Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 6, 1992 TAG: 9203060248
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MIKE SAELENS SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: WOODBRIDGE LENGTH: Medium
In Thursday night's Group AAA Northwestern Region tournament game against Gar-Field, his team proved him right.
Even though leading scorer Cindy Martin was suffering from a case of the flu and senior point guard Teri Garland from poor shooting, the Cougars jumped to a 16-point lead midway through the third quarter, then held off a late rally on the way to a 52-45 victory and a berth in Saturday night's regional final at Cave Spring.
The Knights moved into the final by defeating George Washington-Danville 55-41 in Thursday's other semifinal. Cave Spring and Pulaski County automatically clinched spots in the next week's state tournament.
"Four years with this group of girls has shown me they're capable of dealing with just about anything," Reedy said. "We've also played against a lot of very good teams away from home, and that helps in situations like this."
After the teams traded baskets in the early going, Pulaski County (21-4) led 17-16 heading into the second quarter, then took control midway through the period, scoring eight straight points to open a 30-21 lead with 2:39 to play in the first half.
Martin led the way, scoring 10 of her 13 points in the first half, six during a 1:25 stretch late in the first half.
Earlier in the day, Martin's status was up in the air when she became ill after eating lunch with the team at a restaurant.
"I started feeling a little bit sick last night [Wednesday]," she said. "Then, when I went to eat lunch today, I really got sick. Later in the game, I really started feeling tired."
The Cougars led 32-23 at halftime, then built that margin to 16 on three quick baskets by Garland and one each by Martin and Lena Jones with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Gar-Field (22-3) then cut the lead to 10 points on baskets by Sandy Goulet and Debby Kruczek, plus two free throws by Jenni Linthicum.
After a basket by Garland pushed the lead back to 12 points, the Indians cut the deficit to 45-36 on a 3-point basket by Cessy Sullivan with 16 seconds remaining in the quarter.
The Cougars slowed the pace to start the fourth quarter. Neither team scored until Martin hit one of two free throws to increase Pulaski's lead to 46-36 with 5:42 to play.
"I didn't feel comfortable, even when we had a 16-point lead," Reedy said. "Maybe we did pull back a little bit too early, but I felt that with the group of people we have, that they could handle that pace pretty easily."
After a basket by Laura Bishop, Gar-Field pulled to 48-42 with 2:40 remaining on back-to-back 3-pointers by Linthicum and Sullivan.
With no timeouts remaining, Gar-Field had to foul to stop the clock, and the Cougars responded.
Garland, who hit only two of her first seven free-throw attempts, made four of eight in the final 1:53 to preserve the victory. She finished with a game-high 22 points.
\ see microfilm for box score
by CNB