
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 6, 1992                   TAG: 9203060250
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE SAELENS SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: WOODBRIDGE                                LENGTH: Medium

PULASKI HOLDS ON 52-45

After four years with many of his players, Pulaski County High School girls' basketball coach Rod Reedy figured they could overcome nearly any obstacle.

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 Terri Garland shot the ball poorly, the Cougars jumped to a 16-point lead midway through the third quarter and 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 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."

Pulaski County (21-4) took control midway through the second quarter, scoring eight straight points to open a 30-21 lead with 2:39 left in the first half.

Martin led the way, scoring 10 of her 13 points 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 [Wednesday]," she said. "Then, when I went to eat lunch, I really got sick. Later in the game, I really started feeling tired."

The Cougars led 32-23 at halftime and 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) pulled to 48-42 with 2:40 left in the game on back-to-back 3-pointers by Jenni Linthicum and Cessy 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