Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 9, 1993 TAG: 9301090026
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: CHRIS STEUART STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
COUGAR GIRLS' BASKETBALL NOW LOOKS TO YOUTHS
This year's Pulaski County High School girls' basketball team could well have been what Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was talking about when he wrote in "Morituri Salutamus":"How beautiful is youth! How bright it gleams. With its illusions, aspirations and dreams!"
The Cougars lost leaders and playmakers like Cindy Martin and Terri Garland from last year's state runner-up squad. Now Pulaski County is looking to capitalize on the attributes of four sophomores - Kim Cruise, Carrie McConnell, Kara Buckner and Jodie Hallett - and junior Laura Bishop in its starting lineup.
"It's kind of like a roller coaster ride. They go way up and then way down," Pulaski County coach Rod Reedy said. "We are not nearly as fundamentally sound as we have been in the past few years, but this is easily the best youth we've ever had."
That includes the class that sent both Garland and Martin to Division I colleges - Garland to Virginia Tech and Martin to William and Mary. Reedy says this crop of sophomores is further along than they were.
"They make a lot of sophomore mistakes," Reedy said. "Then again, there are a lot of sophomores out there to make them. But they are all good girls and they will be good basketball players."
They aren't too bad right now, boasting a 7-2 record, but tonight will be their toughest challenge of the season against district rival Cave Spring.
"We have a really young team this year and a lot of those teams are tough. Until we play Cave Spring we don't know how good we are," McConnell said. "We have a chance, but we have to play great."
Cruise, a 6-2 center, is a big reason for the early success of the Cougars.
"It's totally different from last year. Everybody is trying to take control at the same time . . . and we get mad sometimes," she said.
But Cruise said the girls are working together to help each other through the growing pains and she wouldn't be surprised to wind up a contender come tournament time.
"We are starting to work more as a team, now," Buckner said. "This is the first year we've all played together so we are all growing as a team."
But this is not a team that is focusing too far into the future.
"We don't know how good we can be because we haven't done it yet," McConnell said. "The only thing we can do is get better. It depends on how hard we work and how our team comes together. Everybody wants to go to state, but I just want the team to get as far as it can."
Hallett is holding down a starting forward slot in her first season ever playing basketball.
"I think it is better for us to start out together so we can grow together," Hallett said. "It is going to be frustrating because we are young, we do make mistakes, but get better by making them."