THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 30, 1994 TAG: 9412300636
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATTI WALSH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
It's hard to miss Kempsville's Carrie Johnson on the court - and even harder to miss her off it.
Before each game, the lanky 6-2 senior center can be seen parading around the gym wearing a big, blue floppy hat that coordinates nicely with Kempsville's red, white and blue silk warm-ups.
Her footwear is equally unusual, purple and pink troll slippers.
Much to the dismay of coach Greg Dunn (and her mom), Johnson's pregame attire has become somewhat of a ritual.
``It's kind of like a good luck thing,'' she said. ``I might be a little superstitious, but I just like my big, floppy hat.''
But when the hat and the slippers are exchanged for a pony tail and a pair of sneakers, watch out.
Johnson is tearing up the paint, averaging 17 points per game and crashing the boards.
Whatever she's wearing, it seems to be working. Kempsville was 8-0 entering Thursday night's game against Salem, ranked first in South Hampton Roads.
LONG SHOT: Odds were that junior guard Nicole Council would be in the shadow of her illustrious teammate Kizzy Butler once again, as she had been the previous two seasons. But this year, Council has found her own claim to fame.
She's mastered the art of 3-point shooting and averages two treys per game. She has 14 for the season and even hit seven Wednesday when the Truckers cruised to easy wins over Cox and Western Branch in the second round of the Salem Christmas tournament.
THE LATE SHOW: It was nearing game time Tuesday night and Great Bridge was nowhere to be found.
The Wildcats were stuck in Chesapeake awaiting the arrival of the bus that would transport them to their second game of the day, against Bayside, in the Salem Christmas tournament.
But the driver confused the departure time and the eighth-ranked Wildcats arrived just minutes before the scheduled tip-off. Great Bridge, which had been fashionably late for the tourney's first game against Salem, couldn't seem to get things together.
Earlier in the day, the tardy Wildcats had dropped the opener to the defending state champs, and it looked as though they'd drop another to the unranked Marlins.
But the Wildcats warmed up just in time and exploded for a 34-point second half to win it, 61-56.
Better late than never.
A STARR IS BORN: Twice in the course of one week, Oscar Smith's Starr Parker has helped the sixth-ranked Tigers come from behind and pull off second-half victories over Great Bridge.
Last week, the feisty guard racked up 17 points and nine steals as the Tigers recovered from an 11-point halftime deficit.
And Wednesday, Parker, trapped in the corner by two Great Bridge defenders, managed to get the ball to Kizzy Dunbar who nailed the game-winning jumper with two seconds to go.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: With a total of 20 games played in two holiday tournaments, the list of players scoring in double figures in each game has been trimmed to six.
Kellam's Anne Marie Bowdoin seized the top spot as the area's leading scorer, but the Knights were inactive over the Christmas break. Also inactive, but scoring more than 10 per game were Green Run's Leanna Lillefloren and Wilson's Latoya Owens.
Kempsville's Carrie Johnson, Salem's Misty Colebank and Churchland's Nicole Council all hung on to their double digit scoring in the 3-day, 16-game Salem Christmas tournament.
OCEAN SPRAY SCHOLARSHIP: Ocean Spray announced the availability of $143,000 in grants, awards and scholarships for high schools and outstanding female athletes. The awards are available through Women Athletes' Voices of Encouragement (WAVE), a program created by Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.
Applications for awards, grants and scholarships are available by calling Ocean Spray's Consumer Hotline at 1-800-662-3263. The deadline is April 1, 1995. by CNB