After the first quarter, it looked like a promising fight. Orange County was knocking down 3-pointers with ease and the Western Albemarle was doing its thing in the paint. But behind a big second quarter run, a tight contest quickly turned into a rout with the Warriors coming out on top, 66-41, earning a spot in the Jefferson District tournament championship.
“We picked it up defensively,” said Western coach Kris Wright. “We take pride in defense and we let them score so much early on that we really wanted to buckle down.”
The Hornets jumped out to a 16-10 in the first seven minutes of the game behind a trio of 3-pointers, but in a stretch between the end of the first quarter and the halftime buzzer, the Warriors peeled off a 20-4 run to take a 10-point lead into the second half as Orange’s shooters cooled off and could not get the ball near the basket.
“We have problems against (Western’s) zone,” said Hornets coach Dave Rabe. “That three-two defense is tough and it makes us shoot outside and we got cold.”
Making matters worse, Western relied heavily on its post players Ellen Shaffrey and Raven Ward, and by the third quarter, the two had the Hornets in foul trouble and were able to put their team out by as many as 21 points in the third quarter.
Shaffrey had a huge night, leading all scorers and rebounders with 24 points and 14 boards. The junior forward was a freshman when Western made it to the JD title game in 2008, and is excited about making it back after last year’s rebuilding year. The Warriors will face top-seeded Fluvanna County on Friday.
“It was a great experience getting that far two years ago but this is a lot better,” Shaffrey said. “I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s not team really my team, it’s our team.”
Kelsey Swanson, Virginia Carew and Ward scored 12, 10 and 10 points respectively to give Western a quartet of double-digit scorers. Ward also had three steals and assists.
Sade Johnson led the offense for Orange with 10 points. The senior also had three blocks. Gequetta Davis and Gabby Comfort each scored eight points.
Orange likely ends its season. But considering most of his squad was made up of younger players mixed with first time starters, Rabe is still happy with the direction his team is headed.
“It’s our first as a coaching staff and so we’ll go back to the drawing board and do some things,” Rabe said. “This loss hurts because we were looking to get to the regional tournament, but with the way Division 4 works out, we’re going to end up seventh out of six. It’s a tough way to end, and with all the snow it just doesn’t seem like it should be over, but I’m extremely proud of the direction the program is going. We’ve got a lot of young talent.”
Western and Fluvanna will square off in the JD championship on Friday at 6 p.m. Fluvanna won the only meeting between the two during the regular season.
