Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 10, 1991 TAG: 9102100021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bob Teitlebaum
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
That squared the season series at 1-1 - both at Dublin - and set up a rubber game on Feb. 21 at Cave Spring that will decide the regular-season championship. The winner will earn an automatic berth in the Group AAA Northwestern Region tournament.
Win or lose, Reedy isn't likely to forget Wednesday's victory - the first ever by the Cougars over the Knights in girls' basketball.
How did Pulaski County double the score on Cave Spring after losing earlier 68-48?
"Our objective was to keep the ball on the perimeter, make them beat us from the perimeter. We tried it the first time, also, but right now we're playing much better defensively and rebounding better," Reedy said.
"We collapsed with four minutes to go in the first game and Cave Spring didn't shoot as well as they're capable of shooting in the second game. I think the third game will be more of a realistic assessment of the two teams."
There were other firsts in last week's game. It was the first time since Jan. 2, 1986, that one of the present Roanoke Valley District teams had beaten the Knights on the court. In that game, Franklin County knocked off the Knights 47-39.
Cave Spring rolled to 61 straight victories on the court against present RVD teams until losing last week.
Three years ago, Salem and Northside dropped to the Blue Ridge District and went to fall basketball, leaving Cave Spring, Franklin County, Patrick Henry, William Fleming and Pulaski County in the Roanoke Valley.
The picture is a bit different when Salem and Northside are included. Salem beat the Knights 54-50 in the final regular-season game of the 1988 season, and that was Cave Spring's last loss in the RVD except for the forfeits. Salem and Northside held a 10-9 edge over Cave Spring dating to Jan. 2, 1986.
A word of explanation. The Knights actually lost, by forfeit, to Patrick Henry and Franklin County last year after winning those games on the court. Cave Spring failed to catch an ineligible player and the Knights lost what would have been a perfect regular season and a possible ranking in the USA Today's Top 25 poll.
\ Staunton River has two transfers for next year that should help the football team try to improve on its 0-10 finish of 1990. One is Seminole District standout David Anthony, a 5-foot-11, 218-pound running back and linebacker from Altavista. The other is 6-0, 261-pound offensive and defensive tackle Tim Kelly from Pennsylvania.
Anthony, who will be a senior, scored 10 touchdowns for Altavista, but he played in the shadow of tailback Marcus Berger. Kelly will be a sophomore; he played last fall but did not start for a team that made the Pennsylvania playoffs.
Kelly moved in with his grandparents, who run a grocery store on Smith Mountain Lake. Anthony lives near the Campbell County-Bedford County line and decided to transfer.
"David is a definite Division I prospect. Tim has been on the wrestling team and looks like a decent athlete," coach Ronnie Turner said. "We had a lot of sophomores and juniors this year, but that doesn't mean anything unless they're good athletes. They [the returning players] work hard, but how much athletic ability they have will be a test of time."
\ The Virginia High League's executive committee, meeting this past week, questioned a proposal sponsored by Patrick Henry that will change the rule that makes an athlete ineligible if he's 19 before Oct. 1 of a school year. The proposal would change the date to Aug. 1.
It passed the first of two readings by the VHSL legislative council last fall and will come up for a final reading in March.
The committee questioned whether the proposal, if it passes, should be effective right away or whether it should be delayed one or two years.
On the matter of moving the Blue Ridge District from Region III to Region IV, the executive committee took no action other than asking executive director Earl Gillespie to talk to schools about the move.
\ Northside is giving up the home-court advantage for its second key Blue Ridge District boys' basketball game against Lord Botetourt. The game, scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 19, will be played at the Salem Civic Center.
"We didn't feel like we could hold all the people that would come to the game," Vikings athletic director Jim Hickam said. "They had over 1,300 paid at their gym. Our gym is listed at 1,000 people and we'd have to squeeze to get that many people in."
Northside won the first game 60-53, but trailed at the half.
\ Oak Hill, ranked second by USA Today in its boys' national high school basketball poll, will play Long Island (N.Y.) Lutheran next Saturday at Grayson County's gym in Independence.
The game starts at 7 p.m. and Oak Hill is holding the game in conjunction with the Grayson County boosters' club.
by CNB