THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603210172 SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 17 EDITION: FINAL SOURCE: BY JEFF ZEIGLER, CORRESPONDENT LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
A TEAM can only go so far on sheer desire.
The Perquimans County girls basketball team finally discovered this last Saturday when the Lady Pirates met undefeated Roanoke in the final four of the 1A state playoffs.
Despite four straight intense playoff victories after finishing third in the Albemarle Conference, the Pirates were outmanned and outgunned by an experienced Redskins team. When all was said and done, Roanoke went on to the state championship with a 54-41 victory over Perquimans.
An emotionally charged Pirates team had won a one-point battle against Gates County in the round of 16.
In the final eight, it was another close one. Perquimans eked out a 35-33 win over Pamlico to reach the final four.
``It's unbelievable,'' head coach Tanya Turner said after beating Pamlico. ``They're enjoying every minute of it. They're real excited and getting more and more confident each game. They are learning to play better in pressure situations.''
Danita Whidbee, the hero in the Pirates' playoff win over Gates County, led the offense with 18 points against Pamlico.
Stacey Caswell chipped in eight points, including two free throws with three seconds to play.
But Roanoke, which also knocked Perquimans out of the playoffs last year, had the Pirates pegged from the beginning. Without a first-class ball handler, Perquimans has handcuffed by the Redskins' full-court press. Roanoke used the press from the opening minutes to secure a 14-0 lead from which Perquimans could never fully recover.
``They did a really good job of full-court pressing us,'' Turner said. ``I don't know if we got off a shot until the end of the first quarter. We were down by as much as 17-1.''
Perquimans settled down and cut the lead to as close as 10. They trailed by just 11 points at halftime.
``We felt good going into the half,'' Turner said. ``We wanted to be in single digits, but 11 wasn't too much more than that.''
The Pirates' trademark defense had been holding playoff opponents to low scores during the first four rounds.
They wanted to keep Roanoke, which was averaging 60 points per game, out of its running game.
``We wanted to slow it down and not let them get fast breaks like they did against other teams,'' Turner said. ``Trying to press was almost useless with the big girl they had (Tisha Wiggins, who is 6-4). We wanted to make them shoot from the outside.''
For Perquimans, Dysheba Jennings scored 12 points and Stacey added nine. Celena Sheard and Whidbee both had seven rebounds. Despite the height disadvantage, Perquimans was only outrebounded 35-32.
Despite falling short of a state championship, the Pirates had the highest finish of any girls basketball team in the school's history. by CNB