ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220008
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
Katrina Williams, Dorian Hendricks, and Justin Peek are friendly, presentable young people who are popular with peers and teachers alike.
Yet certain people may hope never to see any of the three of them again, at least as long as they have a basketball in their hands.
Alert to the un-well wishers: Better become accustomed to these three prodigies from Pulaski County High. They're going to be around for a long time. A very long time, by varsity basketball standards.
All three of them are just freshmen.
But what freshmen. At any high school, anywhere, a freshman making a varsity team is a major development. At a Group AAA school such as Pulaski County, it is almost unheard of.
So what do we make of three freshmen making two different varsity teams at the same high school?
At Pulaski County, they're making space in the varsity locker room. In the case of Williams and Hendricks (and for a while, Peek as well), they're making a place for them in the starting lineup too.
This is difficult for some people to accept.
Pat Burns, the Pulaski County boys' coach, was chatting recently with Mike Franklin, one of Patrick Henry's coaches, and Franklin asked about Hendricks.
``He's just a freshman,'' Burns said.
``Just a freshman?'' Franklin said. ``Oh no. Can't be.''
As far as Burns is concerned, the novelty has long since worn off with the 6-foot-3 Hendricks.
``He's not just good for a freshman,'' Burns said. ``He's good period.''
The same case can made for the other two as well. Take Williams.
That's what Pulaski County girls coach Buddy Farris did. Without hesitation.
``We knew she'd be able to help us,'' he said.
One indication was her performance on the Dublin Middle School team Farris coached prior to his arrival at the high school. While the Dukes were going 49-2 over two years, Williams was rearranging the school's record books.
``Terri Garland played for me at Dublin and she was a great, great player, but overall, Katrina is the best player we had at Dublin.''
Garland went on to twice lead the high school team to the AA state tournament and is now finishing up a four-year career at Virginia Tech.
They were comparing Peek, a 5-foot-5 guard, to a talented player who preceded him, too. They call him ``Pistol'' Peek for more reasons than a quick draw on his jump shot.
``He can shoot it, handle it, and pass it,'' Burns said. ``And he works as hard as anybody we have.''
All that work has given him a wealth of confidence. Especially when it comes to taking on his first coach, his father.
``He's helped me a lot, but I can take him any time,'' the younger Peek said. ``He doesn't want to believe it, but it's true.''
Burns believed what he was seeing from the start with Hendricks and Peek because their reputations had preceded them. Word of Hendricks started arriving when Andre Eaves, a former Cougars quarterback who graduated last year, brought back reports from his neighborhood of a kid who worked day and night on his game in even the harshest weather conditions.
That, and he could dunk.
``The sky's the limit with this kid,'' Burns said.
For now, Hendricks is second on the team in scoring (12 ppg), first in shooting percentage (and third in Timesland) with a 62.8 accuracy rate, and second on the teams in assists, steals, and rebounds. He has had four games this year in which he recorded double figures in rebounds and points.
``I've had a lot of seniors who haven't had one of those for his whole career,'' Burns said.
Hendricks has played post and wing for the Cougars because of his size. Burns thinks he could play guard at the collegiate level, assuming that he doesn't grow any more, which isn't exactly a sound assumption.
Williams has had as much impact as any of them. She's leading Timesland in scoring (16.9 ppg), free throw shooting (84.7) and 3-point shooting (33.6 percent, 37 made).
Burns doesn't coach girls any more, but he used to.
``Katrina is the closest thing I've seen to Meg Turner, who I coached at George Wythe,'' he said. ``Meg scored 2,202 points and had over 1,000 rebounds. She could have scored 4,000. We were beating people so bad that she rarely played more than a half. She went on to a full scholarship at Vanderbilt.''
Williams has her sights set another Tennessee school, the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Meanwhile, she's enjoying her high school days.
``I thought I might get some gripes from other players because I was a freshman, but they've been great,'' she said. ``They've been there all along for me.''
Peek echoed those sentiments.
``The positives of being on the varsity have far outweighed the negatives,'' he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Justin Peek (front), Katrina Williams and Dorianby CNBHendricks (top) are freshman players on the Pulaski County High
School varsity basketball teams. color RAY COX/STAFF