Crossroads; Lady Ramstwo winners By Cal Bryant 02/25/2008 Just like the Daytona 500, our #8220;Super Bowl#8221; for this season is now complete. Crossroads #110; 2008 is in the history books. Last wee

Published 12:00 am Monday, February 25, 2008

Just like the Daytona 500, our “Super Bowl” for this season is now complete.

Crossroads n 2008 is in the history books. Last week, we here at the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald and Gates County Index put the finishing touches on our biggest and most popular special section of the year.

It was a labor of love…to say the least.

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Every year, our reporters go out into the communities served by The News-Herald and The Index to collect stories of the people, places and things that make our little corner of the state so unique. In the meantime, our advertising representatives sought support from our local businesses to help us publish this major project into a neat package that we all hope our readers enjoyed.

This year we went in search of how our actual crossroads, those quaint little communities, came into existence. We then paid our annual tribute to Black History Month within the “Pride” section of Crossroads. Week number three dealt with those blessed with musical talent in our four-county area followed by “Legends & Lore” n stories of those who helped shape our neck of the woods as well as tall tales from the past, some of which remain alive and well today.

If you missed Crossroads n 2008, inserted into each Saturday’s edition of The News-Herald and Wednesdays in The Index during February, we have additional copies here at our Ahoskie office. Call me at 332-7207 and I’ll make sure one is set aside in your name.

Be sure to patronize those advertisers that helped make this special edition possible.

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Congratulations are in order for the Ridgecroft School girls basketball team. For a while I was reliving a special moment in basketball history that occurred 25 years ago.

In 1983, my beloved NC State Wolfpack stunned the basketball world by taking a storybook ride through the NCAA D-1 men’s basketball tournament, polishing off that effort with an improbable upset of the highly regarded University of Houston Cougars.

Twenty-five years later, Ridgecroft’s Lady Rams came within one game of repeating the Wolfpack’s magical run.

Two weeks ago, Ridgecroft entered the Tarheel Independent Conference tournament coming off a two-game losing streak…not exactly the momentum a team needs heading into the post-season.

Not given much of a chance to win, all the Lady Rams accomplished, after winning their opening round game, was respectively knocking off the league’s #1 and #2 seeds and winning the tournament title.

That effort allowed Ridgecroft to gain a berth in last week’s prestigious North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association’s Class 1-A state tournament. Seeded seventh in a 16-team field, the Lady Rams punched their ticket to Raleigh by defeating Kerr-Vance Academy in round one. In the state capital, they stunned three-time defending state champion Gaston Day School in the quarterfinals before rallying past a familiar foe, TIC regular season champ Terra Ceia, in the semifinals.

On Saturday, Ridgecroft squared off against the state’s top-ranked team, Trinity Christian from Fayetteville. It would be an understatement to say that the Lady Rams were overmatched in the championship game, but you can’t win a state title if you don’t play for one and Ridgecroft was there!

Trinity was the real deal, worthy of their top billing. They were tall and talented; good shooters and excellent defenders. They won by 22 points, but Ridgecroft’s defeat was not a reflection of the effort they gave all year.

Congratulations to the Lady Rams, coaches Elton Winslow and Doug Cobbs and the Ridgecroft faithful who made the trip to Raleigh. You all represented our area with dignity and class….and in the larger scope of life, that is worth much more than a shiny piece of hardware.