Apparently one rough loss doesn’t mean it’s time to count out Charlottesville.
The Black Knights picked up a 41-34 win at previously undefeated Western Albemarle Friday night behind 17 points from junior guard Ellie Von Storch and 10 more from fellow junior Olivia Levine.
“[Levine] did a great job, as did Ellie Van Storch,” said Charlottesville coach Deanna Mitchelson. “I told them to take it strong to the basket and get to the line and they did and they were able to convert.”
Indeed, one of the keys of the game was free-throw shooting, with the Knights (2-1, 1-1) shooting over 50 percent from the line while the Warriors (3-1, 1-1 JD) struggled all night, making well under 50 percent of their shots from the charity stripe.
“We escaped William Monroe on Wednesday (because of free throws),” said Western coach Kris Wright. “William Monroe shot 8-of-16 from the free-throw line and we made 4-of-5. It seemed like the exact opposite tonight where we missed a bunch of free throws and the other team makes theirs and gets out with a win. You gotta make those. They are called free throws for a reason.”
Western struggled to make any kind of shot early on as the Knights’ defense was very active, something Mitchelson stressed to her players before the game.
“I told the girls before the game that our last two games we have held our opponents under 30 points,” she said. “But we need to let our defense carry our offense and I think they did a really good job fighting tough in the paint tonight and getting out on the shooters so I’m very proud of them.”
Warriors junior guard Kelsey Swanson kept Western in the game early with six first-half points but Charlottesville led 11-8 after one and 17-14 at the half. Western tied it at 17-all with six minutes left in the third — and even briefly held the lead — but could not sustain any momentum and the Knights led 27-23 after three.
“We didn’t change anything really [to get back in the game],” Wright said. “We slowed them down a little bit. They were getting all the loose balls and they were getting all the offensive rebounds early on.”
Charlottesville kept the Warriors mostly at bay throughout the fourth with the lead teetering around four or five points.
Swanson, who finished with 13 points, cooled off a little in the third but junior forward Ellen Shaffery picked up the slack, scoring nine of her 13 points in the second half.
“Ellen’s an extremely talented player who works really hard,” Wright said. “She can play inside or outside for us. I told her at halftime we needed her to score some points for us.”
The rest of the Warriors struggled though, and Wright said he’s looking for a third and fourth scorer.
“[Shaffery] and Kelsey are gonna hit between 10-15 points every night it seems like,” Wright said. “We need everyone else to be consistently scoring whatever they are gonna score so that we know what we’re gonna see every night on the scoreboard. If I know I’m gonna get 10-15 from two, I need to know where the other points are going to come from on a consistent basis.”
