Charlottesville used a 21-6 run in the second quarter and held Fluvanna County without a field goal for a span of over seven minutes, taking control of the game and advancing to the Jefferson District final with a 62-54 victory Monday night.
Charlottesville will square off with Western Albemarle for the fourth time this season in the JD title match at 6 p.m. at Louisa County Tuesday night.
The Black Knights got three consecutive fast-break layups, the first by Andrea Lefkowitz and two more off of steals by Lakasia Calloway, to go ahead 21-15 with five minutes to go in the second and force a Fluvanna timeout. That did little to stem the tide, however, as Kaniyah Key hit a pair of free throws and a layup to give CHS a double-digit lead for the first time on the evening.
Calloway scored 21 to lead the Black Knights, who will meet Western Albemarle Tuesday night for the district title. Leftkowitz added 13 and Key 11 for CHS.
“I thought our girls brought a lot of energy on both ends of the floor,” Charlottesville coach Jim Daly said. “I thought we got good ball pressure and I thought our inside girls did a good job rebounding in that second quarter.”
Calloway later hit a three in the run and the lead got as large as 17 before Nevaeh Ivory ended the Fluco drought with five points in the last 10 seconds of the half, including a banked-in three at the horn to trim the deficit to 34-22 at the break.
CHS forced 10 turnovers in the first half and 18 altogether.
“Our guards are still working on being strong with the ball, and they just get all up in you,” Fluvanna coach Chad White said. “They’re aggressive, and we weren’t able to combat that.”
Fluvanna continued to chip into the lead after halftime, getting the first five points of the quarter and managed to stay within single digits despite Calloway swishing a pair of threes from the left corner. It was 49-41 after three, and Calloway sandwiched a basket and an and-one around a trey from Kasey Lamb to open up a 57-43 lead with 5:42 to go, and the Flucos didn’t get it back into single digits till the final minute.
“Kasey did a great job ripping the ball away and turning defense into offense,” Daly said. “I was proud of our effort, we played it really tough tonight.”
Ivory’s game-high 28 paced Fluvanna, who also got eight points from Maya Wright. The Flucos will travel to Rustburg Friday night in the Region 3C tournament.
