ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270064
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
The Northside High School girls' basketball team is off to its fastest start to a season in many a year.
Now, if the Vikings could only be so brisk in coming out of the gate for an ordinary game.
Northside dawdled for a bit at the start of the game Thursday with visiting Blacksburg and again later in the second half, but in the end, the Vikings shrugged off any sluggishness to rout the Indians 66-45.
``We have had a tendency to be a little slow starting,'' Vikings coach Marilyn Bussey said.
Not so slow that Northside couldn't advance its record to 9-1 overall and 4-0 in the Blue Ridge District and keep pace with William Byrd in the league chase. Byrd beat Christiansburg 41-26 Thursday.
Northside led by 14 points in the first half and worked up the advantage to the final spread in the second, but Blacksburg (3-8 overall, 0-4 district) wasn't really done for until late in the game.
Indians coach Mickey McGuigan is still trying to figure out where to find some consistency out of his girls.
``I feel much better about the game tonight than I did Tuesday [in a 48-38 loss to Christiansburg],'' he said. ``We did a lot of things differently tonight and the girls didn't know we were going to do it until right before the game. Still, we can't seem to focus long enough for the win. We need to focus for four quarters.''
Crystal Barrett was terrific for Northside, scoring 27 points and hauling in 10 rebounds. At 6 feet, she's the tallest girl on the floor for the Vikings but is still quick enough to beat it down the floor in advance of the fast break. That's how many of her second half points were earned.
The Indians led 15-14 after the first quarter, but Northside took off on a 23-13 run to take control. The Indians again showed life in the third quarter as Karly Geller scored six of her 12 points in a flurry that brought Blacksburg to within 40-34 with 4:46 left in the quarter.
Barrett scored 13 more points from then on as the Vikings pulled away. Her three-point play with 4:30 left gave Northside a 55-43 lead and control of the proceedings to the finish.
Samantha Webb added 10 points for the Vikings and nine players scored. Geller and Natalie Mutispaugh, coming off the bench, each had 12 for the Indians.
Bussey had to think hard before she could recall a similar start for her team. At length, she concluded it was in the early 1980s, when the Vikings were still in the Group AAA Roanoke Valley District.
``This is the best start we've had in AA,'' she said. ``No doubt about that.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 56 linesby CNB