ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 1, 1996 TAG: 9603010082
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
Maybe the reason Pulaski County's Katrina Williams wasn't quaking in her hightops each time she was asked to make the big play down the stretch for the Cougars was because she's just not old enough to know better.
In basketball time, she aged years Thursday night by repeatedly scoring gargantuan baskets in Pulaski County's 63-62 victory over C.D. Hylton in a Northwest Region semifinal.
A win that sent the Cougars to the region championship and secured their fourth Group AAA tournament berth in six years wasn't completed until Williams, an icebucket-cool 14-year-old, scored nine fourth-quarter points and Robyn Bower calmly made two clutch free throws with 23 seconds left.
``In an important game like this, you don't want to be afraid,'' said Williams.
Fearlessly, she scored nine of her game-high 25 points in the game's final 6:51 as the Cougars spread their offense to let her take the ball to the hoop.
``When she matures physically, she'll be unstoppable,'' said Mark Kozlowski, Hylton's coach.
She was darn near that Thursday. Williams kept applying the stiff-arm for Pulaski County (18-6), which avenged a 62-55 loss to Hylton on Dec.28 during a holiday tournament in Northern Virginia.
Each time the Bulldogs cut their deficit to a point or two, Williams went to work, usually on drives to the basket. Her baseline drive made it 54-49 with 4:42 left, then she converted a three-point play after Hylton had pulled to 54-53.
When the Bulldogs closed to 59-57 on a short jumper from Kristen Shaffer, Williams penetrated out of the Cougars' spread offense again and scored from the baseline with 1:29 to play.
``I got some major picks from the post players,'' Williams said.
Just the way coach Buddy Farris drew it up.
``That was designed tonight, to take the ball to the basket,'' said Pulaski County's first-year coach. ``Katrina and Lisa [Skeens] are both good at that. We knew if we got it spread out, they could take 'em one-on-one.''
But Hylton (16-4) wouldn't go easily. Shaffer, who finished with 20 points, hit a layup with 30 seconds left to make it 61-59. Bower made her free throws with 23 seconds left, then the Bulldogs made a last push.
With 10 seconds left, Hylton's Marissa Ball made the first free throw of a one-and-one. Teammate Jackie Smith's follow was partially blocked, but Nikki Blakemore gathered the miss and scored with six seconds left to make it 63-62.
The Bulldogs called a timeout, but couldn't foul Skeens - who got a long inbound pass - before the horn sounded.
``We always fought back,'' Kozlowski said.
The Bulldogs led by eight points in the first half, but the Cougars went on a 13-4 run to take a 36-34 halftime lead. Hylton grabbed a 42-41 lead in the third, before Williams dropped in the last of her three 3-pointers to give the Cougars the lead for good.
Skeens slashed and burned her way to 13 points, as the Cougars' guards won the battle against the bigger Bulldogs, who featured an inside tandem of 6-footers in Smith and Blakemore.
Part of that credit goes to 5-foot-8 Mandy Sexton, who gave up nearly 4 inches to Hylton's Smith, but kept her in check. Smith, who scored 31 in the teams' first meeting of the season, was held to 12.
``They ran a box-and-one [defense], doubled down, did a lot of things,'' Kozlowski said. ``Surprisingly, we haven't seen that this year, but we knew we'd see it tonight.''
When she wasn't chasing the Furman-bound Smith, Sexton grabbed a team-high eight rebounds to cap her night of doing the dirty work.
``Mandy is a 5-8 bundle of dynamite,'' Farris said. ``She's got a heart bigger than a mountain, I reckon.''
Hylton, which has three players headed to Division I schools next season on scholarships, actually had more field goals than the Cougars (27-18), but Pulaski County made 23 of 29 free throws while the Bulldogs were 7-for-15.
``That was because of our guards,'' Farris said. ``They controlled the game, especially on offense.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 linesby CNB