THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 28, 1994 TAG: 9412240110
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
M.I. Express rode a fast-break offense and a pressure defense to the championship of the Women's Adult League Basketball at Bayside Community Recreation Center last month.
They defeated the Lady Bandits by a score of 60-36 in the final game. M.I. Express completed an unbeaten year by going 5-0 in the regular season and winning two games during the playoffs.
``We play up-tempo on both offense and defense,'' said M.I. Express coach Mike Ivy. ``We run the break and play straight match-up on defense. Our defensive philosophy is right there on our uniforms.'' The black jerseys have yellow letters. On the front, they read ``Play D''; on the back, ``and multiply times 3.''
Ivy's counterpart, Shawn Austin, an assistant coach of the Lady Bandits, knew his team had a tall order to fill. M.I. Express won the regular season meeting by 19 points.
``We're small. We can't rebound with them,'' he said before the game. ``We're a guard-oriented team and we can beat people with quickness, but M.I. is strong off the boards. We have athleticism and heart.''
M.I. Express started slowly and opened up a 9-6 lead with 14:20 left in the first half. True to form, M.I. Express worked the ball inside to leading scorer Tammy Goldsmith. She scored eight of her 14 points in the opening half.
The Lady Bandits closed the half with seven points in the final two minutes to pull within seven at 22-15. The Bandits were led by Cathy Parsons, who scored a game-high 16 points, including seven of eight from the foul line.
Thomas Witcher, substitute head coach for the Lady Bandits, discussed adjustments at halftime:
``We have to keep driving and drawing fouls. We need to go to Taiqua (Stewart) and Cathy outside, too.''
Ivy stressed to his team the need to ``pick it back up and get back to the basic offensive philosophy, and set some cross-screens and pop some outside shots.''
The second half started with increased offense from both teams. Express's Jackie Dolberry hit a three-pointer at the opening tap to set the tone. After three minutes of play, the score stood at 31-20. M.I. Express applied a full-court press, trapping and double-teaming the ball, when the Lady Bandits showed signs of closing the gap.
When the Bandits pressed the Express, Ivy put the ball in the hands of point-guard Abigail Pichache. M.I. made a 19-10 run to take a 50-30 lead with 3:50 remaining.
The Bandits' desperate scrambling defense sent the Express to the foul line 12 times in the closing minutes.
The champions added another 10 points in the final three minutes.
Beth Bacon, Saundra Bridges, Trena Clark, Stephanie Gilmore, Kirsten Portlock, Jeannine Tanks, Sheila Vereen and Angela Hill round out the M.I. Express championship team.
The league was sponsored by the Department of Parks and Recreation and featured former high school and college players from the area. by CNB