Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 3, 1994 TAG: 9402020033
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
A brief examination of the briar patch the Cougars have traversed on the way to the promised land of a 10-3 overall and 6-0 in the Roanoke Valley District record:
The ghastly meanies - Pulaski County coach Rod Reedy decreed that his players would be sent off to the far corners of the globe (or at least as far as a couple of tanks of gas would take them) in search of the roughest, pressingest, most blood-thirsty, girl-eating opposition in creation.
"We went out looking for the best competition we could find," Reedy said.
They found it in places such as the hills of upper East Tennessee, the home of the nationally-acclaimed power at South Greene County High, who whacked the Cougars 82-58.
They found it in Northern Virginia, where famous national stronggirls from James Madison bonked them 58-46.
They found it all summer long at camps and tournaments. Among the challenges was the AAU nationals and the Junior Nationals. Creampuffs at those affairs are about as rare as a spendthrift at a bankers' convention.
"Now we see we can beat some teams like James Madison while before, we may have thought we couldn't," point guard Carrie McConnell said.
The kindergarten corps - McConnell (10 ppg., 5.2 apg., 45 percent from 3-point range), guard Kara Buckner (7 ppg., 50 percent field goal accuracy), forward Jodie Hallett (14 ppg., 6.5 rpg.), and 6-foot-2 center Kim Cruise (11 ppg., 7 rpg., 62 percent field goal accuracy) all started last year as sophomores. They were talented sophomores but they were still sophomores.
No surprise, then, that the Cougars went 13-9 and were upset in the Roanoke Valley District tournament by William Fleming.
Maturity has an impact. Any educator can tell you that there's a big difference in the way a 10th grader and an 11th grader goes about her business.
Call 911 - McConnell and Buckner have had to come back from some really gross injuries as freshmen.
McConnell, who was starting as a freshman, blew out a knee so catastrophically that she had to have it completely overhauled (a process that required several surgeries) by Dr. Frank McCue, the renowned orthopedic surgeon at the University of Virginia.
Buckner broke her arm twice as a freshman and never played in a game. The breaks were compound fractures, the hideous kind when bone emerges from skin.
Although both players were pronounced recovered, the effects of the injuries showed last year.
"I was so slow because I wasn't 100 percent," McConnell said. "I couldn't drive on offense. Defensively, I couldn't keep up with anybody. It was frustrating."
Said Buckner: "I was back, but I was kind of scared."
Now, they really are back. McConnell is playing her old freewheeling game and best of all, is playing the most effective defense of her career.
"She's really worked on her defense and that pleases us most of all," Reedy said.
Buckner is one of the best athletes in the school and now people are seeing what she can do. Whereas she was a reluctant offensive performer before, she just now starting to look for her shot, much to the delight of her coaches.
"I guess I have my confidence up now," she said. "I almost take too many shots."
A house divided - Unity, a key ingredient in successful teams, was in as short supply last year as virtue is in Las Vegas.
"We didn't get along," said Cruise, who figures to be one of the Cougars who will be a sure-fire college prospect as a senior. "We had way too many conflicts out on the floor."
Buckner put it another way.
"It just wasn't smooth."
Much has been ironed out since then.
"We worked together and talked," Cruise said.
Back from exile - Hallett has been a major force ever since she first set foot on a varsity floor. Remarkably, she's done so after missing her entire freshman season because she got herself into a discliplinary stew.
Hallett indicated that the impact of the missed season was overblown.
"I played basketball that year," she said. "I just didn't play for this team."
They're delighted to have her now.
"She's one of the most natural basketball players I've ever coached," Reedy said. "She's also one of the best if not the best offensive players I've ever coached."
Transition blues - One problem that the Cougars had a year ago was trying to find themselves an identity in the wake of the graduations of Terri Garland, Cindy Martin, and Lena Jones - the heart of teams that made back-to-back apperances in Group AAA championship game.
Cruise and McConnell played with Garland and company, but McConnell got hurt and Cruise played a relatively minor role.
Now, the juniors rule. It's their team.
Said Reedy: "These girls have the potential to equal or exheed what Garland, Martin, and Jones did."
by CNB