Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 3, 1993 TAG: 9312030240
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bob Teitlebaum
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Buffalo Gap
\ Coach: Dennis Dull
\ Record: 23-2
\ Comments: The Bison will be playing Madison County for the fifth time; they have lost only once to the Mountaineers. Region B player of the year Sarah McNett, who averages 17 points and seven rebounds per game, leads Buffalo Gap. The Bison have a big front line of 6-foot-1 Lisa Morris, 6-0 Wendy Layman and 5-10 Amy Trout, and 5-8 guard Tawana Lucas (12.0 ppg) is the second leading scorer. Buffalo Gap's only Group A championship came in 1984 - over Floyd County.
Floyd County
\ Coach: Alan Cantrell
\ Record: 27-1
\ Comments: The Buffaloes unquestionably are heavy favorites to win the title. Floyd's list of victims includes a Group AA tournament team, Lord Botetourt, which lost 71-57 to the Buffaloes. Floyd County is very balanced because Cantrell believes in using 10 or more players during games. Lynette Nolley, at 6-0, is the top player averaging 14.9 points and almost seven rebounds per game; she has signed with Virginia Tech. Sophomore Melissa Cantrell scores 10.1 points per game, and the playmaker is Monica Lucas (4.7 assists per game). Outside of an overtime loss to defending Group AA champion Blacksburg, no team has come within 10 points of Floyd County, partly because of its press. Floyd County lost to eventual champion Wilson Memorial in the 1992 semifinals.
Madison County
\ Coach: Katherine Johnson
\ Record: 24-3
\ Comments: The Mountaineers won the state title two years ago. Madison County is a balanced team that relies on perimeter shooting. The Mountaineers also are guard-oriented behind senior Deena Estes, a 3-point shooter who averaged 12 points and 4.6 assists per game. Estes sank five of seven shots from 3-point range in a Region B semifinal victory over Goochland. Elizabeth Wingate, the team's leading scorer a year ago, averages 10.5 points. The Mountaineers again must get past Buffalo Gap, which has won three of four meetings.
Thomas Walker
\ Coach: Sonny Brooks
\ Record: 21-5
\ Comments: The Pioneers are on an eight-game roll since losing to Rye Cove. Thomas Walker has since beaten Rye Cove twice - in a playoff for the Cumberland District regular-season title and in the tournament championship game. Two of the Pioneers' losses were to Group AA semifinalist Gate City - 71-57 and 73-56. Thomas Walker lacks height; its tallest player is 5-9 Sony Baumgardner, who averages 10.5 points. Jessica Hounshell, a 5-5 freshman averaging 12 points per game, is the leading scorer. This is Thomas Walker's first trip to the state tournament since 1989.
GROUP AA
Blacksburg
\ Coach: Mickey McGuigan
\ Record: 24-2
\ Comments: The Indians are the defending Group AA champions and for that reason must be regarded as a slight favorite. Blacksburg bombarded Gate City 67-41 in the Region IV final. That was because the Indians' leading scorer, Lisa Price (12.8 ppg), had a career-high 30 points. Point guard Mary Thorn, who contributes 11 points and 6.3 assists per game, is the Indians' top player; she has signed with East Carolina. Meredith Braine (9.6 ppg), a 5-11 forward, has moved up from the sixth player on last year's team to the starting lineup, and 6-1 Abigail Murrman (7.7 ppg, 4.8 rpg) provides defense and rebounding underneath. Blacksburg has been in the championship game two of the past three years and is seeking its fourth Group AA state crown.
Charlottesville
\ Coach: Harry Terrell
\ Record: 21-5
\ Comments: The Black Knights operate behind 6-2 Mandisa Turner (20.9 ppg, 13.2 rpg), a junior who might be the top player in the Group AA tournament. Turner is the sister of Tarik Turner, who starts for Oak Hill, the top-ranked boys' basketball team in the nation. Mandisa Turner figures to be hotly recruited next year; she already has more than 1,000 points to become the first boys' or girls' player at Charlottesville to reach that career mark. This year, she scored 40 points twice; in a 62-34 victory over Park View-South Hill in the first round of the state tournament, she scored 31 points and hauled in 28 rebounds. Jill Ashley, a 5-10 senior, has been giving Turner double-figure help during the tournament, and Kisha Thompkins dishes out 3.4 assists per game. Charlottesville lost its other starting guard, April Hutchinson, who broke a wrist in practice this week.
Gate City
\ Coach: Pam Wilson
\ Record: 20-5
\ Comments: This is a young team with two sophomore guards - 5-5 Lindsay Carter (17.5 ppg) and 5-4 Beth Godsey (13.9 points, eight assists and four steals per game). Kerri Beasley, a 6-1 junior, has averaged 11.5 points. She is the daughter of former Virginia Tech standout football player Tom Beasley, who played for the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers. This is Gate City's first trip to the state tournament; the Blue Devils had to upset Staunton River on the Golden Eagles' floor to earn a rematch with Blacksburg. Gate City was cool, calm and collected in beating a Staunton River team that was unbeaten this year at home.
Loudoun Valley
\ Coach: Carmel Keilty
\ Record: 21-5
\ Comments: The Vikings, making their first state tournament appearance, have balanced scoring behind guard April Shippee (11 ppg), 5-9 Cameron Arndt (11 ppg), 5-9 Jennifer Herberger (8 ppg, 10 rpg) and 5-8 Vicki Canjemi (7 ppg, 10 rpg). Stacey Sims, a sophomore point guard, orchestrates all this with five assists per game. Loudoun Valley lost to Charlottesville by seven points in the Region II championship game. None of the starters is a senior, though two 12th-graders come off the bench for a team that has some height to deal with Turner in their first-round rematch.
by CNB