Roberts thrives at line for King's Fork

SUFFOLK

A little advice for future opponents of the King's Fork girls basketball team: Don't foul Chantel Roberts.

Roberts broke open a tight, physical Southeastern District match-up Thursday night with an 8-for-8 effort from the foul line in the last 1:24 to spark the Bulldogs to a 64-52 victory over Grassfield.

With two games left in league play, the win put the Bulldogs on the brink of their first district title since 2008. King's Fork (17-2 overall, 15-1 district) needs to only win once against either Hickory or Lakeland.

If Roberts has any more opportunities from the line, that won't be a problem. She is shooting 100 percent from the foul line in the past three games.

"I knew I had to hit them for us to win," said the left-hander who does everything else right-handed. "I work on them every day... 15 minutes or more."

King's Fork held a four-point lead over the Grizzlies (16-4, 14-2) when Roberts first went to the line. She then put her team up by eight 14 seconds later.

After Dericka Sims hit 1 of 2 free throws for Grassfield, Roberts went back to the line with 53 seconds left and canned two more.

Six seconds later, she nailed her final two to give her team a 60-49 lead.

"Those were big," King's Fork coach Maurice Fofana said. "She takes it seriously."

The teams stayed close throughout most of the game, but

the towering inside combination of Khadedra Croker and Delisia Sharpe was too much for Grassfield.

"We can deal with one, but they've got two big girls in there," Grassfield coach Mike Hyman said.

The 6-foot-3 Croker finished with a triple-double, scoring a game-high 24 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and blocking 10 shots. Sharpe, 6-4, had 10 points and 13 rebounds. Roberts' free throws were her only points of the game, but she also had 10 rebounds.

Courtni Williams scored 14 points to lead Grassfield. Nola Anderson, playing with a bad leg cramp for much of the second half, had 12 and Tajee Pledger had 11.

Lee Tolliver, 757-222-5844, lee.tolliver@pilotonline.com