Charles City 40 WP 35
Despite a below par outing in the shooting category, Charles City’s host Lady Panthers held on for a 40-35 victory over West Point in the quarterfinal round of the Region A girls’ basketball tournament.
The Feb. 26 decision thrust the fourth-seeded Lady Panthers into the semifinal round for a third meeting with Tri-Rivers District rival and top-ranked Franklin. It was also the third meeting of the season between the fifth-seeded Pointers and the Panthers who won both regular season encounters.
Charles City led for most of the contest, but could never pull away from the Pointers thanks to shooting woes. Of the hosts’ 40 first half field goal tries, 31 missed the mark.
On six occasions in the first half, Charles City built five-point leads, but each time the Pointers had an answer to stay within one possession of overtaking the hosts. At halftime, Charles City owned a narrow 23-20 lead.
Inaccuracy from the floor proved to be the Pointers’ downfall in the end. Charles City, meanwhile, was not with out its chances to pull away down the stretch.
Coming out of a time out with 2:22 left in the game and trailing 38-35, West Point missed four straight shots from the floor before the Lady Panthers were able to grab a rebound and head the other way.
Charles City went to a spread on offense to take time off the clock but forced up a bad shot that, fortunately for the hosts, was rebounded by Shana Brown. Fouled on the play, Brown stepped to the line for a one-and-one with 1:14 to play, but missed and fouled the Pointers’ Paige Rowlett on a quest for the rebound.
Charles City was over the foul limit, placing the Pointers and Rowlett in the double bonus and a chance to reduce the Panther lead to one. Rowlett, however, missed both and the ball was rebounded by the Pointers’ Kristen Medlin who stuck back a shot that caromed off the rim.
The ball bounced back to Rowlett for a three-point try that was also off the mark. In a scramble for the rebound, the Pointers last touched the ball before it rolled out of bounds, handing the Panthers possession with 58 seconds remaining.
Rowlett fouled Shana Braxton with 46.4 showing on the clock, but Braxton missed the front end of the bonus opportunity and the Pointers had another chance to close the gap. Rowlett launched another trey attempt that was rebounded by the hosts with 31 seconds to go.
Charles City went back to its spread offense. With 15 seconds left, the Pointers lost track of Braxton who worked to an open spot under the basket and took a Jolisa Williams pass for an easy basket to put the game out of reach.
Williams finished with a game-high 19 points. Brown, Joy Wynn, and Stormie Adkins each scored five while Braxton, Ebony Coles, and Toni Harris chipped in two apiece.Medlin’s 10 points topped West Point.