WALKER VALLEY HAS BIG NIGHT

[garyroe]

CLEVELAND, Tenn. ˜ This could be the beginning of a beautiful rivalry.

The Walker Valley Lady Mustangs, No. 4 in the state in Class AA, answered their only loss of the season with a 54-49 defeat of second-ranked McMinn Central on Friday.

The Chargerettes (17-3) suffered their first setback in nine District 5-AA games as the Lady Mustangs (22-1) took a slim league lead at 9-1. Walker Valley gained its first lead of the game on a three-point play by freshman Alyson Butler, putting back a Heidi Rominger miss with 57.1 seconds left and the score 49-49. The Chargerettes missed two 3-point shots before Walker Valley center Suzanne Morris made her fifth steal with 15 seconds left. Rominger was fouled with 6.6 seconds left and converted both free throws.

Coach Gary Tucker said there was no mystery as to how his Lady Mustangs were able to close the gap after a 25-point loss in the teams˜ December meeting.

"We had 33 (Rominger). She˜s that big of a difference," he said of his senior point guard, who missed the first game with the flu. "We kept playing hard. We could have folded when we missed some easy shots. Defensively, the girls just shut them down."

Despite building an 11-point lead in the first half and returning it to nine at 44-35 late in the third quarter, the Chargerettes managed only one field goal in the final 9:30. The Lady Mustangs outscored them 19-5 from there, Mindy Cox capping her 18-point, 12-rebound night with six points in crunch time.

Morris had 19 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots in addition to her steals.

"We did everything the same way tonight as the first game, except for a couple of plays to break the press," Morris said. "They sure did work. The first time, we had no way to get up and down the court."

"You˜ve got to see who has the matchups," Rominger said. "They did a great job of cutting off our penetration, but that allowed Mindy to come open. We kept pushing the ball, and it seemed we were wearing them down."

Kathryn Brock and Jennifier Patterson led the Chargerettes with 11 and 10 points.

[morris]

Grayroe It is DAvid Tucker not Gary. Gary is the coach

at Tellico. Thank for the good post though.