Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 19, 1991 TAG: 9103190087
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-7 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY/ CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The first will be burgundy, saluting the girls' basketball team's first Roanoke Valley District title.
The others will be gold. The first banner will mark the Lady Cougars' Northwest Region champion. The second will acknowledge their second-place finish in the state tournament.
Not bad, especially considering the Cougars had never had a winning season in their history before qualifying for the regional tournament last year.
"We've turned around quite a bit," said Becky Smith, the only senior on the squad. "My sophomore year [1988-89], we just couldn't get things going. We still had a pretty good season, though. My junior year, it just started falling into place. Then this year, we had a feeling we could do well."
Coming off the heels of last year's success, Pulaski County set some goals for this year. It wanted to do well in the district. It wanted to win a couple of games in the regional tournament. And it wanted to reach state play.
The Cougars did all of that and more. They won 25 of 28 games. And it took seven straight points in the opening two minutes of the final quarter before nationally ranked James Madison of Vienna could pull away from Pulaski County and claim the Group AAA state title Saturday.
"I think we played well together as a team," said forward Cindy Martin, who led the Cougars with 46 points in three tournament games. "I thought we'd have a good season. We had a lot of people back. And we had a good group coming up [from the junior varsity]. But I never visualized us playing in the finals of the state tournament."
The Cougars' team-play concept was epitomized in their slogan - "Together We're Better" - and in their state tournament performance. Each game, a different player led the team. Terri Garland scored 16 points in the opening round. Smith had 19 in the semifinals. And Martin tallied 24 in the finals.
Team play also enabled the Cougars to overcome the loss of senior guard Robin Dodson. The three-year starter left the team early in the year for personal reasons. Smith replaced Dodson in the starting lineup and Pulaski County never missed a beat.
Pulaski County got an idea things might be different this year midway through district play. After losing by 20 points to perennial power Cave Spring, the Cougars won the second meeting 52-26. It was their first victory over Cave Spring ever.
But it would not be the last. Pulaski County later would beat Cave Spring twice more - to win the district regular-season title and the regional tournament.
And Pulaski knocked off one of the state tournament's two unbeatens - Phoebus of Hampton - before falling in the finals.
"We let everyone know Pulaski came down here to play," said Coach Rod Reedy. "We weren't just happy to be here. We felt like we had a team that could play a little bit. We knew few people knew about us. We hoped we convinced people we could play."
James Madison was certainly convinced. They found themselves in a close game late for only the second time all season.
"They were very aggressive, especially on the inside," Jackie Freeman, Madison's senior guard, said. "And their guards gave us pressure."
And after seeing the Cougars' performance in the semifinals, Madison coach Patrick Deegan invited them to his team's Christmas tournament next season.
So once again next year - especially with only one player graduating - Pulaski County will be a team to be reckoned with.
"We have some good girls' basketball in our end of the state," Reedy told the gathering of reporters from throughout Virginia after the tournament. "The A and AA teams are very good. And the New River [District] dominates the state tournament. I think we can add to that tradition."
by CNB