Three teams from three different schools — Friday was a full slate of private school basketball. And in a fine example of Central Virginia basketball showcasing its skill level, Blue Ridge on the boys side and St. Anne’s-Belfield and Miller School on the girls all earned their shot at a state title on Saturday.
Saints exact revenge
Everyone knows everyone this time around. This year’s final four is the same as last, with a little shuffling seed wise. Last year Hampton Roads Academy narrowly defeated St. Anne’s-Belfield in the VISAA Division 2 semifinals. This time around, the outcome was decided quite a bit earlier.
Behind a 30-point 27-rebound performance from Sarah Imovbioh and a strong second half from Lexie Peck, STAB dispatched the Navigators 61-41 to earn a trip to the state championship game.
“This is something we’ve thought a lot about because we were so close last year,” said Saints coach Phil Stinnie. “We made a few mistakes last year. This year we’ve been a lot more focused on ourselves and not our opponents and it’s worked out well for us.”
St. Anne’s took control of the contest early with Imovbioh dominating play underneath the basket. After giving her team an 8-point lead in the first quarter, the Saints senior doubled the margin by the end of the half, scoring 25 of her team’s first 30 points while collecting an insane 23 rebounds.
“Last year, we weren’t able to beat their defense,” Imovbioh said. “Everyone came out ready to play today.”
Imovbioh sat out the majority of the second half, but even without the University of Virginia commit, the Saints continued to roll as Peck stepped up and took over on offense, eventually scoring 16 points.
“Lexie’s been really aggressive for us,” Stinnie said. “Last year she couldn’t play for us here because she was in a boot. That’s all she’s been thinking about and talking about — that she was going to make amends for that. She’s excited about playing and it shows.”
In addition, STAB got a handful of steals from Addi Bolin that led to her seven points on the day.As a result, what was a comfortable double-digit lead quickly led to a runaway with the Saints going up by as many as 27 points. The STAB bench finished the game off in the fourth and the school is now in position to win its first state title since 2005.
St. Anne’s (21-1) will play Cape Henry Collegiate for the Division 2 championship on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Benedictine High in Richmond.
Mavericks set to defend title
Miller sized up its opponent and took a straight forward approach against Wakefield. The Mavericks were tall, their opponents were noticeably smaller. So Kelsey Corcoran and Ashleigh Claybrooks exploited that advantage. The two owned the block in their team’s VISAA Divison 3 semifinal, and after the first quarter, the game was never in question as Miller rolled to a 61-41 win.
“They were definitely smaller than us so we decided we should go inside and then come back outside,” said Mavericks coach James Braxton. “That’s what we’ve been doing and so it definitely worked out for us.”
At first it was Cocoran hitting five foot jumpers and collecting rebounds. Then it was Claybrooks. There was littile answer for one, and no answer for two. The Mavericks built up 10-point lead early into the afternoon against the Eagles and stayed on cruise control with the passing game shredding the opposing defense.
“Our guards see the court really well,” Claybrooks said. “That made it easy for us.”`
Whether it was on inbounds plays, the half court set or on defense, Wakefield simply could not keep pace with the defending champs. Miller continued to roll all the way through the second and third quarters, getting up by as many as 30 points with quard Ashley Bowles finding her two post players with ease. Throw in a few long range jumpers from Bowles, and the second half was a breeze, allowing the bench to finish off the fourth quarter.
“We just went out and played basketball,” Corcoran said. “There really wasn’t anything hard about it. We just did our thing.”
Corcoran led all scorers with her 22 points while Claybrooks was close behind with 20. Both had eight rebounds. Bowles finished with 10 points.
The Mavericks, the defending champions, will look for their second straight state championship today at 3 p.m. at Benedictine High in Richmond.
Barons match up with speedy Panthers
True to form over the last few weeks, the Blue Ridge players are neither excited, nor disappointed. They’ve been playing for this one game for a long time, and now it’s finally come. The Barons broke the press, they matched the speed of the opponent, outmuscled them down low, and rode an early start to a comfortable lead. Paul VI never led in Friday night’s VISAA Division 1 semifinals, and so for the third straight season, Blue Ridge is off the title game after an 80-64 win.
“That’s a quick team and we’re a little bigger,” Ramsey said. “They’ve got some shooters, they’re real fast so what we needed to was adjust to that tempo. We had to get back on defense, but we didn’t want to slow down. We still pushed the ball tonight because we’ve got so many finishers, we just had to collapse on defense. It’s kind of a double-sided coin. We’re not slowing down.”
Blue Ridge has always made a name for itself with its man-to-man defense, but even with a zone approach against the Panthers, the Barons played their same brand of basketball.
It was Malick Kone who sparked Blue Ridge early on. The senior had his way to open up the game, but when forward Cameron Anderson hit the bench because of foul trouble, Andre Roberts provided a the spark in the second quarter. The Barons rolled off to a 7-0 start only to have the Panthers storm back and keep it tight, but Robert’s 8-point burst (two 3-pointers and a pair of free throws) in the second gave Blue Ridge a double digit lead.
In the third quarter Paul VI cranked up the pressure with their press, but the speed and passing from guards Chad Holley and Darryl Smith easily broke down the defensive ploy and set up Blue Ridge’s post players for easy finishes.
The Barons went up by 15 early in the third, saw a run shrink the lead to eight, but worked the margin right back up to 15 shortly thereafter. The Saints tried their best in the last minute to foul their way back into the contest, but it was to no avail.
So this Blue Ridge squad, most of whom came just one win away from a state title last year, is right back where it was one year ago.
“There’s no celebration tonight, we need to focus on who we play tomorrow,” Kone said. “If we win tomorrow we can celebrate then.”
Kone led Blue Ridge with 22 points. Just behind him were Isaiah Battle and Smith. The two both had 12 points, and Smith, just a sophomore, also had eight rebounds.
“Chad and I have this chemistry,” Smith said. “(Against the press) if we can get the ball up the court then we get the ball to Isaiah, or Cameron underneath the basket for an easy layup.”
Watching Holley and the young Smith tear apart that press wasn’t much of a surprise to Ramsey. In fact, watching Smith play up to the level of the Blue Ridge seniors is something Ramsey’s come accustomed to.
“He’s something,” Ramsey said of Smith. “He’s starting as a sophomore for reason. We see it in practice everyday. As good as he’s been, it’s going to be really interesting to see what he gets to do the next two years after this.”
Holley finished with nine points and despite battling foul trouble much of the game, Anderson added seven.
Blue Ridge battles for its coveted state title today at 5:30 p.m. at Virginia State University.
