Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 12, 1995 TAG: 9503130092
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAYFIELD LENGTH: Medium
Then Katie Smrcka-Duffy found her long-range shooting touch, and the Cougars found themselves out of luck.
The Warhawks eliminated Pulaski County 69-49 in the quarterfinals of the Group AAA high school girls' basketball tournament at Hayfield High School.
James Madison (28-1) - the top team in the Washington area and ranked 16th nationally - will continue its quest for a third state title in five years against Hampton in Thursday's semifinals at Liberty University in Lynchburg.
The Cougars (21-5) saw their season end with a loss in the state tournament for the third time in five years.
Smrcka-Duffy was 4-of-18 on field-goal attempts in the first half, but Madison still took a 37-29 halftime lead. She went 4-for-6 in the third quarter, and the lead was 57-37 by the period's end.
``The shots were close, they were just bouncing off,'' said Smrcka-Duffy, who scored a game-high 28 points despite battling bronchitis as well as the Cougars' defense. ``We knew they would start falling, so we weren't worried about it. We're a good shooting team. And when we go through a streak where we miss, we know we're going to go through a streak where we start hitting.''
A streak like the one in the second half where Madison hit half of its shots after making only a third of them in the first two periods. The transformation left the Cougars searching for words.
``They just played hard, I guess,'' said senior center Kim Cruise, who led Pulaski County with 14 points.
It left Pulaski County coach Rod Reedy searching for answers.
``We had three goals coming into this game,'' said Reedy, whose team has fallen to Madison in tournaments four times in the last five seasons. ``One was to handle the pressure. Two was to go to the hole on offense. And three was to try and shut down [Smrcka-Duffy].
``I felt like we did a good job overall of handling the pressure. I thought we did a good job of going inside to Kim early. But there wasn't anything we could with [Smrcka-Duffy]. She had a lot to do with that - she wouldn't let us stop her. Fine scorers can do that to you.''
The Cougars stayed in the game in the first half because they got consistant production from Jodie Hallett, their top scorer.
Hallett had nine points in the first period on three 3-pointers. In the second quarter, she had two straight layups that enabled Pulaski County to stay close.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
by CNB