Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 3, 1994 TAG: 9412230020
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Buffaloes, who hope to parlay a second consecutive Group A girls' state basketball championship into a record-tying 56 victories in a row, escaped a major scare in Friday's semifinals at the Salem Civic Center.
Quick Fluvanna County shook up Floyd County with its press and the Buffaloes had to pull away in the final minutes for a 56-42 victory. That sets up a rematch of last year's championship game with Buffalo Gap, which also had a tough time before downing Rye Cove 48-44. The teams meet today at 1 p.m. at the Salem Civic Center.
If there was a turning point for Floyd County (28-0), it came when Fluvanna County's Brandii Valentine had an open 10-footer with just more than five minutes left that could have cut a Buffalo lead to five points.
The Flucos' senior twitched, missed and the ball rolled over the other side of the rim. The Buffaloes then outscored Fluvanna County 9-2 by canning 7 of 10 free throws before the Flucos' Laura Harman hit a field goal as time was running out.
``We didn't play a good game. It was all just nerves,'' Floyd County guard Melissa Cantrell said.
The Fluvanna County press had a lot to do with it as the Flucos (21-6) forced 24 turnovers. That was two fewer than Fluvanna County, but it meant that Floyd County's press didn't make a big difference as it has in so many games.
``I don't want to take anything from Fluvanna County,'' Floyd County coach Alan Cantrell said. ``For us to not do some things that we usually do, and win, says a lot about our team.
``It looked like we were playing not to lose. This was winning ugly, but hey, we're playing for the state championship.''
Floyd County trailed only once in the first half, 16-15, and led 32-24 at halftime. The third quarter was pivotal.
First, Fluvanna County's Emily Brown was called for a technical foul with the Buffaloes up only 34-26.
Floyd County's Leigh-Ann Pursifull hit two free throws that continued an 11-0 run, giving the Buffaloes their biggest lead, 43-26.
It was misleading. Floyd had made the run without 6-foot center Carrie Chaffin, who was on the bench with four personal fouls. Fluvanna's press took over and the Flucos stormed back until the rally ran out of steam on Valentine's miss.
``In the second half, we executed the press a little better,'' Fluvanna coach Terry Lintecum said. ``We sort of directed them to the basket and extended the press to dictate where they would go.
``You can't ask for any more. We had our opportunities. We wanted to take it to Chaffin and get her in foul trouble. At first we didn't do a good job getting the ball into our post players when we did get her out of the game.''
Floyd had the advantage at the half, thanks in large part to Pursifull. On one series she threw a pass inside to set up a Chaffin field goal. Then she stole the ball and made a layup. Finally, she fed a pass to Harman that led to two free throws by the Buffaloes' forward for a 26-16 lead.
``We'll hit a streak like that every once in a while,'' Pursifull said. ``When we do, good things happen. So we try to get another one going so more good things happen.''
The Floyd County point guard, though, knew there weren't enough good streaks.
``Fluvanna was definitely one of the quickest teams we've played,'' she said. ``But we were tentative with the ball. By the time we passed it, we had given their defense time to step up and steal the ball.''
In the opener, Rye Cove (20-7) pulled to within 43-42 on Kelly Smith's 3-pointer with just less than a minute left.
After Buffalo Gap's Leslie Wolfe hit a free throw, the Eagles' Lori Head, with a chance to tie, missed a one-and-one free throw. Sarah McNett then hit two free throws with 30 seconds remaining, putting the Bison (23-5) into the championship game.
\ see microfilm for box score
by CNB