THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 26, 1994 TAG: 9410260604
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
If you wanted to know how long had it been since Norfolk Academy's girls basketball team had beaten Nansemond-Suffolk Academy in Suffolk, all you had to do was ask any member of the Bulldogs' current team.
``Six years'' were the words heard over and over after Tuesday night's game, in which the Bulldogs overpowered the Saints, 57-45, in a packed N-SA gym. It was the Saints' first TCIS loss.
``After this, I don't think anything can stop us. This is our year,'' said Amanda Lee, who paced the Bulldogs with 16 points.
``The effort out there tonight was outstanding,'' said Norfolk Academy head coach Joanne Renn. ``Anybody who went in was great.''
Earlier this season, Norfolk Academy had taken a 39-13 lead into the locker room at halftime, only to lose.
Tuesday night, Norfolk Academy trailed, 29-28, at the half.
``All we had to do was remember what happened in that first game. We knew they were a second-half team,'' said Kendra Robins, who scored all of her 14 points in the second half. ``We knew we had to come out hard.''
Robins also knew that the Bulldogs have struggled in the third quarter. She decided to take care of that singlehandedly.
Kate Rowen took a feed from Robins under the basket to open the second half and give Norfolk Academy a 30-29 edge. Robins then went on to outscore N-SA 8-2 herself with a pair of layups, a 3-pointer and a free throw, giving the Bulldogs a 38-31 lead with 4:22 left in the quarter.
Catherine Ware added a free throw and Robins nailed a short jumper before the period ended. The Saints managed only a pair of foul shots from Katherine Stewart and found themselves looking at a 41-33 deficit heading into the final quarter.
But N-SA got nervous and started to make uncharacteristic mistakes.
Ann Murden, usually lethal from 3-point range, kept hitting the rim, and Jill VanGuilder couldn't get anything to fall and fouled out late in the period.
The Bulldogs were smart enough to know that no lead is large enough when playing Larry Riggs' troops.
``A 10-point lead is nothing with these guys,'' Lee said.
The Bulldogs fought to the wire and even set up a long pass play with time running out after N-SA missed a foul shot.
``We really wanted this game,'' said Lee, who turned an already injured ankle midway through the second half. ``It was too big a game to worry about the pain.'' by CNB