THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 3, 1997 TAG: 9701030646
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 39 lines
The area's high school basketball teams, many of whom were idle during the holiday break, get back in action in a big way tonight as 32 games are on tap throughout Hampton Roads.
The most high-powered matchup is the girls game between fourth-ranked Salem (7-3, 4-2) visits top-ranked Kempsville (9-1, 6-0). The Sun Devils have won seven of their last eight games. They also handed the Chiefs three of their four losses last year.
In boys action, the powerful Norfolk teams will resume beating up on each other at 6 p.m. when Granby (8-2, 2-1) visits fourth-ranked Norview (6-2, 3-0) and No. 5 Lake Taylor (7-2, 2-1) travels to No. 9 Maury (5-2, 2-1). Along with No. 2 Booker T. Washington (6-0, 3-0), the five Norfolk schools have gone 20-5 in non-district games.
In the Southeastern District, No. 6 Great Bridge (5-3, 3-0), the surprise team of the season, will host unranked Nansemond River (4-3, 1-2), which surprised in a different way by losing three of its first six. No. 10 Indian River (3-3, 2-1) will play at No. 8 Lakeland (7-2, 2-1). The Cavaliers have beaten only one team with a winning record - Nansemond River.
STAT CHAT: Numbers didn't tell the whole story of the Catholic Holiday Invitational final, but these figures came pretty close: Granby hit 1 of 3 free throws while Cox went 25 of 31 from the line in the Falcons' 59-42 victory. . . . Good news for North Carolina basketball fans: UNC-bound Brian Bersticker appears to save his best ball for the Tar Heel State. Kempsville's 6-11 center had a combined 41 points, 28 rebounds and 14 blocks in the final two games of the GlaxoWellcome Holiday Invitational in Charlotte. The Chiefs won both to rebound from a first-round, one-point loss at the buzzer and finish fifth. . . . Nansemond River's Antoine Willie, who shook off a season-low 12 point effort to singe Wilson for 38 the next night, remains the area's leading scorer at 26.9 points a game. The next four: Oscar Smith's Mydrione Halsey (21.9), Oscar Smith's Lamar Griffin (20.7), Churchland's Sadiki Tingling (20.5) and Great Bridge's Steve Hargrow (19.8).