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[kennedy]

‘There’s no quit’ in Tabb

By MARTY O’BRIEN
mobrien@dailypress.com | 247-4963

YORK — Jordan Brassell should have felt unadulterated joy. He had, after all, just played his best game of the season, scoring 17 points in leading Tabb High to an important 54-44 victory over Lafayette.
Instead, he choked back his tears as he talked afterward, a high school senior trying to comprehend the incomprehensible. Earlier in the day, Candice Couture, a Tabb senior, was killed in a car accident shortly after leaving school.
Brassell says she was a close friend during middle school, someone he still chatted with in the halls of Tabb High from time to time. He thought about her often Wednesday during the game.
"She was the nicest girl," he said. "I had her on my mind while I was playing and I know some of my teammates did, too.
"There were a lot of mixed emotions. You have to focus on the game, but I’d lose focus sometimes because I was thinking of her."
Tabb principal Laura Abel said she considered postponing the game after learning of Couture’s death earlier that afternoon. But numerous discussions with faculty, administrators and students convinced her not to postpone.
"I talked to Jake Evans, our senior class president, and I understood that the students wanted to be together because they needed that bonding experience," she said. "The Tabb community is a family that bonds together in a time of loss."
Brad Williams, a Tabb boys’ assistant coach and the head guidance counselor at the school, said the decision was appropriate.
"Everybody knows this is a loss, and I sense a lot of respect around here for that," he said. "But there’s no quit in these students, either."
The Tabb basketball team displayed its toughness during a roller coaster game against a talented opponent some expect to push it for the Bay Rivers District title. The Tigers (3-0) raced out to a 10-0 lead behind two 3-pointers by Brassell.
The Rams charged back to tie the game at 22-all behind the offense and defense of guard Art Crew. Crew scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the first half, including a 3-pointer to tie the game just ahead of the intermission buzzer.
Crew chased Tabb’s Steve Sherwood in the Rams box-and-one defense, and held the high-scoring guard to just seven points – 19 below his average. But the other Tigers stepped up. Elijah Chandler scored 11 points and Jon Dillard added nine.
Brassell made a basket as the third-quarter buzzer sounded to give the Tigers a five-point lead and momentum. He made 5-of-6 free throws in the fourth quarter and a key steal as the Tigers pulled away down the stretch.
Then he talked about the words of advice his coach, Doug Baggett, offered the team moments before they took the floor. They didn’t make the loss of his friend any less incomprehensible, but they got Brassell through the game.
"Coach Baggett told everybody that you have to make the most of your opportunities in life, because those opportunities are precious and you never know what could happen," Brassell said. "That definitely stuck with me, so I tried to take advantage of my opportunity and go after it."

good job tabb keep it up.

[Flying Fish]

Jordan is the STORMIN' MORMON!!!!!

hats off to tabb that win was for candice my thoughts are with her family my god be with them.

good start tabb keep up the good work.