Thursday, January 21, 2010
Titan girls put Spartans on the canvas
Hidden Valley knocks off the state's sixth-ranked team. | Hidden Valley 39, Salem 38
JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times
Salem's Kerri Belcher (32) blocks a shot by Hidden Valley's Kelsey Crotty on Wednesday night in Salem. The Titans won, 39-38.
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The River Ridge District girls basketball game Wednesday night between Hidden Valley and Salem was no Picasso.
At times it resembled finger paint on the wall.
To Titans coach Randy Bush, it was a work of art.
Hidden Valley brushed Salem right out of first place in the River Ridge and claimed the top spot for itself as the Titans held on for a 39-38 road victory.
"A win's a win, especially against a quality team like that," Bush said.
Salem (13-2, 3-1) entered with the state's No. 6 ranking in The Associated Press Group AA poll, but Wednesday's game hardly qualified as a major upset.
Hidden Valley (8-4, 3-0) had suffered losses only to Franklin County (twice), William Fleming and Floyd County, and the Titans returned plenty of players from last year's team that reached the Group AA Division 4 semifinals.
Senior guard Kayla Osborne, who led the Titans with 11 points, began practice in November believing Hidden Valley was the team to beat in the River Ridge.
So far, no one has done it.
"I think so," Osborne said. "We're all good friends. We know each other's strengths and weaknesses."
Hidden Valley jumped to a 12-2 lead in the first quarter and Salem never saw the lead from there despite a fourth-quarter rally that cut the lead to one point on two occasions.
Salem had possession with a chance to win after Hidden Valley's Rachel Singleton missed a one-and-one free throw with 10.5 seconds to play but never got off a shot.
The Titans had three fouls to give before putting Salem in the one-and-one, and they used two of them. The second one came with 3.6 seconds left as Tyler Evans fouled Tay Taylor on a drive down the lane just before the Spartans freshman got off a shot the banked in.
"We knew we had three fouls to give," Bush said. "We used that well."
Evans said she had no doubt she could get to Taylor in time to commit the foul.
"Not at all," Evans said.
Bush wasn't as certain.
"My heart was in my throat," the Hidden Valley coach said.
Salem still had time for an inbounds play under its basket. Richardson tried to get free on a cross screen, but Taylor rifled an inbounds pass off her hands out of bounds.
The Titans led by as many as 11 points in the first half and were up 37-30 after two free throws by Osborne with 4:25 to play.
However, Salem got baskets by Carlye Garst, Taylor, Kerri Belcher and Emily Richardson to draw within 39-38 at the 1:13 mark.
Salem didn't get its offense in gear until it was too late. The Spartans hit just 9 of their first 38 shots from the field. Belcher led Salem with 11 points.
"I don't think they did a whole lot to beat us," Salem coach Dewayne Harrell said. "I mean, they played defense, but we took too many quick shots. That's what took us out of the game. You can't just make one pass and take a shot.
"My own worst enemy is my team. We didn't execute. We didn't rebound. We didn't make free throws. We should have won the game."
HIDDEN VALLEY (8-4, 3-0)
HIDDEN VALLEY (8-4, 3-0)
HIDDEN VALLEY (8-4, 3-0)
Crotty 2 1-1 5, Divers 1 2-4 4, McDonald 1 0-0 2, Osborne 3 4-6 11, Evans 4 0-0 9, Singleton 2 0-1 4, Conner 2 0-0 4, Burke 0 0-0 0, Elechi 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 7-13 39.
SALEM (13-2, 3-1)
SALEM (13-2, 3-1)
Payne 1 1-2 3, Belcher 4 2-2 11, Richardson 3 0-0 6, Patterson 1 0-0 2, Kawa 0 0-0 0, Poindexter 2 2-4 6, Taylor 2 1-4 5, Garst 2 0-0 5. Totals 15 6-12 38.
Hidden Valley 12 10 9 8--39
Salem 9 6 9 14--38
3-point-goals -- Hidden Valley 2 (Evans, Osborne), Salem 2 (Belcher, Garst). Total fouls -- Hidden Valley 14, Salem 15. Fouled out -- Crotty, Patterson. Technical foul -- Hidden Valley coach Bush. JV -- Salem, 38-23.
