Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 26, 1995                   TAG: 9503100017
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DWIGHT FOXX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

YOUNG STARS MAKE VALLEY CHRISTIAN'S FUTURE BRIGHT

Dixon was forced to bring up three starters off a 13-1 jayvee team that won the Blue Ridge conference last year. It would be hard to be optimistic when the three players he brought up are not even in the ninth grade.

But eighth-graders Gina Guthrie, Rebecca Lockhart and Rebecca Bryant are three reasons the Eagles are off to a 10-2 start. Not only do the three start, but they also have Dixon cautiously upbeat about the present and the future. Dixon also starts two freshmen - Amy Rumbley and Nia Douglas.

"It kind of makes you feel good because you know they're going to get better," Dixon says. "The future looks good as long as they keep their head straight."

Dixon says Guthrie, who is the leader of the group, would have been playing on the varsity team regardless of who had come out for the team. The eighth-grade point guard is already a very good point guard who makes good decisions during the course of a contest. Dixon says she's the reason the team has been able to pull away from teams at the end of games.

"She has a lot of AAU experience," says Dixon. "She averaged 15 points per game on the jayvee team last year, playing half the time. I knew she had the basketball skills and the mental toughness to play on the varsity level."

Guthrie led her AAU team to the state championship for 12-and-under girls last summer, and the team finished 11th among 72 teams in the National Tournament in New Orleans. As an 11-year-old, she led that group to a state title and a berth in the national tournament.

She is the team's leading scorer at 15.5 points per game.

"With the experience she's had playing AAU, you don't rattle her," says Dixon, in his ninth year as the head coach. "She's a college prospect; someone is going to get a good ballplayer one day. She's a natural leader; she sees the court and gets people the ball in position to score. As she gets stronger and more experience, she's going to be a tough lady to deal with."

Guthrie credits a lot of her development as a point guard to AAU coach Randy Hale. This summer will be her fourth year in the AAU program.

"He's a really good coach," says Guthrie. "He'll tell you when you do something wrong, but it helps though."

Lockhart and Bryant don't have Guthrie's AAU experience but Dixon says they have really come on and he expects both to continue to get better.

"Lockhart is our shooting guard and has a really good shot," he says. "She can hit the three like bang-bang-bang. She's probably the strongest player we have as far as arm strength. Bryant has a nice, soft touch, and she is quick for her size. She's going to be a dominant player if she goes to camps and such to help her get better."

The three say it is exciting that Dixon asked them to come up to the varsity level and an opportunity to meet a challenge.

"I thought it would be good to tell you the truth and it has," says Bryant, the team's starting power forward.

The players admit that trying to defeat Lynchburg Christian for the Blue Ridge Conference title will be tough. They are not intimidated by Lynchburg Christian; they just know that it has a good team. Lynchburg handed Roanoke Valley Christian one of its two losses.

"We'll win the conference one of these years," says Lockhart. "We won it on the jayvees last year."

Their coach believes that this group of three eighth-graders has a chance to be part of his best team ever. With three ninth-graders and a good group of jayvee players as well, Dixon predicts that the group will be better than the 21-3 team he had a few years ago.

"They (the three eighth-graders) all are very quick and see the court very well," says Dixon. "They understand the game better than some of the older kids we've had here in the past. This group [team] gets along well. They don't care who scores just as long as 'we' score. We've had problems with that in the past. The 21-3 team got along really well and didn't care who scored. This group is the same way."

But coach? Three eighth-graders on the varsity?

"A few years ago, the Blue Ridge Conference put in an amendment to let eighth-graders play. I never expected us to use it."

But, he's glad he did.