Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 20, 1994 TAG: 9402100219
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bob TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Aimee Beightol says she's outgoing, is a people person and has hopes of attending a Division I school on a college basketball scholarship.
Allison Beightol will be happy to play on the Division III level, says she's is the shy one of the two juniors and prefers quiet evenings rather than going to noisy gatherings.
Aimee Beightol is the shooting guard who leads the scoring with a 14.2 average for the Cave Spring girls' team that was 12-1 going into Tuesday's game against Pulaski County. Allison Beightol is the playmaker averaging 7.5 points a game, whose main task is to set up her teammates for points.
The duo played for Cave Spring coach Linda Long at Hidden Valley Junior High.
``It depends on the situation, but Allison is the better ball-handler while Aimee is the better shooter. They complement each other and pick each other up on the court,'' Long says.
Of the two, Aimee Beightol has played more in junior high and as a freshman and a sophomore. Allison Beightol always has been stuck behind some of the area's best point guards. At Cave Spring and Hidden Valley, Allison Beightol had to wait for All-Timesland player Kim Stewart to graduate last year, and on AAU teams the competition has come from Bassett's outstanding playmaker, Kim Hairston.
``I got to start with Kim [Stewart] and I learned a lot from her. She made me a better player,'' says Allison.
Allison says she has no regrets about having to play second fiddle for two years.
``I'd rather play the point,'' she says. ``I feel more comfortable.''
Adds Aimee, ``We have a couple of two-guard fronts where either one of us can penetrate [the defense]. Either of us can do that and dish off or shoot.''
Both also are outstanding soccer players. Aimee earned a place on the All-Timesland first team last year after making the second team as a freshman. That was a reversal of Allison, who made first team as a freshman and the second team last year.
Now Aimee toys with the idea of trying track rather than soccer this spring. She feels Allison is the better of the two in soccer.
Basketball, though, is the twins' first love in sports.
``We started playing that first and then started playing soccer,'' says Allison. ``I enjoy soccer a lot, but I've worked hard in basketball and want to do something with that.''
Older sister Lisa Beightol has had a lot to do with shaping the twins' careers. They started playing soccer because they watched Lisa, who was stronger in that sport. But it was Lisa's basketball that turned the twins on to that game.
``We'd go with our parents to Lisa's basketball practices. We'd see the drills they'd be doing and then Aimee and I would go home and work on those same drills,'' Allison says.
Says Aimee, ``We started playing basketball in an instructional league in second grade. The first time I touched a basketball, I loved it. Our dad [Robert Beightol, who once was a basketball manager at the University of Tennessee] coached us for a while.''
Competition with each other has never been a part of the twins' lives.
``We don't try to compete,'' Aimee says. ``We'll compete as athletes, but we're teammates, so it's more like we'll chew each other out sometimes.''
Each twin wants what is best for the other.
``It never upset me that I didn't play [as much the first two years] as she did. Aimee's an excellent player and I've never felt any hostility toward her. I've always wanted the best for her,'' Allison says. ``We can irritate each other, but we don't take it personally.''
Adds Aimee: ``We love to prop each other up, but we're never mad at each other. We're best friends. We share clothes, we share everything - but boyfriends. Our tastes in guys is different. I always like the athletic types. I'll to go up and talk to people I don't know.''
Allison differs there.
``Aimee tends to go for outgoing people, I go for quiet people. I don't talk very much. I feel comfortable around people, but I don't talk to a lot of people,'' Allison says.
Both girls agree that in their cases opposites attract. That's the reason they're so close.
They forlornly admit they probably will go to different colleges. That's in the future, though, because for the next 1 years, they'll try to lift Cave Spring to the top of the state in girls' basketball.
``A state championship is realistic,'' Aimee says. ``When I played with Kim Stewart and Amy Athey, we'd get to the state semifinals. Now our goal is to take it a step higher, and I think we have the players to do that.''
by CNB