Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 21, 1995 TAG: 9509210016
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Then came the reversal. Northside reeled off four victories with a team that relies on two juniors, three sophomores and a freshman as its top six scorers. The Vikings' junior varsity is unbeaten, having toppled Floyd County and William Byrd, which also have strong JV teams.
The juniors are Rosse Hopkins, who has become more selective in her shooting, and Amy Heath, who is emerging as the team's leader in scoring and motivating.
These two have learned their lessons as returning starters from last year's also is enough to make makes them a district contender.
The sophomores are 6-foot Crystal Barrett, Laura Schmidt and Samantha Webb, and Amber Kern is a quick freshman coach Marilyn Bussey refers to as ``my little hurricane at guard.''
The top senior scorer, with 20 points in seven games, is co-captain Erin Weaver, who comes off the bench for the Vikings.
The team has survived a car wreck that sidelined 5-111/2 junior Tara Nolan for the year. Nolan hopes to return next fall to provide inside help for Barrett, sister of Sam Barrett who was a starter on the boys' Group AA runner-up team in 1995.
When Northside was going through the frustrations of losing three games in the William Byrd Tip-Off tournament, it was Heath who showed her disgust with the way things were going.
``I have some experience, so I can get everyone going like the seniors did when I was a freshman,'' said Heath, the top returning scorer from a year ago (7.7 points per game). ``Shannon Yopp was the one who did that. She led by example more than yelling.
``We didn't have a very good week at Byrd, but we just pulled together and showed that we are close.''
Bussey expected nothing less of Heath, whose father, David, is an assistant football coach at Northside and a former player at the old Andrew Lewis High School.
``She's a leader, and that's a burden I put on her at the end of last year,'' Bussey said. ``We needed her to step in. She tried to do it as a freshman and got turned down by some of the older kids. So she held off, but she has stepped in [to lead] this year.''
Bussey acknowledges last year's team lacked emotion. But ``this team reminds me of the kids I used to have in the 1980s,'' said Bussey, who guided the Vikings to the Group AAA tournament and nearly always was in the title fight in the Roanoke Valley District.
Bussey also attributes her team's lethargic play at Byrd to the opening night's schedule, which was juggled when Martinsville, the Vikings' opponent, wasn't notified it was to play the opening game. Northside had to sit around in the steamy gym for more than two hours awaiting the Bulldogs' arrival and wilted.
The Vikings bounced back from their 0-3 start with a shocking 56-50 victory over defending Group A champion Floyd County.
That earned the respect of longtime Buffaloes coach Alan Cantrell. Beating Floyd County, which had a 59-game winning streak through the first week of this season, obviously has been difficult in the past few years.
Floyd County also has lost to Salem and William Byrd, two teams that make the Blue Ridge one of the toughest Group AA districts in the stateand have made life miserable for Northside the past few years.
``We play pretty well as a team, so whenever we go in there against them [other Blue Ridge teams], we'll just play our best,'' Heath said. ``It's tough competition, but with our junior varsity, we're looking forward to the next few years.''
Heath is an all-around athlete, who as a sophomore earned All-Blue Ridge District honorable mention in volleyball and also threw the shot and discus in track and field.
Going into this week, she led Northside in scoring with an 11.6-point average. Barrett was the only other double-figure scorer (10.0 ppg), after hitting for 15 points in a 45-26 victory at Christiansburg.
Hopkins won't yell at her teammatesmight prove to be by with her improved all-around play.
``She's picking up her defense,'' Bussey said. ``Last year, she'd run down and shoot anything. She doesn't do that anymore.''
``Defense is important,'' Hopkins said. ``If one person picks it up, the team sees it and they start to play better defense.''
Hopkins earned a spot on the team as a freshman and took a role as a starter a year ago. She's not surprised, for she was determined to work hard, not worry about what happened and just take whatever came along.
As for shooting, she's aware of the improvement. ``Now, I take my time and square up'' toward the basket, Hopkins said.
Did Bussey question her shot selection when she made the varsity? ``Which time?'' asked Hopkins, indicating she got the point.
Apparently everyone in the Northside program is getting the point, and so are the Vikings' opponents.
by CNB