Western Albemarle’s girls basketball team played powerhouse Spotswood almost as well as you possibly could play the Blazers.
Ava Ewen knocked down threes, five of them in all including four in the third quarter to post 17 points.
Point guard Mattie Shearer handled the Spotswood press, providing whatever the moment required, whether it was an acceleration down court or being patient and finding an open teammate.
Kate Wallace scored 17 points of her own, capitalizing several times when Shearer broke that press.
Karina Long locked up Blazers’ star Abby Branner as well as anyone has all year.
Then with under 10 seconds to play, Spotswood’s 6-foot sophomore guard Zoli Khalil launched a long three and ended the Warriors’ season with a 50-49 Spotswood victory in the Region 3C semifinals. It was a tough finish for the Warriors in a back-and-forth clash that was worthy of a region semifinal.
“A big part of Spotswood is how they go about their business, they know what they want to do and they do it very well so you have to rise to the challenge they’re not going to hand it to you,” said Western coach Kris Wright. “Our girls did that.”
The teams traded runs in the game, with Spotswood unleashing an early one that the Warriors refused to roll over after and the game was tied 30-30 at halftime.
“Kris does a phenomenal job; they’re one of the best coached teams in the state year-in and year-out,” said Spotswood coach Chris Dodson. “The sets they run and the way his kids play — so many times we walk in the gym and people are just done but we punched them in the mouth there and they responded.”
Western then provided a critical punch with a run in the fourth sparked in part by Ewen banking in a buzzer-beating three to end the third. Western led by four a several points in the fourth, but couldn’t stretch the lead out to an insurmountable amount because of some stingy defense and some missed lay-up chances. Then up 49-47 with under 30 seconds to play, an errant pass led to a Spotswood steal near midcourt. The Blazers moved the ball around the perimeter and Khalil eventually got the ball a few steps beyond the 3-point arc.
“Yesterday we did a 3-point sniper workout and I don’t think that our girls ever realized you can shoot threes back there so that’s a shot she worked on yesterday,” Dodson said. “And probably in hindsight that was the difference in the game. What she did yesterday prepared her for what happened.”
Khalil buried the long three with just under 10 seconds to play. Western got a timeout and a shot at a game winner with 2.9 seconds left, but another tough inbounds pass bounced free, Spotswood recovered and the Blazers celebrated.
“It always hurts to lose — it certainly hurts to lose in a big game on a late shot,” Wright said. “Hat tip to (Khalil) for making a big time shot.”
Karina Long finished with nine points, six boards, two assists and two steals while Shearer had seven boards, six assists and five steals while Kayleigh Long notched three assists and three steals. The Warriors’ senior group of Wallace, Karina Long, Ellie Smartt, Molly Swales and Shearer have been a strong cohort for the Warriors.
“After we won back-to-back district championships and we lost that group of seniors everybody was like they’ll slide back a little bit but we’ve still been pretty consistent,” Wright said. “If we can continue to do that as we move up to 4A (in 2021-2022) these seniors will have a lot to do with that because they kept the foundation steady.”
Like a lot of other teams in the area, the Warriors have managed to navigate a challenging season as one of the only teams in the area where everyone on the team wore a mask during competition.
“When you look at how we went about our business the whole season our girls never complained,” Wright said. “They followed all our protocols, worked extremely hard in a very hard year and then executed extremely well to have a chance to win the game, it just didn’t go our way. I’m extremely proud of them and extremely happy they got to play.”
