Monday, March 17, 2008
The Daily Pooch Punt: 3/17/08
Even as I type this, I still have clue how Devon Brown found Kiawna Berry down low.
No idea, but she did. The experts call it court presence, the jealous call it luck, the professional sports watchers call it one heck of a pass. The kind you wish your buddy would make to you in a pick-up game on the local blacktop. The kind you’d almost be afraid to take, hoping against hope you don’t blow the layup so that pal of yours can get that sweet assist he or she has been looking for.
But there it was, with six minutes left to play Thursday at the Virginia Commonwealth University Siegel Center in Richmond, Devon Brown did what Devon Brown always does — drove the lane with authority — and the defense did what defenses always do when Devon Brown does her thing — it collapsed around her. It left Berry, a long-forgotten player that was molded into a great second option for the Little Giants in her senior season, wide open.
And somehow Brown managed to slip the pass through. Berry went up for the layup, banked it high off the glass and in it fell.
It was the last assist I’ll ever see Brown make in a Waynesboro uniform.
OK, so it’s the Group AA state semifinal and Brown is doing her thing (you know, driving the lane like I just wrote a few paragraphs ago) and a little point guard from Bruton steps in front of Brown. The Waynesboro senior lowers her shoulder (like she always does when she’s driving the lane, you know, the reason why she’s not paying a dime to get an education at Liberty University) and, SLAP!, skin hits skin as the two girls collide underneath. Of course it’s the smaller point guard, not Brown, that goes flying through the air and hits the floor hard.
Brown gets called for the charge, Waynesboro fans boo. Brown helps the girl up and moves back on defense. The Bruton coach cheers the girl for taking the charge. The Bruton fans give the girl a round of applause for holding her ground and taking the hit from She Who Should Be the Group AA Player of the Year.
And the whole time I’m thinking, if this happened at Fort Defiance, you’d have a parent getting in Secrett Stubblefield’s face (once again) about how tough Brown plays.
It’s called basketball, folks. If you don’t like it, take your kids off the court. It’s a pretty simple concept. Either that, or package your daughter in bubble wrap before you send her to practice. Either way works, really.
And another thing: How about Jolie Dudley? Really, I’m not kidding. Berry gets charlie horse in her leg after a hard foul in the state semis (no, this isn’t Fort Defiance and her mother didn’t come down to confront the girl) and the little-used Dudley (a freshman) comes off the bench cold and calmly sinks Berry’s free throws for a 55-40 lead.
Sure, that may not have meant much to you, but it meant something to an 11-year-old girl decked out in purple and gold beads with a purple and gold band in her hair all the while wearing a purple Waynesboro practice jersey and, believe it or not, purple shoes. When Dudley hit the second one, this wide-eyed girl slapped her hands together wildly. Why should she have? It was Jilly Dudley watching her big sister hit two free throws on the floor of the Siegel Center in the Group AA girls semifinal.
Did that put a smile on your face? It should of you heartless thing, you.
Still think Secrett Stubblefield is a glory hound who does her not-so-wild antics to draw attention to herself? Well, she had tears in her eyes after the Little Giants lost to Hidden Valley on Saturday in the Group AA title game and wouldn’t begin her post-game news conference until Berry, who she had lauded all season long, regained her composure enough to enter the room.
Still a doubter? Then don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Nelson County’s Thomas Brown. Great basketball player. Great athlete. Great kid. ‘Nuff said.
Hey, did anybody tell you that one of the best defensive players in the Southern Valley District (we’re not ready to agree with Stubblefield on the whole “best in the state” part) is only a freshman. She’s only 15. Her name? LaToya Diggs and she played lights out under the bright lights on the Siegel Center floor.
Did we mention she’s only 15 and should be wearing the purple for three more years?
My first year on the job, I was typing and coding agate. Chad Coffey, in his first year on the job, led a group of Bison to a state title.
What did you do your first year on the job?
High School baseball and softball season start today. Really? Are you kidding me?
And finally: Don’t care what you write me, don’t care what you tell me when you corner me in the aisles of Wal-Mart and/or Martin’s. Don’t care who played girls basketball in the past for Waynesboro, none of those past names sit on top of the Group AA all-time scoring list. So, that makes Devon Brown the best girls basketball player to ever don a Little Giants jersey. Hope you saw her play once or twice, because she’s gone. And now, you’ll have to travel to Liberty to see her.
Let me say it again. The best the school has ever seen.
Lock. The. Thread.
The last bucket I saw Devon Brown make? It was a free throw.
Yeah, I’ll learn to live with that.