Grafton second quarter lifts Clippers past New Kent

By Alan Chamberlain | January 16, 2008 11:32 am

Taking away the second quarter of the New Kent Lady Trojan-Grafton Clipper basketball encounter gives New Kent the edge in scoring. Unfortunately for the host Lady Trojans, all four quarters count.

Grafton used a 27-11 second quarter to overcome a New Kent lead and forge on to a 62-49 Bay Rivers District win. The Jan. 3 result dropped New Kent to 1-6 in the district and 1-8 overall.

“That second quarter was the quarter,” Lady Trojan coach Gierek Walker said afterward. “They got up to 17 points ahead of us and we outscored them for the rest of the game. If we had put four quarters together, I could see no problems.”

After spotting Grafton the early lead, New Kent caught the Clippers at 6-6 on Kayla Timberlake’s basket off a Molly Maffei assist. A Timberlake trey gave the hosts their first lead at 9-8, and after Grafton took a 10-9 advantage into the second quarter, Timberlake opened the period with a field goal to put her team back in front 11-10.

But moments later, matters began to deteriorate. The Clippers embarked on a 10-0 run, converting New Kent field goal misses into baskets at the other end on three occasions and sinking three of four free throws.

Timberlake scored off an offensive rebound to end the Clipper surge. Teammate Jordan Arrington then added a basket from the perimeter to close the gap to five at 20-15, and the hosts had the ball with a chance to draw closer. But a Grafton steal led to a Sydney Beasley trey and the start of another run that put the visitors up 30-15 with just under three minutes left in the half.

Grafton owned a 37-20 lead at the break. Nikki Jones and Arrington sank back-to-back treys to open the third quarter and reduce the Clipper margin to 37-26, but New Kent was unable to whittle the deficit below double digits.

“We were scrappy and played hard,” Walker said. “We distributed the ball well and we passed well. I like to see improvement, and we definitely are improving.”

Timberlake tossed in a team-high 16 points while Arrington finished with 14. Jones ended with eight followed by Maria Bates’ six, Chelsey Stertz’s four, and Maffei’s one.

Grafton’s Beasley led all scorers with 24.

In the JV contest, Grafton led 19-5 after one quarter and cruised to a 70-43 win.

Tyler Savage’s 20 points topped New Kent. Kandra Taylor tossed in 10 followed by Kathryn Hale’s five and four each from Casey Spencer and Raven Randall.