Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 21, 1993 TAG: 9311210192
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MONETA LENGTH: Medium
The Golden Eagles reached another plateau Saturday, knocking off Lord Botetourt 51-43 to win the Region III championship. Staunton River plays at home against Gate City in the first round of the Group AA state tournament Tuesday. That's good news for the Golden Eagles, who are 15-0 in their gym.
Botetourt earns a rematch with Blacksburg in the Indians' gym. The Cavaliers beat Blacksburg in their opener at Floyd County's tournament.
The latest Staunton River victory was much less dramatic than the Golden Eagles' semifinal victory over Martinsville on a last-second shot. This time, Staunton River (23-2) gave Botetourt a good old-fashioned whipping.
The Cavaliers (23-2) saw their 22-game winning streak evaporate against a matchup zone that kept them out of sync offensively. Defensively, Staunton River was too quick and Botetourt was in foul trouble.
Ashley Moore, the Blue Ridge District player of the year, played barely a quarter because of foul problems. She fouled out with 2 minutes, 47 seconds left, having scored eight points.
At the other end, Courtney Hurd owned the boards for Staunton River with 14 rebounds, and Tanya Nelms used a hot streak to finish with a game-high 24 points. Nelms was 2-of-13 from the field in the first half, then went 5-for-7 in the final 16 minutes to ruin any chances Botetourt might have had.
"A lot of people told us we had no business being here, but we're here," Nelms said. "I wasn't worried about blowing a lead because I knew we'd keep it."
David Wheat offered no excuses for his Lord Botetourt team, ranked No. 3 in Timesland, losing to No. 5 Staunton River.
"We didn't hit free throws [5-of-15]," said the Cavaliers' coach. "We'd hit 80 percent from the line in the Blue Ridge District tournament and 68 percent for the year. I think Staunton River wanted the game more than we did."
Both teams were coming off big semifinal victories. Botetourt had upset previously unbeaten Bassett, Timesland's No. 1 team, while Staunton River edged Martinsville 65-64 on a buzzer shot by Deena Mitchell.
"We didn't do anything special because we could hardly practice [Friday] after the Martinsville game," said Linwood Roberts, the Golden Eagles' coach. "So we just tried to rebound with them and use our matchup zone defense."
Staunton River owned a 45-39 edge on the boards thanks to Hurd. The forward had three of her four first-half baskets on offensive rebounds.
The Cavaliers connected on 19 of 50 field-goal attempts but often threw away the ball. Reserve Molly McCorkle had three baskets filling in for Moore or the Eagles' winning margin would have been greater.
Botetourt, which fell behind for good when Kim English hit two free throws to snap a 22-22 tie in the second quarter, cut the Golden Eagles' lead 42-39 with 4:50 left. Then, Nelms canned a long, arching 3-point goal as Staunton River started to pull away again.
"We were trying to keep the ball out of the middle," Nelms said. "I thought we could do it since we had done it against [other big teams] Amherst County and Appomattox."
The Golden Eagles were 16-of-52 from the field, but that's not unusual for them. English and Nelms each had three steals and Dana Bowles had three blocks. Those defensive statistics are typical for Staunton River.
by CNB