ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 5, 1996 TAG: 9611050096
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RINER
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on November 6, 1996.
The scoring average for Megan Forster, a Shawsville High School
girls' basketball player, was incorrect in Tuesday's editions. Forster
has 447 points in 20 games for a 22.35-points-per-game average. She
still wins the Timesland girls' basketball scoring championship.
THE BUFFALOES avenge a loss by dominating Glenvar for the Three Rivers title.
The Floyd County High School girls' basketball team has a number of well-documented strengths that make it a challenging opponent by any measure.
But when the girls in black and gold find the range from both the free-throw line and 3-point territory on the same night, then beware the Buffalo stampede.
Led by deadeye sharpshooter Julie Sowers, Floyd County rained basketball's through the hoop from a variety of distances while raining on the Glenvar parade in an 88-55 victory in a special Three Rivers District playoff game that clinched a berth in the Group A Region C tournament for the Buffaloes.
The game, which was played before a standing-room only gallery at neutral Auburn High, was necessitated because the teams had tied for the regular-season title with one loss apiece, to each other.
Glenvar's 54-50 victory in October was a distant and fleeting memory after Monday's carnage. The Buffaloes (20-2) led by 38 points and dominated in every conceivable fashion.
``Floyd County has the kind of team that can be leading two, four, six points and you look up and the lead is up to 15 and before you know it, it's up to 30,'' Glenvar coach Dennis Layman said.
Floyd County plays 6:30 p.m. Thursday against the survivor of Wednesday's Giles-Radford Three Rivers District opening-round Three Rivers tournament game. Glenvar (16-5) takes on the winner of the Shawsville-Auburn first-rounder in Thursday's nightcap at Christiansburg High School.
``The big thing that we didn't preach but the girls knew was that we didn't want to go into the tournament and have a must-win game,'' Floyd County coach Alan Cantrell said.
That burden now falls on Glenvar, which must make the tournament championship or, if Floyd County is upset in the semifinals, win the tournament in order to go to regionals.
Floyd County took control quickly behind Sowers, who had three of her six 3-pointers in the first half as the Buffs rolled to a 47-32 lead at the break. Sowers, who has been a key player for Floyd County since she was a freshman, scored 13 before intermission and finished with a game-high 28.
``I've been working on my 3-point shot,'' she said. ``I play with my cousin Shawn Angle, my boyfriend David Wade, and my father [Kenny Sowers]. My father and I are about the same height - he's very quick - but the other two are tall, so I've had to learn to shoot over them.''
Sara Conner added 20 points, Karen Pursifull 12, and Jill Quesenberry 11 for Floyd County. Sowers hit six of seven free-throw attempts and Pursifull seven of eight to pace a 26-for-40 night at the stripe for the Buffs.
``The didn't miss any important ones,'' Layman said. ``And their [field-goal] shooting; that was unreal.''
Erika Hale led Glenvar with 24 points and Bonnie Willet added 14.
``I think,'' said Sowers, ``that we gained most of our respect back.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB