THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 10, 1995 TAG: 9502100623
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATTI WALSH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Deep Creek has done it again. The three-time Southeastern District defending champs upset third-ranked Great Bridge to scramble the league standings.
Earlier this season, the fourth-ranked Hornets knocked off Churchland and then lost to Oscar Smith, creating a three-way tie for second place and leaving Great Bridge a half-game ahead.
But Tuesday night's victory changes everything.
Deep Creek, Great Bridge and Churchland share a 10-2 record with only two regular-season games remaining.
And they all play each other, which means the district is wide-open until the final buzzer of the last game.
Churchland faces the toughest road with games against Great Bridge and Deep Creek. The Wildcats also face Norcom and the Hornets play Oscar Smith.
Winning the championship is more important than usual because of the Eastern Region seedings. The Southeastern District's No. 2 team must face unbeaten and top-ranked Kempsville in the first round.
The Chiefs blasted Churchland, 70-53, in the Salem Christmas Invitational. Kempsville has not faced Great Bridge or Deep Creek.
THE LIONHEARTED: Ninth-ranked Tallwood did what no other area team has been able to do all season: Lead Kempsville.
The Lions, down by 15 in the third quarter, rallied to go up by three early in the fourth quarter before falling, 63-60.
``They handled our pressure better than most teams do,'' said Kempsville coach Greg Dunn.
``Normally we force a lot of turnovers and force the other teams to take bad shots,'' he said. ``But they were patient. Amy White did an outstanding job bringing the ball up the court.''
Tallwood coach Andrea Warren said she and her team were rubbed the wrong way by Kempsville's ``We're not conceited, We're convinced'' T-shirts before the game, which made the Lions even more hungry.
``We dropped back and picked them up halfcourt,'' Warren said. ``We can't outrun them. We took them out of their offense, and Tamara Valentine was very effective on the boards and kept putting it up.''
SCORING TITLE: It looks as though Kellam's Ann Marie Bowdoin will win the scoring title hands down if she keeps up with her 21.3 average. She has 385 points for the season with her closest competition 32 points behind.
Green Run's Leanna Lillefloren, who's scoring 19.6 points per game, must score 32 in each of the remaining three Beach District games to catch up with Bowdoin. by CNB