Newspaper Page Text
Indians Lose Heartbreaker
To South Gwinnett, 74-72
By JIMMY ESPY
Last Thursday night's
season ending loss for the%ady
Indians of Chattooga gave
perfect excuse for the use of a
trust'ly" old cliche,
“They didn't really lose,
the{ just ran out of time."
n a thrilling opening round
state playoff game, South
Gwinnett outlasted the Lady
Indians, 74-72,
Chattooga — trailing by
eight points as late as the final
minute and a half and with star
player Tracey Perry fouled out
of the game — {aunched a
furious rally in the game's final
seconds and came within a
point of the lead with :05 show
ing on the clock.
But, South Gwinnett's
Dawn Lawson then went to the
line and nailed the first of two
free throws to push the lead
back to two. Chattooga then re
bounded the miss on Lawson's
second shot, but was unable to
get the ball upcourt far enough
to get off a good shot. Angeli
ue Finley's desperation lo%) at
&e buzzer fell far short of the
mark.
The loss ended the Lady In
dians 1987 season, leaving
them with a 21-4 mark.
‘“We just got too far
behind,"” said Chattooga coach
Lamar Turner. *But, I'm real
ly proud of the fact that our
girf)s didn't quit. They could
have quit when we got so far
behing in the third quarter, but
they just kept on coming back.
That's the way they've played
all season and that's the kind
of girls they are.”
HARD FOUGHT GAME
As usual, the Lady Indians
gave up considerable height to
their opponents, especially at
the post position where South
Gwinnett's Julie Donaldson
(6-4) operated. The Lady Com
ets starting lineup also boasted
5-11, Tricia Unterreiner and
5-10, Dawn Lawson.
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ELLEN THOMPSON TRIES SHOT FROM OUTSIDE
Indians come back but come up just short
CHATTOOGA LADY INDIANS
JV Girls Continue
Winning Tradition
By BUDDY ROBERTS
The Chattooga High School
Junior Varsity girls' basketball
team put together a successful
season by finishing the year
with a record of 13-2.
This year's JV team also
won the Cass Invitational
Basketball Tournament, which
was held at Cass High School.
The team was coached by
Melvin Mosley.
* The junior Lady Indians
began the season with a 47-41
victory over Rossville, with
Courtney Stewart and Sytiria
Adams scoring 11 points to
lead Chattoo(Fa. The next week,
Chattooga defeated the Cass
JV Lady Colonels, 28-23.
The JV Lady Indians met
their first defeat the following
game, in a 42-38 loss to the
| Chattooga countered with a
starting front line averaging
| just over 5-6,
l Despite this seeming(liy un
| solvable problem, the Lady In
| dians held their own in the first
| half, holding the lead on several
. occasions before falling behind
| 33-29 at the half.
| "We tried to stop them
| with our half-court press, but
| they did a lot better job of
‘ breaking it than I thought they
| would,” said Turner. “Their
| point fiard (Shari Bowman)
} plag'ed tter than we expected
| and they were shooting really
- well from the outside.”
‘ Chattooga repeatedly went
to the defensive double-team
on Donaldson, but the other
‘; Lad{ Comets effectively took
| up the slack with their outside
| shooting. South Gwinnett,
| after loo%(ing exhausted at the
| end of the first half, came out
| surprisingly strong in the third
quarter.
Their continued good
shooting and turnovers by the
Lady Indians contributedyto a
landslide quarter for the Lad
Comets. At period’s end, Sout;{n
Gwinnett led 58-44.
Eight minutes away from
the end of their season and
down by 14, Chattooga looked
| all but beaten. But instead of
| folding up in the last quarter,
| the gutty Lady Indians went
| to their strengths — pressure
| defense and all out attack —
| and climbed right back into the
game.
“Our girls started scoring
when they had to score,” said
Turner.
“Unfortunately, we may
have waited a little too long.
' But when their backs were all
| the way against the wall, they
| came out and showed what
they were capable of doing.”
‘ “*“What the team was
| capable of doingi;' turned out to
| be a remarkable stretch of
clutch shooting, furious offen
sive rebounding and a
tenacious full-court defense.
' Even with the loss of Perry
! (to fouls) with almost five
West Rome JV Lady Chief
tains. LaFayette was the junior
Lady Indians’ next opponent.
Chattooga dominat,eti) the JV
Lady Ramblers 51-33. Chat
tooga's record was then 3-1.
They again faced West
Rome, but this time, the JV
Lady Indians came out on top,
41-36. Chandra Smith was the
high scorer in that game with
nine oints. Chattooga
defeate(f the Cedartown JV
Lady Bulldogs the following
week, in a 57-31 contest.
The junior Lady Indians
next beat Ring%old, 48-32, with
Chandra Smith and Sytiria
Adams racking up 10 points
each for Chattooga. Chattooga
suffered its second and final
loss of the year to Cass in the
next game, 33-25. The JV Lady
Indians record then stood at
6-2.
In the next two games,
minutes left in the game, the
Lady Indians battleg on to the
last second.
Freshman center Nikki
Price, whose play in the region
and state tournaments was
nothing short of remarkable,
came t%lrough with a brilliant
fourth period — scoring 17
points. And when Price was
defensed, teammate Angelique
Finley came through with the
key baskets.
Still, in the end, the hole the
Lady Indians dug themselves
in Lg;e third period proved a
shot too deep to climb out of.
Finley's gasket with eight
seconds left cut the South
Gwinnett lead to one. But
afterwards, the Lady Comets
were able to safely inzound the
ball. Chattooga was forced to
foul Lawson and that effective
ly ended their hopes.
“I may have waited too
long to use the full court
firess." said Turner. *‘But I was
oping we could stop them
with the half-court and not get
into too much foul trouble.”
“What happened to them
late in the game has happened
to us too,” he added.
“You get the big lead and
then you start watching the
clock instead of trying to score.
Before you know it, the other
team is right back in it. I just
wish we had got going a little
earlg." \
rice was Chattooga’s top
scorer on the evening, piling up
22 points. Perry had 18 and
FinYey added 15. Valerie
Langston chipped in eight,
Ellen Thompson, five, and
Demetria Johnson, four.
For South Gwinnett, Shari
Bowman scored 18. Unter
reiner and Lawson added 16
each and Donaldson knocked in
14. Teri Duckworth chipped in
eight and Karen Timer, 2.”
UNFORGETTABLE
SEASON
“Of course we're disap
pointed about losing the
game,’ said Turner, “‘but we're
already looking forward to
Chattooga downed Cedartown
and LaFayette, 36-20 and
62-23, respectively. Then the
JV Lady Indians dominated
Northwest Whitfield, in a 66-21
rout. Chattooga completed
regular season play with a
37-36 victory over Cass.
The junior Lady Indians
participated in the Cass Invita
tional Basketball Tournament,
which they eventually won, in
a close 37-36 victory against
Cass. Sytiria Adams was nam
ed the tournament's ‘‘Most
Valuable Player,”” and
LaVonne Meyer was named to
the All-Tournament Team.
After the tournament games,
Chattooga's overall season
record was 13-2.
“We had a very young team
this year,”" said Coach Mosley.
“However, we quickly grew
and became one of the best JV
basketball teams in the area.”
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LANGSTON BRINGS BALL UP THE FLOOR
Indian center shadowed by defenders
next year. We've ot
everybody coming back o?f a
region chamf)ionsfiip team and
now the girls have a taste of
what it's like to go to state.
Hopefully, next year we'll get
to go back and see if we can do
a little better.”
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GWINNETT PLAYS TOUGH INSIDE DEFENSE
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NIKKI PRICE READY TO PUT ONE UP
Indian freshman dominate on the boards
Turner pointed to the
team's thrifling wins over
Ringgold and Dalton in the
7-AAA region tournament two
weeks ago as highlights of a
fine season.
“The girls teams at Chat
tooga have had some good
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TRACY PERRY GOES UP FOR TWO POINTS
Indian stir has good game but fouls out late
records in the past, but it
seems like something always
happened at region,”’ said
Turner. 'But this year we went
in there and did what a lot of
people thought we couldn’t do
— beat Ringgold and Dalton
and won the region champion
ship.”
“Beating Ringgold was an
especially big win for us
because it's been a long time
since a Chattooga team did it.
They've got a great program
up there and it takes a lot to
beat them in the playoffs. This
year, we had what it took.”
According to Turner, the
team wasn't the only thing
ChattooFa County has to be
proud of.
“You just can't beat our
fans,” said the coach. I guess
you could call the other schools
and they would tell you that
when we played them at their
glaces. thev got some of their
est gates. Our fans came to
our home games and they
followed us on the road.”
“I know it was a help to me
and I think that it helped the
girls, knowing that a lot of peo
ple in the community cared
about how well we did. ;l'he day
of the South Gwinnett game, a
man called me and told me that
the region tournament was the
first basketball game he had
been to in 10 years. He told me
he was sorry he couldn’t come
to the South Gwinnett game
because he had to work, but he
was sure hoping we would win
so he coulg come Saturday
‘night. People like that have
been coming to see us all year
and we appreciated it very
much.”
“Overall, I would have lik
ed to have done even more,”
added Turner. ‘But, I'm tickl
ed to death with what we've
The Summerville News, Thursday, March 5, 1987 . . . . .
been able to accomplish this |
season. The credit goes to the ‘
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6’4" GWINNETT DEFENDER STANDS GROUND
Lady Indians have trouble early going inside
Junior Indians
Win Half Games
By BUDDY ROBERTS
The Chattooga High School
Junior Varsity boys basketball
team finished off the 1986-87
season with an overall record of
6-6. This year's team was
coached by Melvin Mosley.
The junior Indians dropped
the first game of the season,
losing 62-43 to Rossville. Tom
my Lawrence provided 13
points to lead Chattoga's scor
ing. Cass also defeated Chat
tooga in the following game,
55-39 with Tommy Lawrence
providing 12 points for the JV
Indians.
In the third game of the
season, the Chattooga JV team
claimed its first victory in a
47-46 win over the West Rome
Junior Chieftains. Chattooga
pulled off a ten-point victory
over the LaFayette junior
Ramblers, 61-51. Tommy
Lawrence scored 18 points for
the JV Indians.
The following week Chat
tooga again downed West
Rome, this time, 59-41. Then,
in their sixth game, the JV In
dians lost to the Cedartown JV
girls. They (i)layed their hearts
out. I couldn’t be prouder.”
Bulldogs, 72-60. At that point,
Chattooga’'s record stood at
3-3.
They fell to 3-4 with a loss
to Ringgold in the next game,
64-50. Tommy Lawrence and
Chris Moore each scored nine
points for Chattooga. Things
improved for the JV Indians,
as they routed the Cass junior
Colonels, 57-43.
Chattooga faced Cedartown
in the ninth game, and thinfis
were different this time. The
JV Bulldogs fell by a score of
55-47. The JV Indians’ next
game was a different story,
though, as they lost, 48-46, to
Cartersville. Then, in their final
regular season game, Chat
tooga again beat LaFayette,
this time 96-58.
The JV Indians also par
ticipated in the Cass Invita
tional Basketball Tournament
at Cass High School, but lost
in overtime to Cartersville, who
eventualli; won the tourna
ment(,) in the first round of play.
“*Our team was very young
this {ear." said Coach Melvin
Mosley. “‘But they grew very
fast, making them one of the
best JV basketball teams
around.”
15-A