ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270033
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
TYPE: COMMENTARY
SOURCE: RAY COX
At first viewing, the renewal of the Blacksburg High-Christiansburg High girls basketball rivalry this week was very much like the countless clashes between these two that have come before.
The same overdose of gold, white and blue.
The visiting Indians were wearing their rich blue uniforms with the gold and white in the trim. The Blue Demons were attired in sparkling white accented with indigo and yellow.
The same climate.
Pick your iceberg: Christiansburg's gym or Blacksburg's. Even during temperate times (the outside weather was lovely, even at 9:30 one night earlier this week), bring your goose down parka, mittens and insulated boots. The air conditioning at Christiansburg kicked in helpfully any time the young ladies on the floor showed so much as the first glow of perspiration. It wasn't so bad, though. One of these days during boys basketball season, they're going to catch somebody trying to ward off the chill by piling up scraps from shop class for a courtside bonfire. At Blacksburg, you never have to worry about finding the flag when the national anthem begins its recorded rendition. Old Glory will be flapping in the gale from the leaky doors on the floor below.
The same coaches.
Bespectacled Mickey McGuigan of Blacksburg looked studious as usual. All he needed was an elbow-patched tweed sports coat and a pipe to complete the snapshot. Christiansburg's Danny Knott stood arms crossed, looking faintly irritated when events went against his girls. Knott's closely cropped haircut gives him the look of a state policemen who has just heard a preposterous explanation from a subject (for those of you who don't watch ``Cops,'' that's police lingo for ``the guy who done it'') on why he was going 91 mph in a 65 zone.
Which brings to mind one such individual, a well turned-out young lady, who was once summoned before the bar in Roanoke County General District Court to explain why she had been apprehended while driving 115 in a 65 zone.
``Judge, I have a new [very fast, Japanese-made rocket with two doors and four wheels] and I guess I wasn't aware how fast it would go,'' said she, the very portrait of contrition.
``How long have you had that car?'' the judge wanted to know.
``About three weeks,'' he was informed.
``Young lady, I think three weeks is adequate time to learn the capabilities of one's automobile. Guilty.''
A cautionary tale, to be sure, but one seemingly far removed from the true subject of this humble essay. Even so, it is always helpful to be reminded that speed kills. In fact, that is precisely what Knott has been telling the Blue Demons girls all year.
``We don't want to get into a running game where it's all transition,'' said Knott of the Demons' standard game plan. ``We'll run when the opportunity presents itself, but we want to be the ones who are setting the pace.''
That's pretty much how Christiansburg handled Blacksburg 48-38 that night, a third quarter retreat to cluelessness notwithstanding. When Christiansburg played its game, which mainly consists of guards Stewart Milton and Amber Reed looking inside to post player Lisa Dalton first and seeking other scoring opportunities next, the Demons were the better of the two teams.
For now at least.
As much as seemed familiar the other night, this one had the element of the new and fresh in it because the teams were playing for the first time under the auspices of the Blue Ridge District. Just how the newcomers from Montgomery County react to a lengthy campaign in the roughest and toughest Group AA league in the whole state should be very interesting indeed.
Blacksburg, you can't quite figure out. With an inside game fashioned around the athletic trio of Andrea Feret, Karly Geller and Natalie Mutsipaugh, a solid floor general such as Kelly Houghton, and a deadeye quick-draw jump shooter like Casey Beamer, this doesn't really have the look of a team capable of losing seven of its first 10 and all three in the Blue Ridge.
Maybe that's why McGuigan has the uncomfortable look of a man with an inconveniently placed pebble in his loafers.
He pointed out how each of his outfit's three district losses had started with the Indians in a big deficit followed by a courageous comeback that left the girls a little too exhausted to finish the job off. He also observed that it wasn't the first time Christiansburg had beaten the Indians, Blacksburg's historically more illustrious legacy in the sport notwithstanding.
``They won the New River District in 1986,'' he said, nodding toward a banner on the gym wall.
That was 10 years ago, coach.
``Well, they beat us once last year and they won the district tournament in 1993. But we came back and won the state.''
For now, Christiansburg is perking along at 6-3 overall and 1-2 in the league and will settle for one accomplishment at a time.
``I really like the new district,'' Knott said. ``Last year in the New River, it was hard to get up for nondistrict game after nondistrict game. Then when we did get to a district game, we really didn't know how to get up for that because we had so few of them with just three teams.''
Getting up for Blue Ridge games isn't likely to be very hard to do from now on. As for Blacksburg vs. Christiansburg, if you can't get up for that, you might as well let the air out of the basketballs and turn in the uniforms.
Both the road blues and the home whites.
LENGTH: Medium: 97 linesby CNB