THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 30, 1994 TAG: 9412300620
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATTI WALSH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Had Thursday night's championship matchup in the third Annual Salem Girls Christmas Tournament between top-ranked Kempsville and No. 3 Salem been a traffic accident, the Chiefs might have been cited with a hit-and-run.
Kempsville outhustled and outmuscled the defending state champions in the first half and held on to 22 point halftime lead for a 60-38 victory.
The Chiefs opened the first quarter with a 21-9 run and allowed Salem only eight points by the end of the half with a swarming man-to-man defense.
``We can play man-to-man and we can play man-to-man all out because we know have help behind us,'' said senior center Carrie Johnson, who was named the tournament's most valuable player. Johnson finished with a game-high 18 points and grabbed six rebounds.
The Chiefs earned third and fourth chances on missed shots with 16 offensive rebounds to the Sun Devils 10.
Salem also failed to capitalize on eight fast break opportunities and shot just 34 percent for the game from the field.
``I think some of our players were scared,'' junior point guard Misty Colebank said. ``A lot of them were intimidated. I just feel like they (Kempsville) played very good defense and if there's a team that'll go all the way, it'll probably be Kempsville.''
By halftime, the Chiefs had jumped to a 40-17 lead. Lori Henn and Erin Duckett double-teamed Colebank, shutting her down offensively with two first half points.
Colebank and her team tried to recover in the third quarter and held Kempsville to just three points in the first five minutes.
``I didn't think we played very hard in the first half,'' Salem coach Larry Bowman said. ``At halftime we talked about going out there like the score was nothing to nothing and try to win the third and fourth quarter by concentrating on our half-court defense.''
The Sun Devils strategy seemed to be working until Carrie Heath sparked a seven point surge when she nailed a 3-pointer with 1:06 left in the quarter.
``Kempsville just keeps coming and coming at you,'' Bowman said.
Heath finished the night with 10 points.
``I think the depth of the team allows me to do things other coaches can't do,'' said Kempsville coach Greg Dunn, who looked to the bench for the final period. ``After playing three games in two days the teams are tired. Fortunately, I've been able to substitute throughout the tournament and I was able to substitute a lot tonight and still keep the same pressure on. The other coaches don't have that luxury.''
Added Johnson, ``I think it proved a point to people. We should be number one with the talent we have. we have a deep team.
``It shows in a tournament like this. We had help from the bench where other teams didn't. Their benches aren't packed like ours, so we have a chance to really show people what we have.''
All-tournament honors went to Salem's King and Colebank; Great Bridge's Kalisha Brown and Lashelle Griffin; Churchland's Nicole Council; Cox's Shannon Drury and Kempsville's Erin Duckett, Charlette Fayton, Kristin Cholewa and Johnson.
In other tournament games:
BAYSIDE 46, CHURCHLAND 36 The Marlins used a half-court man-to-man press to shut down the Truckers' offensive game.
Kristy Bryant had four-of-six assists in the fourth quarter to put the Marlins up for good with less than a minute to go. Carolyn Zanelli led the offensive attack with 11 points.
GREAT BRIDGE 58, COX 47 Lashelle Griffin had a game-high 23 points with seven rebounds and steals as the Wildcats cruised to a fifth place victory over the Falcons. Maggie Love came off the bench to contribute 8 points and nine rebounds.
Katie Kubic led the Falcons with 11 points.
WESTERN BRANCH 39 OSCAR SMITH 38 Tia Snell nailed a 3-pointer with 17 seconds to go to give the Bruins the edge over the Tigers.
Brandi Woodard had 11 for Western Branch. Kizzy Dunbar led all scorers with 15 points. ILLUSTRATION: GARY C. KNAPP photo
Salem's Megan Johnson is doubled up on by Kempsville's Lori Henn,
left, and Carrie Heath in Salem Girls Tournament final play.
by CNB