Charlottesville girls basketball is off to a big time start, and a huge third quarter Friday made sure the Black Knights kept things rolling.
Charlottesville beat Albemarle 50-34 Friday night on the road, storming out of halftime to outscore Albemarle 20-5 in the third quarter.
“Albemarle comes hard, they’re pretty relentless with the pressure, they have a lot of good guards that are great off the dribble and are good shooters,” said Charlottesville coach Jim Daly. “We just had to match their effort; I think that was the biggest thing. In the second quarter, we had a little dip in effort. And I think the girls responded really well.”
Both teams came out of the gate slow offensively but compensated by playing well defensively. With about four minutes remaining in the first quarter, Charlottesville was only up 4-0. Soon after, both teams began to pick it up offensively, ending the first quarter 12-8 Black Knights.
The Patriots dominated the second quarter, outscoring the Black Knights 14-6. Albemarle seniors Kaley Maynard and Lauren Grady carried the load for the squad both putting up five points in the period. Freshman Sophie Lynn, who made her first start for the Pats, put pressure on the opposing defense with her handles and threatening driving ability. Albemarle went into the locker room up 22-18, and confident about the momentum they had built.
Charlottesville had a complete change in momentum offensively out of the break. The Black Knights threatened Albemarle from the perimeter by hitting multiple threes. The road team found ways to space the floor, which opened up driving lanes for them. Rayquel Allen started getting more points in the paint and finished the quarter with five points. Avery Stavitski had a monster 2nd half and notched 16 points on the night.
Charlottesville effectively ended the game after the third quarter outscoring Albemarle 20-5. No one player for Albemarle could seem to get it going on either side of the court and the team had multiple costly turnovers. The Black Knights locked down the Patriots in the fourth quarter and time-managed the game when they could.
“Heading into winter break, this is a great win moving forward,” said Daly. “This is a tough place to win; it feels like two wins to win over here.”
After improving to 5-0, Charlottesville will face Broadway on Tuesday while Albemarle will take on Covenant on the 27th.
