ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 25, 1996 TAG: 9608270015
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
IN THE PAST 20 YEARS, the girls' basketball state champion more often than not has come from this area.
The era of Timesland dominance in Group AA girls' basketball started with Mary Parks and Warren Murphy when the two coaches guided their teams to state titles.
Parks' Drewry Mason team won the 1977 crown, and the next year Murphy's Blacksburg team claimed the championship.
These two state titles followed a visit by Radford to the 1976 state title game, where the Bobcats lost to Culpeper County 53-34. That trip by Radford was a hint of what has become 20 years of domination in which Timesland schools have won 12 state titles, including four each by Blacksburg and Radford.
In the past 12 years, 14 of the 24 teams in the finals have been from Timesland. On five occasions in that span, both teams have been from Timesland. Timesland teams have claimed nine of the past 14 Group AA championships. In no other sport have teams from this part of the state held such an upper hand.
Murphy's first Blacksburg squad never made it out of the region. The next year, with most of the players returning, Murphy had the first of two state championship teams he coached.
``Never in my wildest dreams did I think we'd win the state the next year,'' said Murphy, now the athletic director at Blacksburg.
``I remember talking to [Virginia Tech women's coach] Carol Alfano, who had seen some of the other teams in the state. She thought we could play with them. I didn't know if we would be strong enough at that time.''
Murphy had most of his players back from his 1977 semifinal team. He got a bonus when Jeff Schneider signed to play men's basketball at Tech and his father, Bob Schneider, was hired as a part-time assistant.
``Then we got Scarlett Schneider [Jeff's sister]. She was the missing piece to the puzzle,'' Murphy said.
Mary Copenhaver was a successful coach at George Washington Carver outside Martinsville, where her team was a rival to Parks' Drewry Mason team. Copenhaver didn't win a state title until her 1989 George Wythe team sandwiched one between two by Radford before both schools dropped to the Group A ranks.
``Until Mary won at Drewry Mason, I had never been exposed to a state championship and never dreamed a team of mine could be that successful,'' Copenhaver said. ``When she won, it made me realize if you work hard enough and have the athletes you can win. That was the light bulb coming on.''
Brenda King, who took Radford to the last of four Group AA titles, listened to Tara VanDerveer, the coach of the United States women's Olympic team, at a clinic and got the same feeling.
``She said when she first went to coach at Stanford from Ohio State, she was talking to a women's coach who had won an NCAA title in another sport. She saw that trophy and thought, `This is a normal human being. If she can win a national championship, why can't I?' If you think about it, state championships are like a top of the mountain experience. They look so far away until you know someone who has attained it.''
There have been some dominant powers from Timesland. Blacksburg, after Murphy left, won back-to-back state crowns under Mickey McGuigan.
William Byrd, always a power, won the 1980 championship under Patsy Simmons Dickerson. She retired, turning the program over to Richard Thrasher in 1984, and he has had three state finalists without winning a title.
Salem coach Dee Wright, considered one of the state's best, won a state title when she subbed for Chris Garber at Radford, who had taken a leave of absence. At Salem, Wright has had teams in the state, but no title winner.
Garber won the 1983 crown at Radford before leaving the school. When she returned, there were no more state titles, but Garber has moved to Handley, coaching girls' tennis, her specialty, where she won the 1995 Group AA championship.
Martinsville's Carla Giles has had three finalists, but no title. The Bulldogs, like Byrd, have been to the championship game three times in 20 years.
The new team in Group AA power ratings is Lord Botetourt. The Cavaliers won the title last year for coach David Wheat and return all but one player. They are Timesland's best bet for continuing state dominance.
So what are the reasons for this? Timesland football and boys' basketball teams do well, but they don't dominate other sections of the state. Christiansburg and Blacksburg have done well in Group AA cross country and track, but those are just two schools instead of a whole section.
There's no doubt that fall girls' basketball is a Timesland speciality, even among Group A teams. They don't dominate as the Group AA schools do, but in the same 20 years, Timesland has claimed four state titles and eight runner-up teams including three by Copenhaver at Wythe and Carver, which dropped from the Group AA ranks before closing, and two state titles and one second-place finish for Alan Cantrell at Floyd County.
Wheat says one of the keys for his club was seeing the success at other schools in the area. ``If you see a strong program in one community, you set your goals to be as strong as other teams in your region. It raises the standard of your performance.''
Dickerson, who married and moved to Rockbridge County a year after her success as Byrd's coach, has watched the development of Timesland girls' basketball.
``Our team had been playing together since they were in elementary school. It was mostly in recreation basketball. The Vinton area had a strong recreation program,'' said Dickerson.
Times were different then, because teams didn't have programs that were as extensive in the summer as they are now and there was no AAU basketball giving players of all ages the chance to continue the sport past the regular season.
``We didn't have any organized [summer] programs once they got to high school. We went to camps. Then, too, there were some very good [high school] coaches like [Susan] Dunagan [now head coach at Roanoke College] and [Lynne] Agee [head coach at UNC Greensboro].''
Thrasher says players work hard the whole year and start younger. ``We've run through a good cycle [at Byrd] for a long time. We're a little ahead of other places, but I see other sections getting better,'' he added.
``Of course, competition helps you get better. Our [Blue Ridge] district year in and year out has been very competitive. Then we always try and play as tough a schedule as possible.''
Wright, who had good teams at Group A Luray before coming to Radford and Salem, says middle schools have been good feeders and that a lot of coaches, such as McGuigan, and even herself at one time, taught at those schools.
``That gave us a closer contact [with the younger players],'' said Wright, who now teaches at the high school.
McGuigan admits his teams have been blessed with good players. ``In 1983, Murphy and I started a camp to keep the kids interested. We had 23 girls. The last five years we've had a full camp of 60 girls of all ages,'' the Blacksburg coach said.
Bassett coach Lisa Black, who has had teams in the state but never the finals, says, ``Rural areas like Radford and Southwest Virginia probably don't have the distractions [of] bigger cities and the more populated areas. I found [when playing] athletes at Radford, that basketball was their life. They grew up learning basketball. That was their love. Where I am now, the kids work and want cars. [Basketball] is not their life.''
In the final analysis, a coach must have material or all the AAU programs, love of basketball and what have you won't matter.
``I call it magic,'' Copenhaver said. ``You have to have a certain amount of talent, a little bit of luck and the kids have to gel in a certain fashion.
``They say you make your own luck. But I remember when we played a [tournament] game at Floyd County. We led with eight seconds to go and our best free-throw shooter at the line. She missed, the ball bounced out to a Floyd County girl, who started a fast break. They scored and hit a free throw to beat us.''
``I think we'll continue to dominate,'' McGuigan predicted. ``This end of the state, Roanoke area extended, because it's a really important sport to the girls. There are a lot of kids interested in playing and they'll continue to play.''
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