Lady Panthers step up to foil upset-minded Lady Trojans

New Kent’s Lady Trojans entered Charles City’s gym intent on taking Lady Panther leading scorer Jolisa Williams out of the game. And the strategy worked.

A diamond-and-one defense, utilizing one Lady Trojan to guard Williams man-to-man while the other four formed a diamond-shaped zone in the lane, held her to six first quarter points and shut her out in quarter two. But that’s when other Lady Panthers stepped up.

Guard Shana Braxton scored 10 first half points and forward Shana Brown tossed in seven in a row that enabled Charles City to mount a double-digit lead in the second quarter. From there, the hosts cruised to a 60-45 non-district win in the Jan. 5 affair. Charles City improved to 8-3 while New Kent fell to 1-9.

“We knew [New Kent] would try something different,” Lady Panther coach Andre Jones said concerning New Kent’s strategy for containing Williams. “We saw the diamond-and-one and knew we had to get the ball to someone in the middle and then look weak side. We also knew we could drive on them.”

Lady Trojan Jalesa Johnson, with relief help from Jessica Jones, drew the assignment of guarding Williams. But Williams’ six first quarter points combined with five from Braxton helped the hosts build a 14-6 lead after one quarter.

But with Williams unable to score in quarter two, New Kent erased most of the early deficit. Jordan Arrington’s three-point basket with 3:21 left in the first half closed the gap to four at 19-15. Charles City missed its next four shots from the floor, forcing Jones to call time out to regroup.

When play resumed, Brown took charge, first dropping through a pair of free throws and moments later scoring from the perimeter. With 37 seconds left, she drained a three-pointer to hand Charles City a 26-15 advantage, and Jones voiced high praise for her effort.

“She wanted to take on the task of stepping up, and she’s getting real comfortable with her shot,” he said. “She’s just a freshman, but she’s taken on a leadership role.”

Charles City pulled away in the third quarter, stretching its lead to 49-26 heading into the final eight minutes.

Despite being the target for New Kent’s defense, Williams tied Braxton for game-high scoring honors with 18 points. Brown, meanwhile, scored 12 and led the team in rebounds with 13.

Ebony Coles finished with eight points while Joy Wynn and Terilyn Craddock chipped in three and one, respectively.

Kayla Timberlake’s 14 points and 11 rebounds led New Kent.

Johnson and Arrington tossed in 11 points each followed by six from Molly Maffei and Maria Bates’ three.

In the JV game, a three-point shot with seven seconds to go that could have forced overtime failed to drop for Charles City, enabling New Kent to hold on for a 35-32 win in a contest that was close throughout.

Tyler Savage’s 12 points led New Kent. Casey Spencer scored eight followed by five each from Amber Jones and Kandice Bullock, Raven Randall’s four, and Kandra Taylor’s two.

Charles City’s Toni Harris pumped in a game-high 14 points. Allison Adkins finished with eight while Chayla Swinson ended with six and Hilary Wynn tossed in four.