By Logan Riddick / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
As she stepped to the foul line to shoot a pair with Charlottesville trailing 7-2 late in the first quarter of Monday’s 4A North Tournament Quarterfinal, senior guard Tamara Starchia was sure of the problem. After examinations and conferences involving referees, team captains, and coaches, the appropriate 28.5” ball was summoned to the floor to replace the NCAA men’s ball used for the first 6:05 of play.
“I thought it gave us a second to catch our breath and settle on offense,” said Charlottesville coach Jim Daly. “We rushed some things early on, we didn’t finish great, but the last few games we haven’t let offensive setbacks affect defense. It might go in, it might not, but we can still keep getting stops.”
The Black Knights closed the quarter with eight straight points, including three jumpers from Destinee McDonald off the bench, as part of an 11-0 run that lasted nearly nine minutes. With ice-cold shooting by visiting Carroll County, second-seeded Charlottesville gradually pulled away in the second half to advance with a 41-31 victory.
“We just couldn’t get the basketball to fall in the hole,” said Carroll County coach Marc Motley. “I had us for 12/56 from the field. I don’t know how to fix that. I did tell that ref when it was 12-7, ‘man, go back and get that boys ball.’”
Carroll County posted just four points in the second quarter as Charlottesville surged ahead. Mattie Kennedy hit a floater with 1:04 left in the half, the Cavaliers’ first points since Megan Anderson’s three-pointer at the 2:50 mark of the first quarter had opened a five-point lead. After Sami Reece’s lay-in closed the deficit to 13-11, Bri Jordan sent the Knights into the break with momentum as her offensive rebound and put-back just beat the buzzer.
Charlottesville continued to take advantage of second chances in the third. Junior center Raylaja Waller started things with a rebound and put-back, and moments later Kendall Ballard’s inside bucket-and-foul prompted a Carroll County timeout as the lead hit double digits.
“Kendall was first team all-district and a great player who facilitates it so well,” said Daly about his junior forward who turned in a double-double with a game-high 10 points and 11 rebounds. “I thought Bri was fantastic on the boards, and Raylaja and Kendall, the three of them combined got a lot of offensive rebounds and snuck in there and got two here or there that really made a difference when points were tough to come by.”
Carroll County could pull no closer than eight points down the stretch, as freshman guard Alaijah Ragland hit a three for Charlottesville with 3:03 remaining, and Starchia executed a steal-and-score to give the Knights their biggest lead of 40-27 with 1:48 to play.
McDonald finished with eight points and three steals for Charlottesville. Starchia added seven points and six rebounds, while Jordan posted six points and nine rebounds.
“They just absolutely destroyed us on the boards,” Motley said. “I had 19 offensive rebounds for them. That’s 19 possessions that we don’t get. Just like a turnover in my book, so we’ve got to get a little tougher physically.”
Kennedy and Crysta Guynn each scored seven to lead Carroll County (19-5).
“We had a game plan and stuck to it and tried to chase them off the three-point line as much as we could,” Daly said. “They’re the best shooting them we’ve seen this year. We just tried to scrap and claw wherever we could to take them out of that.”
Charlottesville (18-9) will host a 4A North semifinal on Wednesday night at 7:00.
