Headlines

Imovbioh, Bolin pace STAB to win over Western

She was double and sometimes triple-teamed. She took shots from all over the court, whether it was from long-range or underneath the basket. She worked her way through countless box-outs with relative ease while also forcing turnovers on defense.

Sarah Imovbioh did it all on Wednesday night. And with the help of five 3-pointers from teammate Addi Bolin, Imovbioh and St. Anne’s-Belfield were able to win a tight contest against Western Albemarle on the road, 63-58.

“The key to our success is always our supporting cast,” said Saints coach Phil Stinnie. “Sarah works so hard that she’s going to consistently get her points and her rebounds, but that’s all easier for her when she has the help of the supporting cast.”

With a scout from Louisiana State in the crowd to see her play, Imovbioh did not disappoint. The 6-foot-2 junior led all scorers with 34 points and hauled in an impressive 19 rebounds to go along with five steals – but were it not for Bolin’s 3-point shooting in the second and third quarters, the Saints would have found themselves in a significant hole.

The Warriors were able to clamp down on Imovbioh with their zone defense early in the second quarter. Western forced STAB into committing a handful of turnovers as they tried to work the ball into their star player inside. And on the other side of the court, Ellen Shaffrey and Carolyn Schneller were able to help the Warriors to take an 8-point lead midway through the second frame.

But with the zone clustering around Imovbioh, Bolin knocked down a pair of 3-pointers in the final minutes of the first half and the Saints were able to trim the lead to four points before the third quarter.

Western came out hot in the second half and immediately pushed its lead back up to eight, but Bolin again took advantage of the open looks from beyond the arc and STAB got to within three points of the lead in the final minutes of the third frame.

“Addi knocked enough of those shots down that we had to move away from the zone,” said Warriors coach Kris Wright. “We went back to man and then our ball pressure didn’t match up to theirs and we weren’t able to protect our lead.”

The fourth quarter belonged to Imovbioh as she was able to create offense at the top of the key with her jump shot while also attacking the basket for easy layups.

“I just had to step up as a team leader,” Imovbioh said. “I was happy with the way things were going because (Western) had a lot of height and we didn’t really believe in ourselves early on.”

St. Anne’s claimed its first lead of the second half two minutes into the final period, and went up by as many as seven points before the Warriors closed the gap to just three points in the closing minutes of the game.

However, just as the Western offense began to find it’s wheels, the  clock became their biggest enemy, and the Saints did not faulter under the Warrior press.

“It was a good, fun game between two good teams,” Wright said. “This will be a good learning experience for us. Having to guard a player like (Imovbioh) and a shooter like (Bolin) will help us down the road.”

Shaffrey led Western with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Schneller finished with 11 points. Raven Ward and Lexy Eckerle each finished with six points.

STAB’s scoring line wasn’t quite as balanced. While Imovbioh tallied up 34 points, Bolin finished the game with 17. The two scored 42 of their team’s first 49 points and when the game was all said and done, the duo was responsible for 80 percent of the Saints’ total offense.

St. Anne’s (7-3) will host Episcopal on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Western Albemarle (10-5) will jump back into Jefferson District play when they head to Charlottesville on Friday at 6 p.m.

Comments

comments