep Roanoke from the gold in the double-elimination event.
Down the stretch, that game featured Custis follow slams, soft jumpers from Fitzgerald and darting drives by Manns. There were five lead changes in the last three minutes, the last on a Custis layup with 20 seconds left. Manns' driving shot was partially blocked at the end.
Exhausted Blacksburg won the final 79-73 despite trailing 28-13 at halftime. Individual scoring was not kept in either of the teams' last two games.
In other Games results Sunday:
\ BASEBALL: Rain scrubbed the medal games, so medals were awarded based on round-robin play. The East (3-0) got the gold; North (2-1) the silver; Central (1-2) the bronze. It's the first time in the Games' five years the East has won the gold.
\ SOFTBALL: The Salem Suns won the men's fast-pitch gold one day after Salem's Lawrence Bailey pitched a no-hitter in a 6-0 victory over Wampler-Longacre.
Bailey was named the most valuable pitcher of the tournament.
On Sunday, Salem beat the Lonesome Oak Rocks 6-3 in a rain-shortened game to win the gold.
Most softball brackets played their medal games Sunday; the ones that didn't awarded medals based on round-robin records.
\ TRACK AND FIELD: Despite most of the running events being postponed until next Saturday, seven age-group records were set Sunday morning:
Kristina Flannagan in the girls' 15- to 18-year-old long jump at 17 feet, 11 1/2 inches; David Thomas of Farmville in the men's masters 50-and-over high-jump (4-8); Palmer Sweet of Charlottesville in the men's masters 50-and-over shot put (41-6 1/2); Edwin Stamper of Christiansburg in the men's masters 50-and-over long jump (15-7 1/2); and Shannon Whitt in the boys' 15-18 discus (139-10 1/2).
Justin May of Meadowview pulled off an unusual double. After breaking his own 15-18 shot-put record at 54-2, he moved up an age group and set the 19-29 record at 44-4 1/2.
Track coordinator Richard Pitts estimated about a third of competitors wouldn't be back in the Roanoke Valley for Saturday's competition. But, he said, few complained when he called the meet around 2 p.m. Sunday.
"Right when I made the announcement, it was thundering and lightning," Pitts said. "Nobody said anything."
\ RACQUETBALL: A dozen members of the U.S. Navy stationed in Virginia Beach showed up at the LancerLot on Sunday. Team U.S.S. Enterprise produced two silver medals: Russell Bruns in A division singles and Bruns and Troy Patton in open/A doubles.
by CNB