High School Tournament Coverage: Altavista girls run past Appomattox in Dogwood District

By Ted Allen
Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: February 19, 2008

ALTAVISTA - To be successful, Altavista’s girls basketball team must use its quickness to generate scores on transition, especially off of steals.
The Colonels, who start three sophomores and don’t feature a player taller than 5-foot-10, were able to do that consistently in the first half of their Dogwood District tournament quarterfinal against Appomattox, opening a 36-14 halftime lead en route to a 59-42 victory.

“The kids really did get off to a great start,“ Altavista coach Debra Spencer said. “They did a great job of getting rebounds and steals which led to easy transition baskets.“

“We’re good at fast breaks and pushing it down the court,“ added Mallory Greene, the 5-10 sophomore forward who scored a career-high 16 points off the bench.

Annie Terry, Appomattox’s all-time leader in 3-point goals with more than 120 in her four-year career, eclipsed the 1,000-point mark with her second trey of the first half, drawing the Raiders within 10-9.

But after play was stopped to present Terry with the game ball, Altavista pulled away, outscoring Appomattox 19-4 in the second quarter.

“We just came out flat,“ Raiders first-year coach D.J. Jack said. “They got a lot of fast break baskets because we didn’t get back on defense.“

Altavista point guard KiKi Crews, one of only two juniors on the team, tallied 12 points and distributed several assists and LaToya Tucker added 13 points from the other guard spot.

Crews opened the second-half scoring with a breakaway steal and layup before grabbing a defensive rebound and finishing a fast break with a strong banker, pushing Altavista’s lead to 40-15.

After Crews picked up her fourth foul on a charge early in the fourth quarter, Appomattox (6-15) forced several turnovers and trimmed the lead to 53-40 on a breakaway steal and layup by Jamica Jones (12 points).

“KiKi Crews came back in and settled the team down,“ Spencer said. “Our team feeds off of her. If she plays well, our team plays well. She does an excellent job of running our offense, breaking pressure and getting us set up.“

Crews fed 5-9 sophomore center Chelsea Stephens with a beautiful back-door pass for a layup and Greene finished a fast-break after a miss by Terry (17 points).

“Our post players did an excellent job of making the passes and finishing in and around the basket,“ Spencer said.

The win puts Altavista in Wednesday’s semifinal at top-seeded Chatham.

“Chatham presents multiple problems,“ Spencer said. “They have two six-footers and excellent guard play.“

But the Colonels are undeterred after only losing by two to Chatham last time at home.

“We can definitely beat them,“ Greene said.

Even if it doesn’t, Altavista could still get into the Region B playoffs. With the split division format for this year’s tournament, eight of the 11 Division 1 teams in the region will advance.