ER
Page 10A-KINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Thursday. March 11, 1982
Diane Williams Helps LR Win State Title
Diane Williams just can’t
seem to get away from sports.
The former Kings Mountain
High four-sports standout and
co-winner of the school’s Female
Athlete of the Year her senior
season, fully intended to concen-
trate on volleyball when she
signed an athletic grant-in-aid
with Lenoir Rhyne College.
But after a successful first year
on the volleyball court last fall,
her coach, Pat Smith, asked her
to come out for the basketball
team.
She knew LR had some
veteran players and it would be
hard to make the squad, but she
was anxious to give it a shot. She
not only made the team but has
been a key factor in the Lady
Bears’ drive toward the national
tournament. :
The LR ladies wrapped up the
North Carolina State title last
weekend at Wilmington and will
go to Charleston, S.C., today for
the Southeastern Regionals. If
they win there, they will host the
first two rounds of the national
tournament, and hopefully, will
return to Charleston in a couple
‘of weeks for the final four.
Williams is a reserve but, ac-
cording to Coach Smith, “is will--
ing to learn” and will be a strong
candidate for a starting position
next year, when the Lady Bears
lose both their starting forwards.
~ She’s presently the backup to
senior standout Donna Elrod, a
former North Gaston star and
an all-state performer for the
Lady Bears.
Diane is averaging 2.0 and 1.9
rebounds per game but doesn’t
see statistics as her key role.
DIANE WILLIAMS
“ “I see my role as having to
always be ready to go in and give
110 percent,” she says.
“Whether the startr just needs a
rest, is injured or has fouled out,
I have to go in with a good at-
titude. I feel like whether I'm on
or off the court, I have to be
ready to help the team however I
can.”
Williams, whose best game
was a 10-point effort against
Mars Hill, was an All-
Southwestern Conference per-
former in volleyball, track, soft-
ball and basketball att KMHS.
She led the basketball team in
scoring and rebounding, was the
Volleyball Player of the Year
her junior season, was the top
home run hitter on the softball
team and advanced to the
Regional Tournament in track.
Playing a reserve role is new
to her, because she’s always been
KM’s Carl Smith
Player Of Year Again
Four Kings Mountain High
School basketball players were
named to the 1982 All-
Southwestern 3-A Conference
team, announced last week.
Senior point-guard Carl
Smith, who led Coach ‘John
Blalock’s Mountaineers to their
second straight SWC title, was
named SWC Player of the Year
for the second straight year.
Dixie Friend, leading scorer
on the North Gaston team
which finished in fifth place, was
the Girls Player of the Year.
Coaches of the Year were
Dick McCleney, who coached a
sophomore Shelby team to
fourth place in regular season
play and first in the District 7
Tournament, and Billy Willis,
who coached the Shelby girls to
‘a share of first place in regular
season play.
Other Kings Mountain
players on the boys all-
conference team were seniors
Terrence Blalock and Demetrius
Goode. Blalock, Goode and
Smith were all three-year starters
for the Mountaineers and helped
lead the team to an overall 514
record over the past two seasons.
Junior Trina Hamrick, the
leading scorer and rebounder on
a young Mountainette team
which finished fourth in regular
season play, was the only KM
CARL SMITH
player named to the girls team.
Joining the KMHS trio on the
boys team were Johnny Smith
and David Davis of second place
R-S Central, sophomore Ter-
rence Petty of Shelby, Martin
Kee of Burns, Vernilious
McDowell of Chase, Benji Camp
of East Rutherford and Kelvin
Keitt of North Gaston.
Joining Friend and Hamrick
on the girls team were Pauline
Finney and Beverly Kilgore of
Crest, Lori Bridges and Sandy
Abbey of East Rutherford, Vera
Young and Christine Logan of
R-S Central, Denise Williams of
Burns, Dawn Moose of East
Gaston and Michelle Smith,
Shelia Whitworth and Barbara
Cannon of Shelby.
MEETING
The Parks and Recreation
Department will hold an In-
dustrial Softball Meeting on
March 15 at 7:00 p.m. in the
Kings Mountain Neighborhood
Facility Center (Community
Center) in the Mountaineer
Room (111). For further infor-
mation contact George Adams,
Athletic Director at 739-9631.
the leader of the pack, but just
making a team as powerful as
the Lady Bears is a great ac-
complishment. She was the only
walk-on freshman to make the
team. The only other walk-on to
make it was sophomore Amy
Robbins, who played the year
before at Appalachian State.
Her hard-work and ac-
complishments thus far have
already earned her a four-year
basketball scholarship, and she
looks forward to three more suc-
cessful seasons.
“As for myself, I just want to
improve with each practice and
each game,” she said. “I plan to
go to summer school and work
out for both volleyball and
basketball. Next year I hope to
fill a starting position.”
As for the team, she’s confi-
dent of its chances in the
regionals.
“I really believe we have a
good enough team to win the na-
tional championship,” she said.
“We beat a very good UNC-
- Wilmington team for the state
championship. They were a fast-
paced team and very disciplined.
The only difference was that we
had experience and they didn’t.”
The Lady Bears will open
tournament action Thursday at
3:30 against Campbell, a team
with which LR split a pair of
regular season games. LR goes
into the tourney as the 16th
ranked team in the nation and
fourth seeded in the tourney and
with an overall 20-7 record.
Williams started most of the
season in volleyball, due to a pre-
season injury to Elrod. Elrod
returned late in the year to win
her starting spot back, but
Williams anticipates becoming a
starter again next fall.
The volleyball team compiled
a 20-14 record and gave Coach
Smith her 100th victory. She
later won her 100th game in
basketball, giving her the distinc-
tion of being one of the few
coaches in the nation with 100
wins in two different sports.
She also intends to give soft-
ball a try as soon as the basket-
ball season is over. She’ll try out
for leftfield.
sh Allowance!
“Our first game is scheduled
for March 23 against Elon,” she
said. “We're all hoping that it
will have to be cancelled. If we
make it to the national tourna-
‘ment in basketball, we’ll be play
ing basketball then.
“The coach (Pat Furr) sees a
good season for us, even though
Lenoir Rhyne has been playing
softball for only three years. As
for myself, I hope to see a lot of
playing time.”
The Lady Bears return six of
last year’s 10 starters, and Coach
Furr expects to field a much
quicker and stronger club than
in the past.
The LR ten faces a tough
schedule, playing such teams as
Pfeiffer, Appalachian,” Western
i ig RQ, |
UNC-Wilmington,
UNC-
Carolina,
UNC-Chapel Hill,
Charlotte, Pembroke, Campbell
and North Carolina A&T.
As for her final three years on
‘the Hickory campus, Diane says .
A re
she’ll continue to play all three
sports as long as they don’t in-
terfere with her studies.
“Even though I love sports,”
she said, “the education comes
first.”
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