Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 15, 1993 TAG: 9310150152
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Necessity is the mother of prevention.
Faced with the loss of one frontcourt player to injury and another to fouls, the Indians resorted to a seldom-used zone defense that held Christiansburg's Rebecca McNeil, the leading scorer in Timesland, to a season-low six points in an easy 56-22 New River District victory.
Blacksburg (13-1 overall, 2-0 in the district) won its 13th game since losing to Lord Botetourt in its opener. The Indians, Timesland's third-ranked team, have not lost to a district opponent in two years.
Christiansburg (5-7, 1-1), which saw its three-game winning streak stopped, stayed close for a quarter, but never could generate much offense against Blacksburg's 2-3 zone. After getting off to a slow start, the Indians went on a second-quarter run that broke open the game.
Lisa Price scored six of her game-high 17 points during a 10-4 surge that put the Indians up 28-14. Blacksburg held the Blue Demons without a field goal for the final 3 minutes, 51 seconds of the second quarter, and freshman point guard Meadow Overstreet's layup with 25 seconds left gave the Indians a 32-16 lead.
"I hate cliches," McGuigan said, "but it's like the old saying says: `We generated our offense from our defense.' "
Heading into the game, it seemed unlikely that Blacksburg would be able to contend with McNeil, a 6-footer who was averaging 21.0 points per game. Meredith Braine, the Indians' senior forward, was out with an eye injury she suffered in a game this week at Tazewell.
Then, things got worse when center Abigail Murrmann drew a pair of quick fouls. Unable to play straight man-to-man defense because of the personnel losses, McGuigan switched to the zone, with forward Amy Mathena chiefly responsible for keeping the ball out of McNeil's hands.
"We knew their shooting guards wouldn't shoot," Price said. "We felt if we could shut down Rebecca McNeil we'd be fine."
McNeil took only four shots from the field, making two.
"That's definitely the best defensive job anybody has done against her," said Danny Knott, Christiansburg's coach. "They shut her down. We didn't do a real good job of reversing the basketball against their zone. It was too much one-pass and shoot."
The Blue Demons scored the first two points of the game on a Maureen Jackson turn-around shot. They tied it at 4 on another Jackson basket.
Christiansburg trailed 14-8 after a quarter, but quickly found itself in a 10-point hole after buckets from Price and Overstreet. After Knott used a timeout, McNeil scored on a layup that made it 18-10. The Demons got no closer.
Mary Thorn hit a 3-pointer to make it 21-10 and the rout was on. Thorn finished with 15 points, including nine on 3-pointers.
"Somebody had to pick up the slack," Thorn said. "Meadow's got the varsity experience now, so she can play point and let me move to the two-guard. That helps me get open to shoot a little more."
Overstreet and Murrmann each scored eight points for Blacksburg. Allison Amos had six for Christiansburg.
"Our depth really showed tonight," McGuigan said.
CHRISTIANSBURG (22)
Amos 2 2-2 6, R. McNeil 2 2-2 6, Jackson 2 0-4 4, Jones 1 0-0 2, Simmons 1 0-0 2, Wilson 1 0-0 2. Totals: 9 4-8 22. BLACKSBURG (56)
Price 8 1-3 17, Thorn 5 2-2 15, Murrmann 3 2-2 8, Overstreet 4 0-0 8, Boardman 1 0-0 2, Rogers 1 0-0 2, Aldridge 0 1-3 1, Mathena 0 1-4 1, Boling 0 0-2 0, Esen 0 0-1 0. Totals: 22 7-17 56.
Christiansburg 8 8 4 2-22
Blacksburg 14 18 17 7-56\ Three-point goals: Thorn 3. JV: 31-13, Blacksburg.
by CNB