ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996 TAG: 9601210004
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
THE CAVE SPRING GIRLS survive a tough district battle with the Colonels.
Defensive basketball can be messy, dirty and leave you with bruises all over. And it isn't always pleasant to watch.
Not that the girls' teams from Cave Spring and William Fleming minded Friday night.
They bumped and banged for 32 minutes at Fleming in a battle for second place in the Roanoke Valley District.
Cave Spring's scars are likely to heal more quickly. The Knights came away with a 34-28 victory for their trouble.
Cave Spring improved its record to 7-3 overall and 4-1 in the district to move into second place behind Pulaski County. The Colonels fell to 8-4 and 3-2, dropping to third in the league.
``It was a defensive struggle,'' said Linda Long, the Knights' coach. ``Our teams set offense back 35 years. Usually, when you hold a team to less than 30 points, you win by 30, but that's not going to be our case.
``We're the type of team that depends a lot on our defense. We don't put a lot of points on the board.''
Cave Spring certainly didn't in the first half, with 15 points, but neither did William Fleming, which had 18. The reasons were many; mainly, the Knights had 12 first-half turnovers and the Colonels eight. They finished with 24 and 20, respectively.
``We could have dug a hole we couldn't have gotten out of, but our defense didn't allow us to get in a big hole,'' Long said.
When it looked as if William Fleming was about to bury the Knights by taking a 14-6 lead with 5:29 to go in the first half, it was Cave Spring guard Kristen Smith who dug her team back out of the hole.
Smith passed to Jaclyn Banks behind the defense for two points. Then, after a missed shot by the Colonels, Smith took a nice lead pass and put it in for a layup while being fouled. After she sank the free throw, it was 14-11 and the Knights still were in the game.
``That was very important,'' Smith said. ``We needed to push the ball down the court. We're a good front-running team.''
After the intermission, Cave Spring kept the clamps on the Colonels. William Fleming had seven misses and two turnovers before Shaunarey Walker gave her team its first points of the second half with almost five minutes elapsed.
The Colonels scored six points in the third quarter and four in the fourth.
``Early on I thought we played pretty good defense, and then we relaxed and didn't do a lot of anything,'' said Roland Lovelace, William Fleming's coach.
Banks, who like everyone else was missing most of her shots, settled in during the second half and led all scorers with 13 points. Smith added nine. Renita Walker led the Colonels with 12.
CAVE SPRING (34)
Banks 4 5-8 13, Causey 1 0-0 2, Rhodes 4 0-3 8, Smith 3 3-3 9, Bryan 0 1-3 1. Totals 12 9-17 34.
WILLIAM FLEMING (28)
S.Walker 3 3-3 9, Lawrence 0 1-2 1, Trent 1 2-2 4, R.Walker 5 2-2 12, Barber 0 0-2 0, Ellis 1 0-0 2. Totals 10 8-11 28.
Cave Spring -4--11--11--8-34
William Fleming 10--8---6--4-28
LENGTH: Medium: 69 linesby CNB