ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, October 4, 1996 TAG: 9610040058
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KEITH POMPEY STAFF WRITER
Lord Botetourt coach David Wheat appreciates the luxury of returning four starters from last year's Group AA championship girls' basketball team.
With the game on the line, the Cavaliers kept their poise against an aggressive Northside squad. The Cavaliers held off six Viking rallies, escaping with a 66-60 victory at Northside on Thursday night.
"I was real proud of the way we withstood the way they kept coming after us," said Wheat, whose team is in a first-place tie with Northside and William Byrd in the Blue Ridge District. "When you return four starters off of last year's state championship team, you are supposed to be calm under pressure. And you are supposed to make the other team crumble. We made a lot of mistakes, but returning four starters really helped us in this game."
Northside coach Marilyn Bussey agreed.
"They definitely were more experienced than us in pressure situations, although I thought we played well. It just happened that they had experienced players that stepped up when they needed them to."
The players Bussey referred to are Sarah Hicks, Sara Moore and Aimee Bird.
Hicks, the reigning Timesland Player of the Year, finished with a game-high 21 points in her second game back from an ankle injury. The two weeks off didn't affect her free-throw shooting. The 6-foot senior was 9-of-10 from the line.
Moore finished with 13 points, six steals and four assists. And Bird, who was an enforcer on defense, had eight points, including a crucial free throw late in the game.
Lord Botetourt (12-1, 5-1) also received production from Takisha Basham. The 5-10 power forward had nine points and six rebounds.
"Takisha played a brilliant game," said Hicks. "She did it all. [Northside] didn't expect her to play that well. But she played a great game."
Rosse' Hopkins, who had a game-high four 3-pointers, led Northside (10-2, 5-1) with 18 points. Teammate Crystal Barrett had 16 points and six rebounds.
"This game was very disappointing," said Hopkins. "I would have rather scored two points and win than score 18 and lose."
Early on it seemed as if Hopkins might get her wish. The Cavaliers couldn't get into a rhythm as they committed nine turnovers in the first quarter.
After a free throw by the Vikings' Amber Kern, Lord Botetourt held a 7-6 lead. That's when Basham went wild, scoring six points in an 11-2 Cavaliers run.
Northside responded with a run of it own. Hopkins' 3-pointer with four seconds left in the half closed the gap to 33-29.
Then her third 3-pointer of the game tied the score 36-36 with 4:15 left in the third quarter.
"Rosse' played a great game," said Bussey. "Botetourt kept triple-teaming Crystal and she took up the slack."
Katrina Elliot's 3-pointer spearheaded another Vikings run - this a 16-4 outburst.
Northside stepped up its pressure defense trying to get back in the game, but Botetourt hit seven free throws in the final 1:34 to preserve the win.
"We are disappointed with this loss," said Bussey. "We had a lot of support from our home crowd. I've never a gym packed like this for a regular-season game before. But you got to give Botetourt credit. They had a lot of people that stepped up and made some big plays."
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB