ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 15, 1996 TAG: 9611150083
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RUSTBURG
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
Trailing by nine points late in the third quarter, and with leading scorer Brandy Allen held to only two points, William Byrd was in trouble at the Region III girls' basketball tournament Thursday.
Less than a half-hour later, Allen and her teammates had come to life as the Terriers rallied to beat Jefferson Forest 51-45 and earn another trip to the Group AA tournament. Byrd advanced to the regional championship game against Lord Botetourt on Saturday night at Salem. It will be the fourth time this season the Blue Ridge District rivals have squared off.
Allen wound up with 10 points, but her two most important field goals came at the end of the third quarter to leave the score tied. That enabled the Terriers (21-4) to go to their four-corners offense, in which freshman guard Andrea Gay looks like a reincarnation of North Carolina's Phil Ford.
``I was frustrated and when I get frustrated, I don't play well,'' Allen said. ``But I didn't want this to be our last game, so I had to get everyone else up.''
Once Allen drew the Terriers to an even score, Byrd coach Richard Thrasher had Gay ready. She wound up with 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including one spin move with 4:48 left as she went coast-to-coast for a layup to make it 43-39.
With Gay at the controls, Byrd made 11 of 14 free throws in the final quarter against the frustrated Cavaliers (17-6), who lost to Byrd for the third time.
``When she came down and made that spin move, I knew it would be two,'' said Thrasher. ``I haven't seen many people who can stop her one-on-one.''
``The strongest part of my game is when I drive to the basket,'' said Gay. ``I'm not a strong shooter, so I take it to the basket and it helps the team.''
Gay also had four steals as the Terriers came up with 11 in adding more woes to the Cavaliers' attack. Once Byrd got the lead on two free throws by Allen that made it 41-39 with 5:11 left, the Terriers weren't about to give it back.
The four corners is the offense of choice for Thrasher. ``We were in foul trouble, it looked like we were getting tired and we've been fighting sickness. But we felt we had an advantage with Andrea out there,'' he said.
Jefferson Forest coach Dawn Coleman said her team didn't play smart basketball with a nine-point lead.
``But William Byrd is a [veteran] tournament team. They're a pro [tournament] team and those kind capitalize on the mistakes.''
Byrd dominated the boards 30-21 as Allen got seven rebounds. ``Brandy did a good job stepping up after the half and Jefferson Forest was doing a good job bodying up on us,'' said Thrasher about his team having trouble going inside early.
``We came in with the idea of making them beat us from the outside and when we got the lead, we went back to that,'' said Coleman.
Once Byrd drew even and took the lead, though, Jefferson Forest was forced to counter with a man-to-man defense.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY\Staff. Byrd's Andrea Gay drives through theby CNBJefferson Forest defense Thursday night. Gay led the Terriers with
15 points.