Lady Panthers charge back from 16 down to topple Surry

Down by 16 points in the third quarter, Charles City’s Lady Panthers staged a furious comeback to catch Surry’s visiting Cougars heading into the final period. The hosts then rode momentum through the last period to thwart Surry’s upset bid with a 56-50 win.

The Jan. 4 victory kept Charles City’s Tri-Rivers District record unblemished at 2-0. The Lady Panthers are 7-3 overall.

“We got taken out in the first half,” a relieved Lady Panther coach Andre Jones said afterward.

The crucial point was a disastrous second quarter during which his team missed 19 straight shots from the floor. Charles City finished the period at 2-for-22, but that did little to blunt a Surry attack that broke a 12-12 deadlock with an 11-0 run to start the quarter.

“We just had to start playing with patience,” Jones said. “We’re a good defensive team, and we played man-to-man to get back in the game.”

Then the hosts had to combat a Surry defensive strategy aimed at stopping Lady Panther leading scorer Jolisa Williams. By halftime, Williams had been held to nine points and Surry owned a 30-20 advantage.

“Everybody was watching Jolisa, but we’ve got other players,” Jones said. “Eboni [Coles] came off the bench to provide a spark, and with them focusing on Jolisa, it opened it up for Shana [Braxton]. Everything fell in place like a puzzle.”

Braxton led the Lady Panthers in the first half with 10 points.

But the hosts had other problems to contend with including foul trouble. Starters Shana Brown and Joy Wynn both picked up three personals before the break. Then there was the matter of a 6-0 Surry run to start the third quarter that opened a 36-20 Cougar advantage.

But Williams became more successful at eluding defenders and launched a three-point shot to begin Charles City’s comeback. She scored 11 of her game-high 24 points during the third period including a turnaround jumper inside the key at the buzzer to knot the game at 41-41.

Williams buried a NBA-range trey to start the fourth quarter and Braxton followed with a lay-in off a Surry miss as Charles City pulled in front 46-41. Surry never got closer than four the rest of the way.

“Surry is a young team, and we put a lot of pressure on them,” Jones said. “It was our defense that spurred our offense.”

Braxton finished with 20 points while Brown tossed in seven, Wynn totaled five, and Coles added one.

Shelonda Pulley’s 18 points topped Surry.