Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 23, 1993 TAG: 9306230056
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By BRIAN DeVIDO STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
It leaves Virginia Thursday for the national championships. Teams from North Carolina, Michigan and Kansas, along with other powerhouse squads, will be awaiting the challenge of these brash young upstarts.
It is a team of tough guards, a team with a good center who can rebound. In more than 30 games this season, this team has tasted defeat just seven times.
They're ready for the big time.
Do you hear them, Dean Smith? Do you hear them, Michigan? They're coming after you.
The coach of this team even has a few words of wisdom to give about his group.
"They're a good group. They're not real boy-crazy yet. They've still got some tomboy in 'em."
Say what?
Oops.
One more thing about this team needs to be mentioned.
It's made up of a group of 12-year-old girls.
The Dublin Lady Dukes travel to Hartford, Conn., Thursday for the biggest tournament of their lives: The AAU 12-and-under girls' national basketball tournament, which will begin Friday and run until July 3, when the best young girls' team in the nation is crowned.
Head coach Buddy Farris says his squad is unlike other AAU girls teams.
"The other teams go out and recruit," he said. "Most other teams at the AAUs will have rosters from all over the state."
Not the Lady Dukes. They all come from Dublin Middle School, where Farris has coached basketball and taught physical education for 15 years.
And you can't blame the Dukes if this past season has felt like 15 years. After all, they've been playing almost nonstop since August.
The team began AAU play in mid-August and played until October. It started playing again in February.
The Dukes have posted some pretty impressive numbers, too.
First, the Dukes had a 17-0 season in middle-school play this season. Then, they played in the Virginia AAU state championships in April. The Dukes finished second to the Roanoke Stars, which like most AAU teams, recruits players.
The Lady Dukes are led by:
\ KATRINA WILLIAMS: a 5-foot, 4-inch guard who led the team in scoring this season as a sixth-grader, which amounts to about 11 points per game. "She's got good court sense," Farris said. "She practices all the time."
\ MISSY SHIRAH: a 5-foot, 7-inch forward, who plays bigger than her size might indicate. "She's got good hands, a good shot and she rebounds real well," Farris said. "She's an all-around good athlete."
\ JESSICA COBBS: a 5-foot, 10-inch center who is consistently the team's top board cleaner. She grabs about six rebounds a game.
\ WHITNEY CHILDRESS: a 4-foot, 11-inch point guard who runs the offense.
\ BETH GARLAND: a 5-foot, 3-inch guard who is the team's defensive stopper. Her older sister, Teri, played for Virginia Tech last season, and was coached by Farris in the eighth grade, too.
Michigan had the Fab Five. The Lady Dukes have the Fab Females.
They'll play in a four-team pool at nationals. The top two teams in each pool will play each other in a double-elimination series, with the winner advancing. The bottom two teams play each other in a double-elimination "friendship series."
"They're just excited," Farris said of his team's attitude. "They're counting the days off until we leave. They intend to win a national title. There's no talk at all of us playing in a `friendship series.' "
by CNB