Richmond, VA -- The Gate City Blue Devils defeated

Altavista 44-43 Thursday night in the semi-finals of the state tournament played

at Virginia Commonwealths' Alltel Pavillion in the Siegel Center. The Blue

Devils will play Clarke County for the state championship at 1:00 P. M.

Saturday.

The much-anticipated battle between Gate City and Floyd Co. will not happen as

Clarke County's Girls ended the Lady Devils season 50-37 in the six o'clock

game.

Jamie Hackney, for the third time since Region

play began, gave Gate City new life by hitting a game-deciding shot. The Gate

City junior canned a 12-foot jumper from the key with :30 seconds left in the

game to give the Blue Devils a one-point, 44-43 lead. With neither team in foul

trouble, Gate City had two team fouls and Altavista with four worked in the Blue

Devils favor in the last half-minute of the game.

pass back out with 21.1 left and the Devils called time. Gate City fouled the

Colonels for their third team foul with 17.7 left. Cody Salyer intercepted the

attempted in-bounds pass with 14.2 ticks left, the Colonels fouled Gate City

three more times in six seconds, The Blue Devils went to the free-throw line

with 8.8 seconds left but missed, Altavista rebounded and attempted a shot with

:03 seconds left that missed and Gate City was heading to State Finals.

Hackney, also picked up the 1000th point of his High School career in the third

quarter. The 6-3 Junior needed seven points to reach the magic plateau. Hackney

scored16 in the game for the Devils.

"This was definitely one of the biggest games of my career," said

Hackney, "My one thousandith point couldn't have come at a better

time."

Gate City trailed by five, 38-33 with four minutes left in the fourth quarter

and things didn't look good, however Hackney connected on a 3-pointer to pull

the Devils within two, 38-36. Tihlee Anderson, who would drive on Shaquille

O'Neill if he was blocking his path to the rim, drove the lane for a bucket to

tie the game 38-38.

Devon McRae hit a three-pointer to put the Colonels back up by three, 41-38.

Freshman Trevor Smith got inside for a bucket. Roger Woodruff, who scored 10 in

the game for Altavista, hit a lay-up to put the Colonels up 43-40 with 1:45

left. Hustling Steven Williams, with a nice pass from Anderson, brought the Blue

Devils to within one 43-42, and set the stage for Hackney's big shot.

"Give Altavista's players and coach Mike Cartolario a lot of credit, it

took us a whole half to figure them out," said Gate City coach Scotty

Vermillion, "I want to give our kids that don't get a lot of ink, Tyler

Parks, Steven Williams, Matthew Bays, a lot of credit for the job they are

doing. I think they got tired down the stretch and they also hit some big

three's that we weren't ready for," added Vermillion.

Gate City trailed after one quarter 10-6, as Altivista scored the last seven

points. The Colonels ran off six in a row to start period two to take a 16-6

lead with 5:43 left until half-time. Gate City fought back, as Tihlee Anderson,

who tallied 19 in the game to lead all scores, scored five for the Devils in the

second period.

"We just wanted to take care of the ball," said Anderson, "They

were in my face all night and that was a challenge that I accepted," added

Anderson.

Gate City outscored Altivista 15-10 in the third quarter to tie the game at,

30-30, heading to the final period. Anderson led the Devils attack with eight

points.

The Colonels were led in scoring by Devon McRae with 14 points, that included

two big 3-pointers.

"They made plays down the stretch. Hackney took over late," said

Altivista coach Mike Cartolario, "Anderson is a terrific player for Gate

City. He controlled the tempo. It was a game played extremely hard defensively.

You always feel that a team will come back in a game like this. The Gate City

pressure was relentlous."

Gate City connected on 21 of 46 shots for 46 per-cent. Altavista was 25-66 for

39 per-cent. Gate City had a big edge in rebounding 32-15. Matthew Bays pulled

off seven boards and rejected four Colonel shot attempts. Gate City will face

Clark County Saturday at 1:00 P. M. for all the marbles.

The Gate City Lady Devils' dream of two consecutive state championships ended on

a sour note as Clarke County defeated the Devils 50-37. The game took a dramatic

turn in the Eagles' favor with 7:41 left in the third quarter as Haley Odle, the

Blue Devils' leading scorer for the season, picked up her fourth foul and was

taken out of the game. Clarke County ran off 12 straight points to take the lead

33-24, the Eagles outscored Gate City in the quarter, 15-6, to lead 36-30 at the

end of three periods. Gate City had seven turnovers in the decisive quarter.

The Eagles continued to soar, outscoring Gate City, 6-0, to begin the last

quarter and take a 42-30 lead, with 5:00 minutes left in the game. Odle

re-entered the game after sitting out eight minutes and scored four quick points

to pull the Devils to within eight, 42-34, with four minutes left. It was too

little, too late for the Devils.

Taylor Warner squashed the Devils comeback attempt by scoring eight points down

the stretch. Warner led Clarke County in the game with 21 points.

"We won't let this one game spoil our season," said Gate City coach

Hugh Godsey. "These girls have raised our program to a different level. My

biggest disappointment is that I won't get to coach these girls in basketball

any more. We fell apart in the third quarter with turnovers and failed to

rebound the ball; we didn't get many shots off in the third quarter."

Gate City led after the first quarter 9-7 and was still up 24-21 at half-time.

Haley Odle led the Devils in scoring with 17. Gate City lost the turnover battle

27-22.

"I'm extremely pleased with our effort," said Clarke County coach Tim

Lawrence. "Gate City has been great champions. I knew they would be tough.

We've been a second half team all year. We played without any fear, we are

thrilled to be playing for a state championship." Gate City defeated Clarke

Co. for the state championship in 2006. "We've thought a lot about Gate

City since last year," added Lawrence.

GATE CITY (26-4) -- Haley Odle 7 1-2 15, He. Odle 2 2-4 6, Bishop 2 3-6

7, Woods 0 2-2 2, Musick 2 2-2 6, Horner 0 0-0 0, Burke 0 0-0 0, Vermillion 0

1-3 1

Clarke County (25-4) -- Taylor Warner 7 8-10 21, Maddie Crosby 4 3-5 11,

Payton 1 3-4 6, Chrane 1 0-0 2, Hobbs 1 1-1 3, Moyer 3 1-2 7, Totals 18 17-25 50

Three Point Goals: Gate City 0; Clarke Co. 3,

(Moyer, Warner, Payton)

Boys Game -- Gate City 44, Altavista 43

GATE CITY (24-5) -- Tihlee Anderson 8 3-4 19, Jamie Hackney 7 1-1 16,

Parks 0 0-1 0, Bays 1 0-0 2, Salyer 1 0-0 3, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Collette 0 0-0

0, Smith 1 0-0 2, Williams 1 0-0 2, Totals 21 4-6 44

ALTAVISTA (24-4) -- Devon McRae 6 0-0 14, Roger Woodruff 5 0-2 10, Hall

1 0-0 3, Foxx 0 0-0 0, Douglas 2 0-0 6, Hunt 0 0-0 0, Monroe 1 0-0 2,

Poindexter 3 0-0 8, Totals 25 0-2 43

Gate City     6     9   

Three Point Goals: Gate City 2, (Hackney, Salyer), Altivista 7, (Hall, McRae

2, Douglas 2, Poindexter 2)

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