THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 20, 1996 TAG: 9601200447
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATTI WALSH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Thanks to some sharp free-throw shooting by freshman Okiesha Howard, Princess Anne managed to keep second place in the Beach District all to itself on Friday.
Howard sank 10 of 10 free throw attempts down the stretch as the No. 3 Cavaliers downed the No. 4 Sun Devils 55-43.
``My Dad told me that free throws win games,'' said Howard, who led all scorers with 20 points. ``I had that in the back of my mind. I wanted them to foul me. I knew my free throws were on and if anyone fouled me, I was going to nail everything.''
And she nearly did.
Howard connected on 14 of 16 tries from the line to help her team improve to 13-2 overall, 8-1 in the Beach District.
The Cavaliers opened the first quarter with a 13-7 lead, holding Salem (7-5, 6-3) to just one field goal until Michelle Garcia scored with 53 seconds remaining.
Princess Anne's intense half-court man-to-man defense limited the Sun Devils to just three baskets from the floor in the second period as the Cavaliers built a 25-15 lead before the break.
By the third quarter, Salem seemed ready to play.
The Sun Devils used a full court trap press to force five Princess Anne turnovers and pull within a basket after an 18-10 run. Salem made its move with 4:12 to go in the quarter when Misty Colebank was fouled following a steal. Colebank converted a pair of free throws to make it 31-25.
Jenny Harmon then came up with another theft for the Sun Devils on the Princess Anne inbounds play and dished off to Colebank, who drained a trey.
Harmon tied it at 37 with 7:09 left to play in the fourth, but failed to make the ensuing free throw that would've given Salem its first lead of the game.
Princess Anne, despite Salem's surge, would not be denied. A pair of Rasheda Rodgers free throws and a Suwana Taylor jumper helped the Cavaliers slowly pull away. The Sun Devils came no closer than 41-39 after Harmon's layup with 5:36 to go.
``I think Princess Anne realized, `Hey, they're back in the game. We need to pick it up.' And they picked it up the last four or five minutes of the quarter,'' said Salem coach Larry Bowman.
``I think this pretty much means we're out of the district race. But if we want to go to the region (playoffs), we must win in the district tournament. And that's not an easy task.''
Added Princess Anne coach Darnell Dozier: ``I have some great kids here. People didn't give us the respect we deserve, and we're trying to earn it.''
Garcia and Colebank had 12 points apiece for Salem and Kelley King chipped in 10. Rodgers had 11 points for Princess Anne. by CNB