Burns High School - Blazes Yearbook (Lawndale, NC)

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TOP LEFT: Gail Williams puts the ball up over her Shelby opponent. TOP RIGHT: Gail Williams takes the ball to the hoop for two in the game against Crest. BOTTOM: Senior Lorna Withrow intimidates her opponent on the inbounds pass in the Shelby game. 22 Basketball

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ot aati! Hirata ! Aili Hi my ory 0 ©? i. TOP — With less than two minutes to go in the District 7 finals against R. S. Central, Doug Sim- mons shoots a 15 foot jumper. He missed the shot and the score remained 58-49 in favor of R. S. Central. BOTTOM — Late in the third quarter versus R. S. Central in the SWC finals, Charles Walton works the base line. READY AND WAITING With a third place season finish, the Bulldogs went into the Confer- ence Tournament ready and optimis- tic. In the first round, Burns smashed the East Gaston Warriors 75-58. Es- tablishing a quick tempo in the sec- ond quarter, Burns burried the War- riors with the fast break. Bernard Brooks led the scoring drive with 18 points, while Edward Hopper added 14, Doug Simmons had 12, and Dar- ryl Robbs had 10. “This was one of our best games overall,’’ said coach George Hall about the R.S. Central game. He add- ed, ‘‘We handled their press well and did a good job scoring off their inside game.’ Burns was defeated 74-70. ‘‘We had at least four oppor- tunities,’’ coach Hall said. ‘‘We mis- sed a three-on-one layup that could have put us ahead. If we got the lead, it could have made a difference. Each time we missed, they came back and hit and got us down.” Edward Hop- per led Burns’ board display with 15 rebounds while Doug Simmons had nine. Burns lost Simmons, Darryl Robbs, and Bernard Brooks due to fouls. “T’m proud of the effort,’’ coach Hall said. ‘‘We came back at least three times. We’re playing our best ball heading into the district.’’ In the first round of the District 7 Tournament, Burns’ defeated Mooresville 75-66 advancing them into the semi-final round. Burns then defeated Kings Mountain 52-51 to put them into the championship game against R. S. Central. R. S. Cent- ral defeated Burns 84-71 for the championship. Basketball 21

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TOP — The “Lady Bulldogs” huddle around coach Pruett for some mid-game strategy. MIDDLE LEFT — Beverly Wright shoots a shot over two North Gaston players. MIDDLE RIGHT — Annette Whitworth shoots a crucial i q free throw in the game against Shelby. BOT- TOM — After the rebound, the Lady Bulldogs drive down the court in the first quarter against Chase. SILL WAS Tiille en The girls’ varsity basketball team finished the season with an explosive 13-5 record. The key to the team’s suc- cess was the experience of the six re- turning varsity players. In the first six games of the season, Burns lost only one game, to Crest by a score of 51-42. Gail Williams put up a nobel effort to save the game by scoring twelve points and Denise Williams had fourteen rebounds. The Lady Bulldogs’ winning streak was interrupted when Shelby defeated Burns 47-36. Burns returned and beat North Gaston 55-42 with Annette Whitworth having most rebounds and Gail Williams as high scorer. The girls then lost to East Gaston by a score of 56-50 and to R.S. Central by a score of 56-54 Next came what proved to be the most exciting game of the season with Crest losing to the Bulldogs 51-50 in overtime. In the fourth quarter with six seconds left on the clock, the Chargers led by two points, but Burns executed well after a missed free throw. Beverly Wright got control of the ball and made a lay-up, but was fouled as the buzzer sounded. The successful free throw with no time remaining brought another Bulldog victory. Burns kept on winning for the next four games. Beverly Wright was the high scorer in each game with an aver- age of twenty points per game. The girls then lost to Shelby with Beverly having fifteen points in the 52-42 game. There was a 57-27 victory over North Gaston and in the last game of the sea- son, the Lady Bulldogs defeated East Gaston 61-50 with Gail Williams scor- ing twenty points. Basketball 23