Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510070009
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-16 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
It was supposed to be a glorious season for Salem girls' basketball.
The Spartans returned five starters from a team that won the Blue Ridge District regular season and tournament titles last year. Salem lost in the first round of the Group AA tournament, but with all the returnees could envision battling for a state championship this season.
Things haven't gone as planned. Injuries have kept some of the team's best players off the floor and down the road might prevent Salem from repeating last year's 19-7 record.
The injury report:
Shellie Johnson, last year's leading scorer, has battled a twisted ankle and tendinitis in her right knee. Though she has not missed any games, she was questionable for the season opener at Floyd County.
Sarah Palmer, who scored in double figures as a freshman, reinjured her back, aggravating a problem that started last winter in volleyball season. Palmer missed one game.
Marilyn Huang, a guard, has missed several games due to rotator cuff problems in her left shoulder. She was fitted with a brace last week that hopefully will allow her to play the rest of the fall without pain.
Tina Slate had a bruised shoulder, the least serious of all the injuries.
``In 18 years, I've never had this many injuries at any one time,'' said Salem coach Dee Wright. ``It makes you wonder.''
The team has also had to learn to deal with death - both to a classmate and to relatives of the players. Shortly before preseason practice started, the team took its first trip to just outside of Charleston, W.Va., to attend funeral services for Slate's mother, who died after a lengthy illness.
Before Salem played the first game against Blacksburg, Ralph Richardson, grandfather of reserve Laura Driscoll and at one time one of the town's most influential people in business and professional baseball, passed away after a stroke. During the summer, a friend and classmate was killed in an auto accident while the team was at a camp in Lexington.
``This team has seen more death in the last few weeks than people who are in their 20s have seen,'' said Wright.
During preseason practice, Wright admitted she wasn't sure when Slate would be ready to return.
``I didn't want to play, but Coach Wright helped me come back,'' admitted Slate, who received moral support from Huang, whose own mother died last year.
Wright reminded Slate that her mother's wish would have been for her ``to be with her basketball family.''
``It bothered me at first, but I got stress relief from all that running,'' said Slate, managing a smile.
The injuries are nagging, but much easier to deal with. Huang was averaging nearly 10 points a game after battling back from a preseason bout with her shoulder when it went out again, causing her to miss three games. When Huang returned last week against Floyd County, she wasn't the same player.
``I was real tentative. I didn't want anything to happen to my shoulder. I can't say I played one of my more aggressive games. I didn't go after the ball like I should have,'' said Huang.
Fortunately, the shoulder injury doesn't affect her shooting. It does bother Huang on rebounding and defense, two elements that Wright always has stressed to make her teams so successful.
``I was just thinking, what a fine time for this to happen during my senior year,'' said Huang. ``We went to camp and the team played so well together. Then right before the season, everyone was injured.''
Palmer's setback came suddenly. ``When she injured her back last winter during volleyball, she never rested it because she kept playing AAU basketball and volleyball [during the spring and summer].'' said Wright of the sophomore who, at 5-foot-11, is Salem's only tall player.
Palmer pulled a muscle in her lower back, while attempting to serve as the team's spiker. ``Sometimes it would be set so far back and I'd have to arch my back to hit the ball,'' said Palmer.
``It started hurting early in basketball practice and then it was really hurting after the first Blacksburg game.''
So Palmer, who is averaging just over 10 points a game, sat out a game along with Huang as Salem lost 48-41 to defending Group AA champion Robert E. Lee.
Johnson, the co-Blue Ridge District Player of the Year as a junior, didn't play in either preseason scrimmage. Fortunately she was back for the opener at Floyd County, the two-time defending Group A champion. Johnson scored 25 points including a jumper with 1.8 seconds left that gave the Spartans a 64-62 victory and ended the state's longest winning streak at 59 games.
``I wasn't sure I'd be back for that game,'' said Johnson. ``But my [knee] didn't hurt as much as I thought it would.''
``It usually hurts when she sits out for two or three minutes or at halftime,'' said Wright.
``I didn't think I was going to shoot that shot [at Floyd], but I was there and it was kind of by instinct,'' said Johnson. ``We were aware of their winning streak. That's what got us pumped up.
``It's amazing I haven't missed any games.''
Indeed it is, for Johnson had surgery when she was a little girl to fix a hole in her heart and repair a valve. Every year she has to get a special exam by a cardiologist just to play sports.
``The doctor sends me the same letter each year that starts off, `Like I said before. ... ''' said Wright of the physician's letter that gives her permission to play.
Johnson remains undaunted by the team's problems.
``I think all this makes us realize a lot of things and pulls us together and think about each other and our families,'' she said. ``We're like one big family.''
by CNB