THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603100208
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATTI WALSH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
A small but quick and determined James River team flooded the lane and washed away Salem with a 41-27 victory in Saturday's Group AAA girls basketball state quarterfinals at Churchland before a crowd of nearly 1,200.
The Rapids, who improved to 24-2, advance to Thursday's state semifinal round in Lynchburg. The Sun Devils finished the season at 20-7.
The matchup was two years in the waiting for James River junior Katie Tracy, who was a freshman at Midlothian when she first went head-to-head with 1994 state champion Salem.
``She got the best of it this time,'' Sun Devils point guard Misty Colebank said. ``James River is a strong team with great defense.''
Tracy managed to hold Colebank to four points while collecting 10 points and seven rebounds of her own.
``I'm so excited,'' she said. ``I think this is the happiest I've ever been. I knew they had (Colebank), and I was prepared to stop her. She's a great player, and I thought I contained her.''
While Tracy worked on Colebank, the rest of her team - their biggest player stood 5-foot-10 - jammed the paint and denied Salem second chances.
Colebank's passes were getting through, but the layups weren't falling.
For the game, the Sun Devils missed 14 layups and shot 28 percent to James River's 50 percent from the field.
``We were a little bit out of sync tonight,'' Salem coach Larry Bowman said. ``I think we got good looks at the basket, but we couldn't get a shot to fall. It just wasn't there tonight.''
Added senior forward Kelley King: ``We knew they weren't very big. We thought we could get in there. But they were all quick and strong inside even though they were small.''
King finished with a team-high 17 points, including all of the Sun Devils' seven fourth-quarter points.
The Sun Devils managed to stay close in the first half and went into the locker room down just 20-16.
But the Rapids slowly pulled away in the third quarter with a 10-4 run, using Salem's own game plan, which had helped the Sun Devils to the Eastern Region title. James River controlled the tempo with a half-court spread and worked the ball around until Salem was forced to foul to stop the clock.
The Rapids held Salem to pair of field goals from Colebank and Jenny Harmon, and the Sun Devils failed to score in the last 3:09 of the quarter. Cat Nicholson sparked James River with six of her 12 points.
In the fourth quarter, the Rapids denied the Sun Devils a productive turn on offense, working 4:32 off the clock cumulatively.
``We fell apart as a team,'' Colebank said. ``We weren't doing the things we normally do.''
Jaye Marolla led James River with 17 points and four rebounds.
JAMES RIVER (24-2): Tracy 10, Glasco 2, Marolla 17, Otto 0, Boles 0, Nicholson 12, Desmond 0. Totals 16 6-10 41.
SALEM (20-7): Garcia 2, Johnson 0, Riddick 0, Colebank 4, King 17, Harmon 2, Gabriel 2. Totals 11 5-7 27.
James River 10 10 10 11 - 41
Salem 9 7 4 7 - 27
3-point goals: Marolla 2, Tracy. Total fouls: James River 10, Salem 14. Fouled out: Harmon. Technical foul: Salem bench. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
L. TODD SPENCER
Angela Angeles, foreground, consoles Misty Colebank after Salem's
quarterfinal loss at Churchland High School on Saturday.
by CNB