ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 16, 1997 TAG: 9703180104
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG
TYPE: STATE HIGH SCHOOL
SOURCE: FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTS
Ronald Curry scored 24 points, breaking open the game with eight in the third quarter, as Hampton beat defending champion Potomac 67-52 on Saturday night to win the Virginia High School League Group AAA boys' basketball championship.
Curry, The Associated Press 1996 Group AAA football player of the year, took control with 5:22 left in the third quarter and the Crabbers leading 39-37. The 6-foot-3 junior then outscored Potomac 8-2 to make it 48-39 going into the final period. The Panthers never recovered.
``I've know him since the eighth grade, and he's a tremendous young man both on and off the court,'' Hampton coach Walter Brower said of Curry, who was 10-for-13 from the floor, with four assists and three steals.
Bobby Blizzard scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Hampton (26-3).
Cliff Hawkins led Potomac (26-3) with 18 points and Mookie Felder added 11.
This past fall in football - with Curry at quarterback, kick-returner and defensive back - the Crabbers won the Group AAA championship. Curry was named to the AP All-Group AAA team at all three positions.
He scored 13 points in the first half as the Crabbers slowly pulled away after snapping the game's seventh tie. It was a basket by Curry that gave the Crabbers a 21-19 lead, and a basket by Curry with 4:37 left in the half gave Hampton a 27-20 lead, its biggest to that point. Two baskets by Felder enabled Potomac to trail by six at intermission.
The score was tied six times in the first quarter, but Potomac never led after Almondo Curry scored to put Hampton ahead 14-12 late in the period.
AAA girls
West Springfield 53, James River-Chesterfield 47: Kara Lawson scored 17 points, nine in a decisive 11-0 fourth-quarter run, as the Spartans stopped the Rapids.
The teams traded the lead 20 times before Lawson's basket gave the Spartans a 41-40 lead with 7:47 left. Lawson, a sophomore and the only non-senior starter for West Springfield (30-0), then added two free throws and a 3-pointer as the Spartans took a 50-41 lead that finished James River (28-4). The Rapids went six minutes in the final quarter without a point.
``She just stepped up and took over,'' said Bill Gibson, the Spartans' coach. ``We had four seniors, and she provided the catalyst.''
Mandy Stephan had 16 points for West Springfield.
The Rapids were led by Katie Tracy and Martha O'Dell with 11 points apiece. Tracy scored 21 points in Thursday's semifinal round, when the Rapids beat nationally ranked Menchville 58-53 in overtime.
Gibson said the Spartans did not change their defense to contain Tracy, a Parade All-America soccer player who plans to attend Virginia. ``We stuck with our man-to-man defense,'' he said.
There were 13 lead changes and two ties in the first half, with the Rapids taking a 26-25 advantage on a basket by Cat Nicholson with 24 seconds left. West Springfield scored the game's first four points and held a 17-11 lead with 34 seconds left in the first period on back-to-back 3-pointers by Stephan and Jen Shannon. But the Rapids scored five points in the last 26 seconds of the half.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB