ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 25, 1996 TAG: 9601250048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
There they were, Cave Spring High School's tall front-line players, tantalizingly close all evening long against Pulaski County.
Would that the Knights could have gotten Jaclyn Banks, Cheryl Rhodes and Lisa Bryan the ball more frequently.
The visiting Cougars pressed unmercifully, negating a decided size disadvantage by forcing a torrent of turnovers to claim a 65-62 victory that put them firmly in control of the Roanoke Valley District girls' title chase.
Pulaski County had a good start and a strong finish to improve its record to 9-4 overall and 7-0 in the league.
Cave Spring's Rhodes buried a couple of free throws with 18 seconds left as the Knights drew to 63-62. Then they wasted no time in fouling junior Sharman Underwood, the second-string point guard who had first-string playing time. She calmly dumped in both her free throws (the Cougars were in the double bonus) to push the margin to 65-62.
Cave Spring hurried to the attack zone and Amy Causey launched a 3-point shot that caromed wide. Time expired as the ball was being batted around.
The Knights thus were blanked from beyond the arc for the game. That and 29 turnovers, 17 in the second half, were a near-fatal combination.
``When you're trying to make it an up-tempo game and playing with different guards than you've had the past several years, that will happen,'' said Linda Long, the Knights' coach.
Rhodes had 14 points, Banks 13 and guard Stacie Morioka 12 for Cave Spring.
Pulaski County's guards and wings came through all night. Katrina Williams, a high-spirited freshman, led offensively with 12 points, six coming on 3-pointers. Lisa Skeens, the starting point guard, added 11. Underwood almost played as many minutes as Skeens, but the only four points she scored also happened to be the last for the Cougars on the night. All 10 girls that first-year Pulaski County coach Buddy Farris called on scored. Six players went 14-for-18 from the free-throw line.
``We've had a death at school and the girls have been down, so I'm proud of the way they played,'' Farris said. ``They aren't very big and we don't have any seniors. All they do is go out and work hard.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Short : 48 linesby CNB