William Monroe needed to get in gear and they needed to get in gear fast.
“At halftime I challenged them to be us, we were not us — in the first half we were playing scared and tight,” said William Monroe coach Carrie Woods.
The Dragons delivered, rallying from down nine points at halftime to pick up a 38-35 win over Western Albemarle in the Holiday Classic championship.
William Monroe had to battle to get there in what was largely a defensive struggle. Western’s Ava Ewen hit a bucket with about a minute and a half to play to put the Warriors up 35-33. Then with a little more than 30 seconds left, Monroe’s Ella Weaver — who scored 19 points and earned tournament MVP honors — snagged one of her nine rebounds off a Western miss in the lane and made a sharp outlet pass to McKinley Carpenter who finished in transition to even it at 35-35.
With under 15 seconds to play, Weaver drew a foul and made one of two free throws. Western had a shot at the rebound but it tumbled out of bounds, giving William Monroe the ball up one with 9.6 seconds left. Western fouled Kayla Britton on the inbound and Britton knocked down both free throws.
“Shooting free throws in practice every day prepared me for this moment that I’d be on the line,” Britton said. “(I just tried) to handle it in the moment and not get too anxious and worried about the shots.”
William Monroe then survived a potential game-tying 3-pointer in the corner with Britton securing the rebound, her seventh of the game to go with seven points. Britton hit a huge 3-pointer in the third quarter that helped get the Dragons into gear.
“She really stepped up and was the senior leader we needed her to be today,” Woods said.
Western Albemarle got 14 points from Ewen including four big 3-pointers. But the Western offense sputtered in the second half with just 13 points after a 16-point second quarter had vaulted the Warriors’ young roster into the lead at the break.
“We’ve come a really long way over the first month of the season,” said Western coach Kris Wright. “There’s a long season to go so we can’t be satisfied with the progress we’ve made. That’s a really good game for us to learn from.”
The Dragons had to do most of their damage at the free throw line in this one and not just in the closing seconds. As a team William Monroe knocked down 17 of 21 free throws. They were particularly solid down the stretch at the charity stripe.
“William Monroe is really well coached, obviously Ella is tremendous, McKinley is tremendous and Kayla had a big tournament so that’s three experienced kids in a big moment making big plays,” Wright said. “Hopefully we can learn from that.”
Western Albemarle will look to bounce back Tuesday at home against Louisa before a rematch with a Charlottesville team they beat in the Classic semifinals Friday night at home. The Dragons will look to keep their recent roll going on the road against Turner Ashby before they clash with rival Madison County Thursday.
