ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 13, 1996 TAG: 9609130162
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-9 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: NARROWS
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
Just about everybody on the Narrows High School girls' basketball team went to great lengths to conceal from each other that senior Suzanne Webb was 18 points shy of 1,000 going into Thursday night's game with Shawsville.
``We were all whispering to each other before the game, because we weren't sure if Suzanne knew or not,'' point guard Bud Lucas said.
``And I didn't want to say anything because I thought that none of them knew,'' Webb said.
Even though they were operating under false assumptions, the players had the best intentions. No point in letting the attainment of a milestone interfere with more pressing issues, such as winning a basketball game.
In the end, the home audience at the Green Wave's gym got both as Narrows beat Shawsville 62-48 and Webb scored her 1,000th point and added a couple to that total.
Webb became the seventh Narrows basketball player and the second girls' player to score 1,000 points. She earned high stylistic marks for swishing a 3-pointer - the only one she attempted all night - with 5 minutes, 17 seconds left in the game to pass the mark. She smiled broadly as the game was stopped and pictures taken, then flashed a thumbs-up to her parents in the grandstands before returning to business.
``It couldn't have happened any better,'' she said. ``Nothing but the bottom of the net. I'm glad it's over.''
Webb finished with 20 points and never played as though she had anything on her mind.
``I didn't want to get nervous because I knew if I got nervous, it would have affected my game and that would have affected the team,'' Webb said.
The game made for good entertainment, too. After Shawsville beat the Wave 60-55 last week, everybody knew the teams were relatively even.
Narrows continued with its usual game, which amounts to Lucas running a tight offense from the point and looking for Webb and others when they pop open.
That formula worked well until Shawsville rallied from 11 points down and took the lead on a Megan Forster 3-pointer. Forster played well for Shawsville (4-2), scoring 16 points before leaving the game with a twisted knee late in the second half.
``She walked out of here,'' said Tracy Poff, the Shawnees' coach. ``I think she's going to be all right.''
Once Shawsville started showing signs of life, Narrows coach Todd Lusk called a time out to remind his players of some things.
``We weren't getting back on defense,'' he said. ``They weren't scoring that well against our half-court defense, but they kept beating us down'' the floor.
Once Narrows settled back down behind Lucas and Webb, the Green Wave cruised. Lucas had a career-high 28 points.
``I was upset with the way we were playing,'' Lucas said. ``We'd call a play then run around like we were crazy.''
The Shawnees (4-2) lost their second consecutive game even as Sarah Hagood was scoring 16 and Beth Burdette 12.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 linesby CNB