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Nottoway girls take down Buckingham in JRD championship

Photo: Ryan Yemen

For the Buckingham County girls, this was the first step for a team loaded with sophomores and freshman and with just one senior on the roster. The Knights knew they faced an uphill battle with JRD regular season champion, Nottoway. But, at the same time, a tourney title game with the Cougars would only make them sharper heading into conference play next week. While Buckingham had a strong first quarter, the last 24 minutes of the game was Nottoway’s, as the Cougars put together a huge second frame to pave the way for a 55-21 win.

 

“We’re young, a little short on numbers and they’re an aggressive team that gives us trouble,” said Knights coach Kelly Chambers. “I think this will help playing seasoned teams and to work on not losing focus, fighting back.”

 

Buckingham had Nottoway’s attention early as they took a 4-0 lead midway through the first quarter. The Knights hung tough for the rest of the first as the Cougars responded, and while Nottoway went into the second up 8-7, that was a vast improvement from the previous two meetings.

 

“We didn’t run a press, didn’t want to play man-to-man because against them, you’re trying to preserve energy,” Chambers said. “That worked early on. But eventually the zone breaks down, they worked their around it and they have the offense to that.”

 

The Cougars outscored the Knights 14-3 in the second quarter to take a 22-10 advantage into halftime. And in the third, Nottoway poured in 23 points with field goals from seven different players. Micaila Coleman, who played at Buckingham her freshman year, led the third quarter with nine points. With the game at 45-19 heading into the fourth, the Cougars were in full control and did not relinquish it down the stretch to wrap up the win.

 

For Nottoway, Chanel Robinson finished with a game high 12 points while Coleman also finished in double figures with 11. Seven different Cougars had four or more points.

 

Buckingham was led by LeDetra Swan who had eight points. Shamari Wingfield had seven points.

 

The Knights will face a Courthouse (Conference 37) opponent on Thursday, TBA.

 

“We’ve made it further than we thought we would at the beginning of the season,” Chambers said. “We were hoping to be a top-4 team in the district, so getting to a championship game is great. I told the girls, we expect growth and good things going forward.”

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