Headlines

Johnson leads Orange girls past Madison

She hit 3-pointers from all over the floor, sunk shots underneath the hoop and hit her free throws. Sade Johnson did it all for the Orange County girls basketball team on Saturday and behind her 26-point performance the Hornets were able to knock off visiting Madison County 54-44.

“Sade really stepped up,” said Orange coach Dave Rabe. “There were times where she took some wild shots, but they fell for us tonight and so you’ve got to applaud that.”

One of those wild shots came at the end of the third quarter when the senior heaved the ball from nearly half court as time was expiring to put her team up by six points heading into the fourth quarter. In the previous three frames the Hornets also built six point leads only to have the Mountaineers cut the deficit down to one possesion shortly there after. However, that was not the case in the fourth quarter. This time Hornets’ lead stuck for good.

“This is the fifth game in a row that we’ve won and in all of those, in the fourth quarter we always come out strong,” Rabe said. “Sometimes the girls get lazy but when it comes to the fourth quarter they say ‘Okay, it’s now or never’ and they step up.”

Sophomore Paige Phillips contributed 10 points in the victory and gave the Hornets their fifth straight game with at least two players in double figures.

In the meeting in the December between these two teams Madison guard Jordan Aylor went off for 26 points in a loss. This time around the Hornets tried to bottle up the junior using a box-and-one but Aylor still found a way to lead her team with 13 points. With just a two possesion lead at the the half, the Hornets decided to switch back to their standard defense — the two-three zone.

“Jordan will always have the green light,” said Madison coach Katherine Johnson. “But tonight I thought the other kids did a good job of contributing.”

Caitlyn Ford joined Aylor in double-digit scoring by putting up 10 points.

Looking to slow things down, the Mountaineers took their time on offense in the game’s first 24 minutes, but as the Hornet’s deficit grew from two possesions to three and four with the clocking melting away, the pace picked up and wound up working in Orange’s favor.

“We allowed them to run too much in the fourth,” Johnson said. “In the first three quarters I thought we did a good job of controlling the tempo of the game.”

Madison (0-5) will travel to Fluvanna County on Monday at 7:30 p.m.

Orange (5-3) will host Western Albemarle on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

 

 

Comments

comments