Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410070037
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWIGHT FOXX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DALEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Salem's Shellie Johnson can hurt a basketball team in many ways.
Lord Botetourt found out firsthand on Thursday night.
The junior scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds to pace the Spartans to a 63-56 victory in a Blue Ridge District girls' matchup.
Despite Johnson's early heroics, the Spartans only led the Cavaliers by two points, 42-40, entering the final period.
Johnson made the biggest play of the game at the 5-minute, 43-second mark. Teammate Mandy Williams had just drilled a jumper from 15 feet to give Salem a 49-43 lead. The Spartans (7-3 overall, 2-0 in the district) went into a full-court press after the basket, and Lord Botetourt guard Katrina Elliott tried to throw the ball over the Salem press.
Enter Johnson. She jumped up, knocked the ball in the air, caught it and went in for an uncontested layup to stretch her team's advantage to eight, 51-43. Lord Botetourt (7-5, 0-2) never recovered.
``I try to make them go one way,'' Johnson said. ``I want them [the passers] to think they have an opening when they really don't.''
Salem didn't have many points off turnovers, but it used the press at key moments to keep Lord Botetourt at bay. The Spartans took their first lead at the end of the first quarter, thanks to a short jumper by Johnson, and never relinquished it.
``When they took [Sara] Moore and [Sarah] Hicks out, we thought we could press them,'' said Dee Wright, Salem's coach. ``I probably shouldn't say that.''
Lord Botetourt's outstanding sophomores were two of four Cavaliers to foul out. Elliott and Marisa Michalski were the others.
``When No.12, Michalski, fouled out, that hurt us,'' said David Wheat, the Cavaliers' coach. ``She was doing a good job on Johnson.''
Michalski was guarding Johnson in a box-and-one defense in the third quarter and didn't allow her to score after she had scorched the Cavaliers' defense for 17 first-half points, including 10 in the opening period.
``I penetrated and ran off my screens,'' Johnson said of her offensive success. ``The lane was wide-open. They started playing man[-to-man] on me in the second half.''
What won't show up on the statistical sheet is the junior's penetration that allowed her teammates to score some easy baskets on the weak side when a Lord Botetourt defender would rotate over to try to stop her from making an easy layup. Sometimes it stopped Johnson, but it left the likes of Williams, Tina Slate and Marilyn Huang in position to score on offensive rebounds.
``They got a lot of follow-up shots at critical junctures,'' Wheat said. ``When we got into foul trouble, we lost whatever rebounding we had.''
Johnson's supporting cast also came up big three times in the second half after Lord Botetourt cut its deficit to two, 42-40. Angie Bryson, Tina Slate and Kristy Kennedy hit wide-open jump shots at crucial times.
``When they were playing man on me, they [her teammates] were scoring and that was a big lift,'' the forward said.
Wright was happy to be 2-0 in the district, but she was even more pleased to see some of her players step up when Johnson drew more of Lord Botetourt's defensive attention in the second half.
``We have been inconsistent,'' she said. ``We have stressed to the kids to be consistent and execute. I told them they have to step it up when teams do that [play a box-and-one on Johnson]. And they did that tonight.''
Salem (63)
Parker 5, Bryson 6, Johnson 24, Williams 7, Kennedy 2, Driscoll 2, Slate 10, Huang 7.
Lord Botetourt (56)
Hicks 13, Moore 15, Dudley 2, Michalski 6, Jones 3, Plunkett 12, Snodgrass 5.
Salem 16--21---5--21-63
Lord Botetourt 14--15--11--16-56
Three-point goals: Moore 2, Plunkett 2.
JV: Salem, 28-20.
by CNB