THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502250370
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Kizzy Dunbar scored 26 points and hit the front of three one-and-ones in the final 90 seconds as Oscar Smith upset Great Bridge, 60-49, in the Southeastern District tournament final Friday at Churchland.
The victory secured the final Eastern Region playoff berth for the Tigers, who visit Kempsville on Monday. Oscar Smith (17-9) was seeded fourth and upset top-seed Churchland and No. 2 seed Great Bridge to win the title.
Dunbar, who averaged over 27 points in three tournament games, was named the MVP.
``We just wanted to play hard and prove to everyone that we should have won the regular season,'' said Dunbar, a senior.
Great Bridge (18-7) led 11-10 early in the second quarter, then couldn't buy a basket for nearly five minutes. Oscar Smith scored 10 unanswered points, six by Tonya Swain, to take the lead.
Great Bridge pulled within two, 22-20, on Carey Stafford's 3-pointer with a minute left, but Dunbar answered with a trey five seconds before the half to give the Tigers a five-point lead at the break.
Oscar Smith ran out to a 16-point lead on the strength of Dunbar's shots from the perimeter and defense-breaking layups by guard Starr Parker with three minutes left in the third.
Great Bridge held the Tigers scoreless for nearly four minutes in the fourth quarter to scramble back within, 52-49 on two baskets by Lashelle Griffin and a pair of free throws by April Meyer.
With the clock winding down under two minutes, the Wildcats opted to foul. Dunbar came through, converting on three consecutive one-and-one opportunities as Great Bridge missed its last eight shots.
``We hustled all we could, but sometimes shots don't fall and things don't work out the way you want them to,'' said Stafford, who led the Wildcats with 11 points. Titans contain Snead, win Eastern title
For Lake Taylor, which had its perfect Eastern District record snapped last Friday by Maury, a week made all the difference.
The Titans rebounded with a 50-41 victory over the Commodores to win the district tournament and avenge last Friday's loss.
Both teams advance to Monday's Eastern Region quarterfinals.
Lake Taylor (12-8) will host Hampton and Maury (8-13) visits Menchville.
``Revenge can be so sweet,'' said freshman point guard Juritus Thompson, who scored 12 points.
Lake Taylor, which was blistered by Shwante Snead's 32-point performance last week, played a box-and-one with Tasha Thompson and Felicia Miller taking turns on the Commodores' leading scorer.
Thompson and Miller held Snead to four field goals. Snead, however, was 8-of-16 from the line for a game-high 16 points.
``After Maury devastated us and we watched Snead do it to Booker T., we knew we had to contain her,'' Lake Taylor coach T.J. Jones said.
Lake Taylor led 17-15 at halftime and Maury tied it twice in the third quarter. But the Titans' Tasha Thompson scored 8 of her 15 points in the final period when lake Taylor outscored Maury, 19-14.
Lake Taylor's Ray Ray Johnson added 13 points and 16 rebounds.
PATTI WALSH Kempsville remains perfect, 55-33
The defense never rests for unbeaten Kempsville.
The Chiefs forced 31 turnovers and held Princess Anne to 28 percent shooting in a methodical 55-33 rout in the Beach District girls tournament final at Tallwood.
Both teams advance to Monday's Eastern Region quarterfinals. Princess Anne (15-8) visits Churchland and Kempsville (25-0) is host to Oscar Smith.
Kempsville shot almost as poorly as Princess Anne, 30.3 percent, and was a desultory 10 of 29 from the line. The difference was the turnovers that produced 22 more shots for the Chiefs.
``Defense has always been the key point of our game,'' said Kristen Cholewa, who led Kempsville with 11 points and had seven of the Chiefs' 20 steals. ``Our pressure on and off the ball was the difference.''
Kempsville led 27-20 at halftime and took control in the third quarter when it held Princess Anne to four points and one basket.
Carrie Heath added 10 points off the bench for Kempsville. Carrie Johnson and Lori Henn - two treys - added eight each. Henn hit 10 three-pointes in the three tournament games.
``Princess Anne really played hard in the first half,'' Kempsville coach Greg Dunn said. ``But we've bene here before and we picked it up a notch.''
ROBIN BRINKLEY by CNB