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PAGE 2B
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Wednesday. November 29, 1995
SOUTH from IB
All-Tournament team, along with
Tina Harrison.
South didn’t get quite the pro
duction from the rest of the team,
though ailing Katie Vaughan was
back in double figures with 10.
But Harrison was held to nine and
Becky Quinn four. The team shot
just 25 percent from the field and
52 percent from the free throw
line.
On the other hand, Cherokee
made an outstanding 19-of-24
from the stripe.
Things were looking great at the
very start of the game this time
for the Lady Eagles as they
picked up where they left off after
Friday’s fast finish and win over
Duluth. Vaughan sunk a three
pointer and Harrison had two
steals, one leading to two freebies
and the other an assist to
another Vaughan basket.
But the visitors
answered South’s 7-0
start with a withering 19-
2 run that created a gulf
that couldn't be spanned.
Turnovers and misses
from both the field and
the line hurt, as did per
haps, tired legs. “I think
they ran out of gas a little
bit,” said Hembree.
“They were sagging on
defense. When we were
running our option, we
got layups ... but a lot of
the kids are still trying to
figure out what their
roles arc.”
The home team rallied,
however, and trailed by
just five (24-19) at the
half, seemingly poised to
overtake the Lady
Warriors. And some of
those “role” players
Kristi Wright, Lanicia
Hall, Laurielle Langley
and Kristy Geisler came
in and provided help.
Then tourney MVP
Jammie Howell sunk
three straight buckets to
start the second half for
Cherokee and Jcnnifei
Burgess had four steals,
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A Photo/Tom Brooks
Recognition for a Aod job
North Forsyth and Cass basketball players are awarded plaques for participation in the
Sawnee Classic last week.
GIRLS from IB
The result of the press was
numerous fast break baskets, and
even after Coach Bryan eased the
defensive pressure, the Lady
Raiders seemed to be able to
score almost at will.
Joining Tallant as top scorers for
North Forsyth were Ashleigh
Bennett with 9 points, Alycia
Lawhorne 7, Shannon Cantrell 6,
Lori Gravitt 6, Leslie Nichols 4,
and Kevia Brown 4.
Besides their points, Cantrell
and Brown made several nice
passes which resulted in lay-ups
for their teammates.
Tallant was appreciative of get
ting the ball in position to score.
“Our wings and guards have
done a lot of work feeding the
post,” Tallant said. “They are
always looking for us.”
Point guard Brown feels atten
The result was a 36-21 lead for
the winners and too big a hole for
South to climb out of.
They gave it a shot, getting a
banker and two free throws from
Mathis, and a putback from
Quinn. The defense forced
numerous turnovers, but missed
enough of the chances to make
the comeback stall. “I felt real
good about our defense,”, said
Hembree “though we could have
been a little more aggressive in
the beginning.”
Guard Robbin Johnson coun
tered with a couple steals, leading
to scores, and Cherokee pulled
back out. Howell wound up with
17 and Amanda Crowe added 11.
The Lady Eagles will open sub
region play Friday at home vs.
Johnson.
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Photo/Tom Brooks
Becky Quinn battles for the ball
with two Cherokee players.
tion to detail will be a large factor
in the team’s success this year.
“We are a very small team com
pared to most of the teams we are
going to play,” Brown said. “The
thing that is going to make a dif
ference is our fundamentals. We
blockout and we bust it on
defense.”
Coach Bryan commended the
defensive play of her girls.
“1 was proud of our defense,”
Coach Bryan said. “We caused a
lot of turnovers.”
While being happy with the
number of turnovers the Lady
Raiders caused, Coach Bryan
fears that the turnovers her team
loses will hurt them down the
road.
“We have to cut down our
turnovers,” Coach Bryan
explained. “When we play teams
This Week in College Football
Tight battle says volumes about Tech, Bulldog futures
Georgia’s rousing 18-17
Thanksgiving Day victory over
Georgia Tech said a lot about the
two teams’ seasons, but said even
more about the future of both pro
grams.
Whoever follows Ray Goff as
Lead Dog inherits a load of talent,
and a wealth of character.
Georgia was shut out by Tech in
the first half. In the second half,
they were never stopped.
On three second-half posses
sions, Georgia went 86 yards in
13 plays for a touchdown, 78
yards in 10 plays for a touch
down, and 74 yards in 16 plays
for the winning field goal —with
only 47 seconds left in the game.
Amazingly, Georgia converted
every single third down play into
a first down. Hines Ward, the
third-string quarterback, complet
ed 12 of 12 third down passes.
The result was a Georgia offense
that rolled up 237 yards in the
second half alone.
Meanwhile, the Georgia defense,
given plenty of bench time,
allowed Tech only one second
half drive. But after holding the
ball for 8:26, Tech could only
BOYS from IB
we didn’t do that. That is encour
aging.”
Eight treys for Raiders
Even more encouraging is the
fact the Raiders sank eight 3-
point field goals against
Galloway after going 0 for 15
against Cass.
Shelter sank four of the teams
three-point shots, and if shooters
like Shelter, Hill and Chuck
Pruitt can hit from outside,
opposing defenses will not be
able to double-team North
Forsyth’s inside players.
Against Galloway, James Parks,
Brett Williams, Truelove and
Gravitt all showed the ability to
like Fannin, Gilmer,
Gainesville —those teams in our
sub-region that are so good —we
are going to have to play almost
perfect basketball. We need to
drastically cut down the number
of turnovers.”
And with improvement every
game, Coach Bryan sees a bright
future for North Forsyth’s second
year program. “We are not where
we want to be, but we are work
ing hard to get there,” the coach
said. “We view each game as a
stepping stone to getting where
we need to be. We are building
for the future.”
“We hope next year to be one of
the top teams in our sub-region.
This year we want to be a surprise
to some teams.”
They absolutely shocked
Galloway.
manage a field goal.
Once again, the character of this
Georgia team came through, as
the Dogs refused to pack it in
after trailing 14-0 at the half. This
resiliency should carry over into
next season, as Georgia loses only
10 players who logged substantial
playing time this year, most of
whom had back-ups see consider
able action.
The plague of injuries that beset
the Dogs this fall should benefit
Georgia next year. Among the
many players who gained unex
pected experience this fall,
Georgia will return three quarter
backs and seven game-tested run
ning backs.
Into this mix add the excitement
and enthusiasm injected into the
program by a new head coach,
add a united fan base, and
Georgia may not be too far away
from once again being a dominant
force in the SEC.
In the long run, hard as it may
now be for Tech fans to fathom,
this loss may benefit Tech more
than a victory. It may allow coach
George O’Leary to hammer home
dominate the inside game.
Gravitt feels the ability to score
down low shared by himself and
his beefy brethren will also bene
fit the outside shooters.
“I consider our team an inside
team early and then go outside,”
Gravitt said. “Once your inside
game is working, then your out
side game should work.”
One player who seems comfort
able both inside and outside is
Jason Knight.
On several occasions, Knight
took rebounds off the defensive
glass and immediately started
fast breaks going the other direc
tion. And during one particularly
impressive sequence, the ball
moved so quickly from Knight to
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the only message that didn’t sink
in this year: you have to be ready
to play every game, and play
every game for 60 minutes.
Tech dominated Georgia for 30
minutes, and only a shanked field
goal (termed “ridiculous” by
O’Leary) kepi Tech from leading
17-0 at the half.
But the Yellow Jackets left their
game in the lockerroom, and
hardly resembled the same team
in the second half.
Throughout the year, Tech
showed that, at its best, it could
compete with anyone, perhaps
FSU excepted.
Coming off a 1-10 season,
O’Leary built a solid foundation
for long-term Success by rebuild
ing Tech around an emphasis on
running the football, and being
able to stop the run.
Tech also showed that, at its
worst, it is still capable of losing
to almost anyone.
This often happens when a team
with a thin talent pool has an off
day there is no margin for error.
Teams with loads of talent can
overcome lackluster performances
Hill to Truelove to the bottom of
the net that it was reminiscent of
pinball.
Smith developing at point
Coach Smith is currently using
Knight at point guard but hopes
Robby Smith will develop into a
capable ballhandler, allowing
Knight to be moved to another
position.
“We play (Knight) at point
because Robby Smith, my son, is
a freshman,” Coach Smith said.
“When Robby comes in the
game, we can keep Jason in.”
While the young Smith played
a solid floor game, he committed
one of the few gaffes the Raiders
GUMMING
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889-8209
Denton yffy
Ashway
on occasion.
Help is on the way. For the first
time in four years, a number of
bluechip high school athletes have
included Tech on their short list of
preferred colleges.
Tech already has a verbal com
mitment from the top quarterback
prospect in the state. A bumper
recruiting crop may be the best
indicator of the progress of Tech’s
rebuilding.
The Georgia loss should be a
great motivational factor in push
ing it along.
Denton Ashway is a partner in
the law firm of Lipscomb,
Johnson, Ashway and Sleister. His
phone number is 887-7761.
were guilty of. Near the end of
the game, Smith earned two tries
from the free throw line.
Showing that freshmen will be
freshmen, Smith floated his first
shot short of the rim for an air
ball. Smith then bounced his sec
ond shot hard off the back rim
and high into the air.
Pruitt captured the rebound and
sank a follow shot. This
sequence of one Raider picking
up another Raiders will be
important because there are no
more Galloways for North
Forsyth to feast on. “When we
play later in our schedule,”
Coach Smith observed, “we will
be the underdog.”
But this underdog has a bite.
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