THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 16, 1995 TAG: 9503160527
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
Starting in 1986, schools located in the shadow of the nation's capital won six consecutive Group AAA girls basketball titles, and northern Virginia seemed unbeatable.
But in two of the last three years, Eastern Region teams have won: Hampton's Phoebus High in 1992 and Virginia Beach's Salem High last season.
Can the Eastern Region make it 3-for-4? Its best bet lies in unbeaten Kempsville. And the Chiefs admit last year's success by arch-rival Salem has given them extra confidence.
``Salem was a good team last year,'' Kempsville forward Kristin Cholewa said. ``I'm just hoping we can do the same.''
The Chiefs will most likely need a Final Four sweep of Northern Region teams to win it all.
Kempsville (29-0) faces Northern Region runner-up James Robinson (25-3) at 1 p.m. today at Liberty University's Vines Center. In the day's second semifinal, James Madison (28-1) is an overwhelming favorite to beat Hampton (24-5). The final is Saturday at 7 p.m.
Madison is ranked 16th in the country by USA Today and boasts one of the nation's top juniors in shooting guard Katie Smrcka-Duffy (32 points per game).
But Kempsville must first worry about a physical Robinson squad led by interior players Kim Oaks and Stephanie Schwandt and spearheaded by guard Karen Zee, who has committed to Cornell. Zee is Robinson's only senior starter.
``I think the key for us is how we handle their defensive pressure on the perimeter,'' Robinson coach Dwight Trimmer said. ``I've seen Kempsville play and they look pretty quick. But you don't really know how quick they are until your own team is on the court with them.''
Defensively, Trimmer hopes to take the Chiefs out of their up-tempo game.
``Transition is where they get most of their stuff,'' Trimmer said. ``We've got to make them run a half-court offense and see if they can play that.''
Like Robinson, Kempsville also has just one senior starter, center Carrie Johnson. And Chiefs coach Greg Dunn figures big-game inexperience might have been a factor in his team's uncharacteristically sloppy play in a 57-52 quarterfinal victory over James River.
``Too many turnovers,'' Dunn said. ``I thought we got over that around the mid-season point. We'll have to work on that before we play Robinson.'' by CNB