Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 13, 1993 TAG: 9307130119
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium
On Monday night, Randolph probably made a few wish they could reconsider. Randolph scored 14 points and joined James Madison High School's Windsor Coggeshall in leading the West past the East 83-58 in the Virginia High School Coaches' Association girls' all-star game.
Coggeshall, who hit eight of nine shots from the field including all four of her 3-point attempts for 20 points, was selected the West's most valuable player.
The West's 25-point margin was a record in this series, but the margin might not have been so great if the East's La'Keshia Frett had been available. Frett, one of the nation's most recruited players, missed the game because of an orientation trip to the University of Georgia.
"I just came to play to win," Randolph said. The All-Timesland player will attend Division II Virginia Union because no Division I school made an offer.
"I guess deep down inside I wanted to prove something," said the 6-foot forward. "But I wasn't upset. I'll play just as hard at Virginia Union because they wanted me. But I felt I held my own."
Coggeshall showed the same form she did in March, when she led Madison to the Group AAA state championship.
"I was in one of those [shooting] zones," Coggeshall said. "But I've never seen an all-star team as together as this one was."
That cohesiveness showed early. Coggeshall hit her first 3-point shot to tie the score at 13. Seconds later, Coggeshall fired in another one to make it 16-13 and the West never trailed again.
"She's a very good player who did a lot of good things," said Sherry Banks, the Timesland player of the year at William Byrd.
"She sort of stole the show," said West coach Mary Copenhaver, from George Wythe. "I think we all had an indication in practice she could do this, but really she was very unassuming."
Coggeshall had only eight points after the half. It was in the fourth quarter that she put the game out of reach.
The East went to a press, cut the West's lead to 16 points and had possession, evoking memories of last year, when the East used a press and nearly overcame a big West margin.
But Coggeshall hit two jumpers in a row and got a steal as the West put an end to the rally. The final big play was an assist to Radford's Michelle Wyms for a layup that made it 69-46 with 6 minutes, 10 seconds left.
Angela Gorsica, the Group A player of the year from Wilson Memorial, was the East's most valuable with seven blocked shots and 10 rebounds. With Frett joining the 6-5 Vanderbilt signee, it might have been quite a show.
"We didn't find out until we got here that Frett wouldn't play," said East coach Tim Myers, a Roanoke native who is head coach at Harrisonburg.
Timesland players did well in general. Wythe's Eve Kendsll had five blocked shots, Banks warmed up for eight points late in the game and Cave Spring's Kim Stewart used her quickness and added a 3-point goal to Coggeshall's total.
"We had to play Sherry at the point when she would really have played the wing," Copenhaver said. "But every player did what we asked them to do."
\ see microfilm for box score
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.