Bruins no problem in victory

By Dave Utnik

Published: February 28, 2008

Danni Jackson stepped into the classroom that serves as a post-game gathering place for the Forest Park girls’ basketball squad Thursday night and greeted her teammates with a euphoric scream — one that came from the pit of her stomach and the depths of her soul.

The Bruins understood exactly how their point guard felt.

They’d just won their 17th consecutive game — trouncing Commonwealth District regular season champion Riverbend, 66-42, in the semifinals of the Northwest Region Tournament — and the universal sentiment was one of accomplishment and pride.

“I think everyone knew what we had to focus on,” junior center Briana Scott said. “And once we got together, I think everyone decided it was now or never and we went out and played as hard as we could.”

This is the time of year that Forest Park cherishes. Reaching the Group AAA state tournament has become something of a tradition and the Bruins (22-4) extended their streak of appearances to six behind a 20-point performance from Jackson and another smothering defensive effort.

After falling behind 7-0 to start the game, Forest Park scored 23 of the game’s next 25 points — a run capped by the first of Shayla Drakeford’s two 3-pointers — and easily advanced to Saturday’s 6 p.m. championship game against George Washington-Danville.

“We weren’t going to let them come into our house and push us around and just do whatever they wanted,” Jackson said. “We just had to go out and play.”

And, as usual, it was a group effort.

Forest Park countered the Bears’ height advantage with pressure defense and gutsy efforts by Scott (seven points, four steals) and Gerda Gatling (eight points, six rebounds) inside the lane.

Deidre Richardson combined for nine points and eight assists and Amber Epps had seven points, while Drakeford and Brittany Brown finished with six points each for Forest Park.

Riverbend (20-4) was led by Meredith Frye’s 18 points. But after qualifying for the state tournament three times in Group AA, the Bears managed only one field goal in the second quarter and trailed by 27 points after three periods.