ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 20, 1996 TAG: 9602200088
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
THE KNIGHTS WILL MEET Pulaski County tonight to determine the Roanoke Valley District regular-season girls' basketball championship.
Luckily for Cave Spring, the Knights had a big lead at halftime Monday night in their girls' basketball game with William Fleming.
Cave Spring toppled the Colonels 56-48 and earned a share of the Roanoke Valley District lead with Pulaski County. The Knights and Cougars will meet at 6 p.m. today at Franklin County to determine the regular-season champion and a spot in the Northwest Region tournament.
Cave Spring (13-6 overall, 10-2 district) held a 31-16 lead at the half and made it 40-25 after three quarters. The Colonels (12-7, 8-4) wouldn't go quietly and battled back behind Renita Walker, who came off the bench to score 15 points, 10 in the final quarter.
Shaunarey Walker's 3-point goal at the end of the game brought Fleming as close as it had been since the opening quarter.
The Knights committed 12 turnovers in the final quarter and 21 for the game. Fleming took 30 more shots, but it was a case of the Knights hitting more of theirs as they drilled 20 of 36 from the field while Fleming was 16-of-66.
``As long as you shoot, it has a chance to go in,'' said Roland Lovelace, Fleming's coach. ``They handled the press most of the night. Sometimes the press works in other ways by making people rush their shots.''
Linda Long, Cave Spring's coach, acknowledged it will take a better effort tonight against Pulaski County for the Knights to repeat last week's victory over the Cougars.
``We didn't play smart in the second half,'' Long said. ``We talked at the half about keeping our focus [on this game] because we still had 16 minutes to go. I thought in the first half we played like we have the last three weeks, but the second half was like we played in December and early January.''
Still, there were some good signs for Cave Spring. Four starters scored in double figures, with Kristin Smith getting 13 to lead the way. Lisa Bryan blocked two shots from her center position and hauled in nine rebounds.
Walker had 13 points for Fleming. Last week, the Colonels couldn't hit from the free-throw line in a loss at Pulaski County, but they made 14 of 20 against Cave Spring.
``We played hard at the end, but we didn't play hard the first half. We gave up too many easy shots,'' said Lovelace, whose young team now must come back through the tournament if it hopes to make regional play.
see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 53 linesby CNB