THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 17, 1994 TAG: 9411160173
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 29 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, SUN SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
EVERYBODY TRIED TO tell the Nansemond River girls basketball team its season would end early in November.
The uniforms were supposed to be cleaned and tucked away for use next year.
But the Bay Rivers district tournament champion Warriors didn't listen.
``No one thought we would be here,'' said Angie Gatling. ``Everybody said we wouldn't amount to anything this year.''
The nay-sayers had their reasons.
The varsity team put up a dismal 4-11 record in '93. The '94 squad, while talented, was thought to be too young and unproven to do any better than maybe
What everyone failed to notice was that the young varsity team was the same JV team that rolled to an 11-3 record in '93.
``We wanted to prove them all wrong,'' said Gatling, a second team all-district selection, who is one of three sophomore starters on the team.
That they did.
The Warriors have put the rest of the Bay Rivers district on notice. They rolled to an 11-3 regular-season record and a share of the Bay Rivers district title with Poquoson. Then they went on to claim the tournament title and advance to the Group AA, Region I tournament being played this week at Greensville High School.
``We have come so far in such a short time,'' said head coach Sandra McCray, who has coached the Warriors since the school was built five years ago. ``We're just excited.
``Had we not won the district tournament, or even the title, we have improved so tremendously on last season, it's been real exciting.''
McCray was in tears the night the Warriors downed Lakeland to claim half the district title.
She didn't care that they had to share the title and she didn't care if the season had ended right there.
But the players weren't able to stop themselves from rolling through the district tournament.
``When you start winning it begins to feel real good to you,'' McCray said.
Sophomore Janie Porter, who was named first team all-district, averaged 14.3 points per game during the regular season and then 10 points during the tournament to provide the Warriors with consistent scoring.
Gatling hauled in 36 total rebounds in three tournament games and averaged 13 points during the tournament to help pace the Warriors to yet another meeting with the team they shared the district title with - Poquoson.
The Warriors split their regular-season meetings with the Islanders, and then lost to them in a playoff to determine the tournament's top seed.
So when the tournament final rolled around, the Warriors decided to make the fourth meeting work to their advantage.
``They have a great team,'' Porter said.
``They have more experience than us,'' Gatling added. ``I think playing them so much helped us. We really got to know who the key players were and could stop them.''
Refusing to focus on titles and championships may be the reason nobody can stall Nansemond River.
McCray didn't let her team get caught up in the regular-season title chase that had Lakeland, Poquoson and Nansemond River all deadlocked going into the final night of regular season play.
``I didn't want to start focusing on a championship and then loose sight of the games. We just took it one game at a time,'' McCray said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Nansemond River's Angie Gatling gets off a shot despite a wrapup
defense by Franklin's Amy Gay in the Bay Rivers tournament.
by CNB