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Fundamentals fuel Patriots past Mustangs

Coming off of a tough loss to Mountain View the night before, Albemarle coach Anita Jenkins was concerned that her team might not come out in full force on short rest for their game against Monticello on Saturday. But those concerns were put to bed early as the Patriots played pressure defense and held off an early second half run from the Mustangs to pick up an out of district win, 67-50.

“After last night, and how intense that game was, I was wondering if we could bring the same intensity back,” Jenkins said. “I thought that for the most part, we did. We shot well in the first half, not quite as well in the second, but we were able to make a lot of free throws and that was key down the stretch.”

Albemarle pressed Monticello early, and the decision to amp up the pressure paid off as Tamika Lewis and Abby Hendrix were able to force a slew of Monticello turnovers. Lewis and teammates Kya Francisco and CJ Jackson flipped those turnovers into points both in transition and at the foul line to give their team a 12-point lead heading into halftime.

“We didn’t execute our press-break the way we wanted to,” said Monticello coach Mike Mountjoy. “We had not seen a press in a while, and mainly because we had been dealing with it so well before this. Tonight it just wasn’t our night, and we as coaches, we’ve got to go back and make sure that we get back to doing the things we need to do on that press-break.”

The Mustangs came out hot in the third quarter, and Lisa Marshall provided the spark with eight straight points that included a pair of 3-pointers. As a result, midway through the third quarter, Monticello found itself within three points of the lead.

“Lisa had a great night,” Mountjoy said. “She did a great job of being diverse on offense. She hit her threes — and that’s her bread and butter — but she also drove in and took it all the way into the hole as well.”

However, that was the closest that the Mustangs would get. In the fourth quarter the Albemarle offense came to life and Francisco and Jackson started attacking the basket and continued to sink their free throws to put Albemarle back up by double digits.

“Compared to last night, we did a much better job of boxing out and getting put-backs,” Francisco said. “As far as free throws, that’s something we worked on really hard last week and its shown both last night (against Mountain View) and tonight.”

Trailing by 10 in the final minutes of play, Monticello tried to foul its way back into the contest, but the Patriots continued to knock down their opportunities at the charity stripe.

“One the things that Albemarle did all night was hit their free throws,” Mountjoy said. “That really closed the door on us very effectively.”

Jackson led all scorers with 20 points, with Francisco and Lewis not far behind with 19 and 17 respectively. Francisco also hauled in seven rebounds and hit nine of 10 from the foul line. Hendrix put together a quality night with her 7-point, 8-rebound, 5-steal performance.

For the Mustangs, Marshall poured in 19 points, 15 of which came on 3-pointers. Carla Brooks put up a double-double with her 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Albemarle (6-9) will host Massaponox on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Monticello (6-9) will travel to Goochland on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

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