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Salem bound: Charlottesville’s girls secure state berth with overtime win over Freedom

Charlottesville’s girls basketball team earned the right to host a region playoff game with a Conference 23 title. A coin flip didn’t go their way though, so the Black Knights hit the road Tuesday night to face Freedom High in South Riding.

 

That coin flip couldn’t stop the Black Knights though.

 

Charlottesville shook off a long road trip in the second quarter and edged out Freedom in overtime 49-43 behind a balanced offensive effort and a stingy performance defensively, holding Freedom to just a single bucket in overtime.

 

“We fought hard for every possession from start to finish tonight against a very strong Freedom team,” said Charlottesville coach Jim Daly. “We knew we would have to be focused on every possession — especially on defense.”

 

The victory earns Charlottesville a state playoff berth in the Group 4A tournament as well as advancing them to the Region 4A West semifinals. With eight teams going to the state tournament, a region quarterfinal victory puts a squad in the mix. The Black Knights will play in Salem March 2. They’ll face Millbrook in the region semifinals as they jockey for position in the state tournament.

 

The first quarter didn’t go to plan though and Charlottesville had to quickly work out of an 11-3 hole. With the help of three 3-pointers in the second (two from Alajiah Ragland, one from Destinee McDonald), Charlottesville surged ahead to a 19-18 lead and a 16-7 advantage in that second quarter alone.

 

“We talked at the end of the quarter about how we had to dig in on defense, especially if our shots weren’t falling and focused on trying to keep them below 20 by halftime,” Daly said. “We found some openings in their zone and were able to kick out for a couple of big threes.”

 

That wasn’t an easy assignment for the defense to hold Freedom under 20 as Jaelyn Batts, Freedom’s hyper-athletic wing and the Confernce 22 player of the year, led the way for Freedom with 16 points. But the Black Knights countered with a heavy dose of  Zanequa Thomas in the second half. Thomas took advantage of Freedom’s aggressive zone by attacking off the dribble.  She scored all all 14 of her points in the 2nd half and overtime while also setting up the Black Knights’ forwards with some savvy passing, including Kajesha Taylor who led the way inside with 12 points.

 

Freedom’s Sidney Kim, a senior point guard hit a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left to tie the game and force overtime after a pair of last second heaves, one by CHS, the other by Freedom came up short.

 

In overtime it was more Thomas for the Black Knights as she attacked the rim early and dished it to Taylor for a lay-in and then drew a foul and hit two free throws for a four-point lead. Thomas and McDonald went a combined 6-for-8 from the free throw line to put the game away in overtime. The Black Knights were solid at the charity stripe all night, going 16-for-21 for the game.

“Winning three conference championships and making the regional playoffs four years in a row has been an amazing ride with these girls, but advancing to the regional semifinals tonight, which also gets us into the state tournament, was a clear goal for this team and it took everything we had tonight to accomplish that,” Daly said.

 

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