Martha Apple poured in 24 points while grabbing eight rebounds and William Monroe used a 24-0 run in the second quarter to race past visiting Thomas Jefferson 56-34 in the first round of the Region 3B girls playoffs Friday night in Stanardsville.
The Dragons led 12-9 after a slow-paced first quarter, but Apple, who had four old-fashioned three-point plays in the half, opened the scoring in the quarter with her second and after a basket from TJ’s Laya Williams on the Vikings’ next possession, they didn’t score again for the rest of the half.
By then, Monroe had built a 39-11 lead. The Dragons forced six Jefferson turnovers in the quarter and Apple had 14 of the points in the run. TJ couldn’t help itself from the line, either, going 0-for-8 for a span bridging the halves.
“I think we all realized we needed to step up our intensity after the first quarter,” Apple said, “We got a couple of hustle plays to start the second and that set us off.”
Iyanna Carey added 10 points and Hailey Morris nine for the Dragons, who had 12 steals as a team.
“I felt like we needed a boost of energy, especially when you get them on defense they turn into offense,” Monroe coach Jess Stafford said. “Iyanna was a force — defensively she stepped it up for us.”
Monroe went cold in the third, scoring just five points while committing six turnovers, but it hardly mattered as the Vikings gave it away seven times before scoring their next point when Meyahiah Lawrence split a pair of free throws with 1:50 to go in the quarter. The Dragons led 44-17 after three.
“Attacking the basket was another emphasis in the second quarter,” Stafford said. “We kept repeating ‘feed the post.’ We’d been working on it in practice pretty hard.”
A pair of threes by Brianna Gary kept the score from getting too lopsided, but the Vikings could get no closer than 18 in the fourth. Gary had 13 points to lead TJ while Jayla Henderson chipped in with 11.
Monroe will take on Skyline in the regional semifinals Tuesday night at Orange County High School.
