Thursday, February 2,  2006

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by Mike Stiltner
Sports Reporter
       Grundy avenged its only Southwest District loss of the season with a key 37-31 win over Carroll County Saturday afternoon at Riverview Elementary/Middle School.
        Brooke Shepherd led the way in the low-scoring contest with a game-high 15 points for Grundy (14-6 , 5-1 SWD), which turned a three-way tie into a two-way tie with Graham for first place in the SWD with the victory.
        The Lady Wave held the Lady Cavaliers to two points in the second quarter and used a pair of mini-runs, 6-0 and 8-2, to build a 19-8 halftime advantage.
        “We wanted to take care of the basketball and run some plays, and were able to do that in the second quarter,” Grundy Coach Bill Christian said.
         Elizabeth Lindsay also scored in double figures with 11 points and got two of Grundy’s eight blocked shots.
         Tiffany Perry scored seven points, while Emily Porter and Paige Nash each added six points for Carroll County (,4-2).
         The Lady Cavs struggled with their shooting, especially on the perimeter, going 1-of-13 from three-point range. They turned that cold shooting around briefly in the third period, outscoring Grundy 12-9 to get within 28-20, and got as close as four points several times in the fourth period.
         Kaitlyn Riley helped the Lady Wave protect its lead with eight rebounds. Samantha Rice and Allison Fletcher also made contributions inside.
         “Kaitlyn always gives you a 110 percent effort out on the court,” Christian said. “We ran set plays really well when we moved (Brooke) Shepherd out to the top. I want to commend the efforts of everybody, including a couple of good players who tend to go unnoticed in (Samantha) Rice and (Allison) Fletcher.”
         Grundy, which shot just 37.4 percent (13-of-35) from the floor and 50 percent from the free throw line, hit four of six free throws in the closing seconds to preserve a six-point victory.
         "We had problems getting our free throws to drop,” Christian said. “We shoot 40 to 60 of them a day in practice. We’re just glad to come out with a win.”

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Ashby Leads Grundy to Key SWD Win Over Carroll County, 50-31

by Mike Stiltner
Sports Reporter
        Defense was the key as Grundy kept a share of first place in the Southwest District with a 50-31 SWD win over Carroll County Saturday evening at Riverview-Elementary-Middle School.
         Grundy held the Cavaliers to single digits in each of the first two quarters. Jimmy Ashby turned in a double-double with a game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Theo Justus scored 15 points for the Golden Wave, which built a 24-11 halftime lead.
         Carroll County (7-7, 3-2), which played without injured guard Clay Guynn, its leading scorer and rebounder, fell behind in the opening seconds and never fully recovered.
         Travis Green opened the game with a three-pointer and J.T. Turner added one at the end of the opening period. In between, however, Grundy (11-6, 5-1) went on a 16-0 run to take the lead for good.
          The loss cost the Cavs a share of first place in the SWD. Grundy is now tied with Graham for the top spot and travels to Bluefield to face the G-Men on Friday.
         Stephan Baker contributed six points and grabbed seven rebounds and Bobby Peck added six boards for Grundy, which held a 34-29 rebounding advantage.
          “Stephan (Baker) was playing with the flu and wasn’t really into the tempo of the contest but Bobby (Peck) and (Jimmy) Ashby stepped it up for us tonight,” Grundy Coach Greg Rife said.
          The long road trip probably had an effect on the Cavaliers, which hit seven threes, but were just 11-of-48 (22.9 percent) overall from the field.
          Andrew Bowman paced Carroll County with seven points. Green and Travis Lamb combined for 11 points.
          Carroll County cut into Grundy’s double-digit lead briefly in the third period, but trailed 38-26 by the start of the fourth quarter and scored just five points the rest of the way.
           Grundy shot just 35 percent (15-of-42) from the floor, but made it up, Rife said, for it on the defensive end.
           “Defensively, I thought my team stepped up to the challenge and did an excellent job covering their shooters,” said Rife, whose club bounced back from an
embarrassing, 81-39, loss to the top-ranked Group A team in the state, Twin Valley, Thursday night.
 

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.  For more information on how to subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today.

          Council has relied on a combination of six seniors and three freshmen all season long.
           Friday, the Lady Cobras relied on one of each.
           Senior post Samantha Breeding and freshman guard Stephanie Cornett led Council to a 46-42 upset of Twin Valley in Black Diamond District play Friday night at Council Elementary School.
           The Lady Cobras also earned a BDD win at home last Tuesday (Jan. 24), defeating Hurley, 50-21.
           Breeding scored 10 of her game-high 18 points in the first half Friday, but made her biggest contribution near the end, with a strong move to the basket that led to a go-ahead three-point play and a 44-42 Cobra lead with 27 seconds remaining.
            Freshman Haley Arrington added two free throws to give Council its final margin with 12 seconds remaining. Cornett added 11 points and four steals.
            Kim Street scored seven of her nine points in the fourth quarter to key a 13-1 run as Twin Valley rallied to take the lead. Tiffany Watson paced the Panthers with 17 points and capped the run with a bucket inside that gave Twin Valley a 42-41 advantage with 45 seconds remaining.
           The Lady Cobras used two 8-0 runs and an 8-2 spurt to build a 28-16 halftime advantage and took a 40-29 lead over the injury-plagued Lady Panthers into the fourth quarter.
           “The first half we took the ball to the basket and made some good passes in the first half,” Council Coach Dave Rasnake said. “Of course (Twin Valley’s leading scorer) Brittany Maxwell wasn’t 100 percent, but I don’t want to take anything away from our girls, they worked really hard to win this game.”
           Arrington held Twin Valley star Brittany Maxwell, who was slowed by a badly sprained ankle, to five points. The Lady Panthers were without starting guard Janie Belcher, one of the top defensive players in the BDD, who is out for the year with a torn ACL.
           Ashley Stroehlein added nine points for Council.
           Nikki Honaker added eight points for Twin Valley.
 

For more of the story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at newsstands now.  For more information on how to subscribe to the Mountaineer, call 276-935-2123 today.
 

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