Lowest Scoring Game of the Streak

The state final game of Taylor County vs. Cave Spring in 1969 was a really low scoring battle between two great coaches and defenses. Cave Spring was picked to beat us. Our senior forward, number 15 (Sissy Riley) and Cave Spring number 15 were both renowned forwards, but it wasn't an offensive slugfest, it was defensive. They used a stall offense against us. An amazing statistic to me was that we were held to only two points the whole second quarter. The score was tied 13 to 13 at the half.

Another reason I remember this game with fondness is because several years later I met Coach Graham Woodell, Cave Spring coach, when he worked at Coach Carter's Basketball Camp. He always teased me by saying that our game really bothered him. His game plan was to double up on the Riley sisters, and leave the freshmen alone. He said who would have thought two freshmen could make a difference in the state finals. The two freshmen he was referring to were Sandra and me. In this game, to the dismay of Coach Woodell, we two freshmen combined for 14 points. He had to quit double teaming Sissy and start guarding the freshmen, which allowed Sissy to find the mark for 20 points.

We ended up winning by a score of 36 - 32, the lowest scoring contest of the year for the Lady Vikings, and one of the lowest I remember during the entire streak. A picture engraved on my memory banks was in the final quarter at the less than one minute mark. Coach called timeout and instructed our guards, Denease McAbee, Dianne Wall, and Linda Joiner, to walk back to their position on the court and stand there with their hands straight up. "Let them go. Do not move." he said. "They can't score enough to beat us now." Cave Springs drove right through our guards without a movement from Taylor County. We got the ball then and held it as the clock ticked down to zero. Another state championship for the Lady Vikings!