Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 18, 1994 TAG: 9411180115
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
So when the Indians tied Grundy in the closing minute of their Region IV girls' basketball semifinal, the Golden Wave started making its free throws.
Those crucial points allowed Grundy to re-take the lead, and it held on for a 43-41 victory.
The defeat ended the season for the Indians (12-13), the two-time defending Group AA champions. The loss also sent Blacksburg home before the state tournament for the first time since 1991 and gave the Indians their first losing season since 1987.
Grundy (18-6) clinched its first berth in the state tournament since 1979 when it beat Blacksburg for the regional crown. The Golden Wave will travel to Marion (22-1) for the first Region IV title game that will not involve a team from the New River District.
Ashley Mullins, Coty Yates and Shana Hurley made plays in the final half minute that put Grundy into - and knocked Blacksburg out of - the state tournament.
With 22 seconds left and the score tied at 39, Blacksburg forward Lisa Price fouled out trying to steal the ball from Mullins. All Mullins did was calmly step to the line and sink both ends of a one-and-one.
``I wasn't ... Well, I was nervous,'' said Mullins, a freshman who did not expect to find herself in a pressure-packed, end-of-game situation. ``But I wanted to win and that's all I was thinking about.''
Blacksburg went downcourt and set up its offense. Billie Guthrie missed a shot to re-tie the score and the Indians' Bethany Johnston came down with the rebound. But before Johnston could do anything with it, Yates stole the ball and passed it to Hurley, who was fouled with five seconds to play. She made both free throws, giving Grundy a 43-39 edge.
Johnston hit an 18-foot jumper from the left wing as time expired. But all it did was change the final score, not the outcome.
``We had our chances, the shots just didn't fall for us,'' said Mickey McGuigan, Blacksburg's coach. ``We'd get the ball [after a defensive stand], then we'd come down and miss a shot or turn it back over. It just wasn't going our way at the end.''
The Indians trailed by as many as eight points early in the fourth quarter before battling back to tie. Before Mullins' winning free throws, Grundy had scored only four points in a span of almost six minutes - a layup by Amy Stiltner and two free throws by Mullins.
Near the end of the scoring drought with the lead cut to 39-37, Stiltner twice missed the front end of a one-and-one. Blacksburg got the rebound each time and eventually pulled even.
Those misses allowed the Indians to cap a 12-4 run by taking a lead. April Rogers got the streak going by twice converting steals into fast-break layups. Johnston finished it by driving the baseline for a pair of baskets, the second of which forged the tie at 39 with 30 seconds remaining.
``We just realized that this could be our last game,'' Johnston said. ``We just had to play hard to catch them. We had to put everything into it.''
The Indians had their own troubles during the surge, committing four turnovers and missing several easy shots.
``We did some dumb things [down the stretch],'' said Leslie Boyd, Grundy's coach. ``But the defense did it for us. The girls wanted to go to state. They were determined.''
Stiltner, one of three 6-footers in the Golden Wave's starting lineup, had a game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds. She scored eight of those points in the second period as Grundy overcame an early deficit to lead by as many as seven points in the first half.
``I was just making cuts and rolls toward the basket,'' said Stiltner, who practiced her free-throw shooting after the victory. ``And the back-door [cut] was there, too.''
Johnston and Rogers each finished with nine points for Blacksburg.
Keywords:
BASKETBALL
by CNB