Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 2, 1994 TAG: 9411020094
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Crystal Moles scored the points, Maureen Jackson controlled the boards and the Blue Demons downed Blacksburg 49-41 in a New River District girls' basketball game.
The victory clinched at least a second-place finish in the league for Christiansburg (10-9 overall, 2-2 New River). The chief beneficiary, however, was idle Carroll County (14-6, 2-1). The Cavaliers can win their first district title by beating Blacksburg (8-12, 1-2) in Hillsville on Thursday night. If Blacksburg wins, all three teams will finish tied for the regular-season title in the district.
Christiansburg was clinging to a 37-36 lead early in the fourth quarter against Blacksburg. So Jackson, a 5-foot-11 senior, moved outside. She found Moles, a 6-foot junior, under the basket. And Moles took the ball to the hoop and scored. With a little less than seven minutes left, the Blue Demons led 39-36. The Indians never trailed by fewer than three points the rest of the game.
``I was pushing and shoving as much as I could,'' said Moles, who also had seven rebounds despite spending some time on the bench with foul trouble. ``It was rough in there. I could feel them all over my back. I just tried to get inside and make up for the time I wasn't in there.''
Moles scored 11 of her game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter as Christiansburg pulled away. Most of those points came on passes from Jackson in an offense the two improvised during the game to counteract Blacksburg's man-to-man defense.
Meanwhile, when the ball wasn't going in the basket, it usually ended up in the hands of Jackson. She had five of her game-high 11 boards in the fourth quarter. Her total included a pair of key offensive rebounds with five minutes left and Christiansburg leading 41-38. Jackson also had two defensive rebounds in the last 11/2 minutes as the Indians were forced to take 3-point shots trailing 47-41.
``I don't know. ... In the fourth quarter, I really wasn't doing anything differently,'' said Jackson, who also scored 13 points. ``I just knew we had to have the rebounds. That's what I'm in there for - to rebound.''
Defensively, the Demons' controlled the tempo and kept Blacksburg off-balance by switching between 2-3 and 1-3-1 zones.
``I don't remember us having a good fast-break basket,'' said Mickey McGuigan, the Indians' coach. ``We weren't in sync at all.''
Bethany Johnston led Blacksburg with 11 points and seven rebounds.
see microfilm for box score
by CNB