Page Shocks WhirlieGirls:Day Two of the Pizza Hut Little Four Tournament/Bill Kimm Leaving 790 the Ball

Day Two of the Pizza Hut Little Four Little Basketball Tournament and some shocking news.  The Page Pirates upset the WhirlieGirls of Grimsley Wednesday night and that gives GHS their first loss of the season and it couldn’t come at a more telling time as Page the number 3 seed moves past Grimsley the number 2 seed to face #1 Dudley for the Girls title on Thursday night at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center.

The girls have put together much closer games than the boys so far in the 31st annual tournament at the Coliseum Complex.  I have developed a complex because I was telling everybody that the Grimsley girls were the team to beat and Debbie Jones’ Page Pirates have gone out and proved me wrong again.  Page over GHS 51-49 on a last second shot by the Pirates’ Brittany Banks, while Dudley moves on to defend their Little Four title with the Panthers’ 49-42 win over Northwest Guilford after the NWG Vikings had led 22-17 at the half.  Helen Terry had 20 points and Sierra Little 15 for the Panthers.  Grimsley beat Dudley earlier this season and now can Page pull off another upset or will Dudley make it back-to-back Little Four titles after winning their first-ever in 2005? 

Page at 10-1 is paced by Alexis Neal and Jasmine Gill while Dudley at 11-1 will count on Terry, Little, Kendra Porter, Nikki Kee, and Montague Austin.  Dudley is very fast and they have the big girl in Little but Page is looking to show everyone that they are the top team and they desevere some major props.

For the boys, the Greensboro Day-Dudley matchup is one that has been drawn up somewhere above in Basketball Heaven.  Greensboro Day 11-1 and #1 seed, Dudley 8-1 and the #2 seed.  GDS topped Northeast Guilford 60-51 to reach the championship, while Dudley was wearing out Southwest Guiford, eliminating the Cowboys 80-49.  Last year in 2005, Dudley whipped SWG 103-55 in the semis.

The key to the Thursday title tilt will be JC.  That’s right, the key is JC.  Josh Chavis is the Dudley point guard and he runs the show.  Chavis plays nearly every minute of the game so his defense will be almost as crucial as his offense.  Let’s watch closely and see how the Bengals defend the Panther’s point guard.  Chavis can nail the 3 point shot on the outside and he can penetrate and dish off the ball to Kenny Belton and Brandon Pennix and other Panther big men on the inside.  Marcus Heath and Parrish Walker will also have to step up their game for Dudley.

The key will be JC.  Others may argue that the key will be JT.  JT instead of JC?  Johnny Thomas will have a major say so in the outcome of this game.  The Bengals inside star had 24 big points in the GDS win over NEG in the semifinal round.  Johnny Thomas will attend N.C. State in the fall of 2007 but he has unfinished business at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex.  Thomas could go two-for-two in Little Four Tourneys with a GDS win over Dudley on Thursday night.  Belton of Dudley and Thomas of GDS both got some rim-rattling dunks in their teams’ victories on Wednesday, but those type of plays will be much harder to come by in the Finals.

For the Bengals, Josh Lanham will need a huge game along with Bruce Woodall and Brandon Davis.  Davis is the Bengals DPG(Designated Point Guard).  Will the key be JC or JT?  Bengals coach Freddy Johnson told me late Wednesday night the key will be the man who covers JC.  Travis Leonard at six foot-three is the man who will be on JC.  Leonard is the Bengals best defender and he will get the assignment to guard Josh Chavis.

These should be excellent games for both the boys and girls so get out to the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center and enjoy the Little Four Finals on Thursday night with the girls game set to tip at 6pm and the boys go at it at 8:00.

Complete results from Wednesday:Girls—-Southwest Guilford 42-NEG 33, Smith 58-GDS 34, Page 51-Grimsley 49, Dudley 47-NWG 42………………….Boys Action:Grimsley 56-Smith 47, Page 41-NWG 40, Dudley 80-SWG 49, GDS 60-NEG 51……….Some good Consolation matchups on Thursday include girls Grimsley vs. NWG and boys Grimsley vs. Page and SWG vs. NEG……..Games got under way at 11am in the GBCSEC(Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center)

In radio news, Bill Kimm the morning host(9am-noon) on Sports Radio 790 the Ball is leaving the station at the end of this week.  BK is heading to Atlanta to join Turner Publications and write for NASCAR.com.  Kimm is also the program director for the Ball and we will find another Bill, Bill Rosinski in BK’s old spot come January 2nd.  Rosinski, out of Charlotte, the former play-by-play man for the Carolina Panthers of the NFL has a syndicated show that will run 10am-noon on 790 the Ball.  790 the Ball seems headed toward the network programming and syndication as Kimm exits and heads to Atlanta.  As BK heads away, the Bill Rosinski promos are already running hot and heavy on 790 the Ball.  In other radio news, Chris and Chris of ROCK 92 will send their morning show into syndication in January 2007. 

From High Point, the High Point Enterprise Classic will not accomplish what it set out to do if High Point Central and High Point Andrews end up playing in the Finals of that Tournament.  The High Point Central Athletic Director, Darrell Force, is headed to Northern Guilford the county’s newest school for 2007.  Central couldn’t get that basketball game with Greensboro Day so maybe now DF can line up NG to play GDS.

We have a Jim Ross-type blog today, a little long, but there sure was plenty to talk about and spread the word about greensborosports.com.  We had several people talking about the site at the Little Four.  Ben Derrick of Fitness Today and Millineum Real Estate and many others were talking it up on Wednesday night on AM 950 WPET and we will hit the air with Big Jim Modlin on Thursday night at 5:45 pm for the Girls and Boys championship games. That’s AM 950 WPET, “The Guilford County Sports Connection”.      

     

One thought on “Page Shocks WhirlieGirls:Day Two of the Pizza Hut Little Four Tournament/Bill Kimm Leaving 790 the Ball

  1. Andy i just wanted to take this timeout and say job well done you and Jim always does such a good job together… keeping us inform on the radio and with a awesome broadcast.
    It was a good tournament this year for the Pizza Hut Litte Four Invitational.. It was a lot of good games that went down to the wire…… This is what makes High School Basketball excting in Greensboro, NC …
    Greensboro Day has a real good team and they play together and they beleive in one of another…. My hats to goes off to the staff of GDS and the Dudley Panthers for bringing such a good game……
    Also i wanted to take the time to say to Coach Corbett and his staff for doing a good job in preparing for the wins against Smith and PAGE…… The Page game went into overtime and the Whirlies capture the victory with the play of senior guard Marlan Smith and JB Beloved and Keith Manley.
    Andy and Jim Happy New Year !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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