Lady Trojans overtake Warhill for 1st win

Clawing their way back from an 18-point first half deficit, New Kent’s Lady Trojans overtook Warhill’s visiting Lions in the fourth quarter and held on for a 49-48 Bay Rivers District basketball victory.

Saturday night’s triumph marked the first win of the season for the Lady Trojans who also evened their Bay Rivers record at 1-1. New Kent is 1-2 overall.

Keying the comeback, New Kent coach Gierek Walker said, wasn’t so much what his team did, but more of what Warhill did or did not do.

“Their free throws stopped falling,” he said. And he was right.

With the outcome on the line, the Lions made 15 trips to the foul stripe in the fourth quarter, converting only four. Lion guard Glori King, who was five-for-five at one point, missed six in a row.

Then the Lions abandoned a man-to-man defense, which helped stake them to a 25-7 second quarter lead, in favor of a 3-2 zone. And while most of Warhill’s starters inexplicably sat on the bench, New Kent embarked on its comeback.

“They went to that 3-2 zone and that worked for me in my favor,” Walker said. “They let us back in the game when took all those people out.”

Midpoint second quarter, the Lady Trojans were struggling in the face of Warhill’s pressure. For more than a six-minute span, the hosts went without a field goal. But with subs on the floor in place of Lion starters, New Kent finished the half on a 14-1 tear and pulled within five at 26-21 at the break.

Warhill never regained its first half momentum when play resumed. New Kent stayed within striking distance through the third quarter and narrowed the margin to one (40-39) on Kayla Timberlake’s three-point basket from the corner with 5:28 left in the game.

After a King free throw, Nikki Jones sank a pair from the stripe to catch the Lions at 41-41. The visitors’ Erin Challis sank one of two free throws to briefly break the tie, but New Kent’s Molly Maffei stuck back a teammate’s miss to hand the hosts their first lead at 43-42. Moments later, the advantage grew to four as Timberlake dropped in another trey.

The Lions missed seven straight foul shots during the time Maffei and Timberlake were combining to put the hosts in front. Timberlake added a free throw with 1:52 to go to up the advantage to 47-42.

But the Lions fought back, eventually closing to one at 49-48 on King’s looping basket from the perimeter with 33 seconds to go. The Lions had opportunity to regain the lead after Maffei missed double bonus free throws with 12 seconds left, but Chelsey Stertz intercepted King’s pass into the frontcourt.

Stertz, however, took an extra step, affording Warhill another try with three seconds to play. King’s inbounds pass went to Tanay Pierce, but Pierce traveled and New Kent was able to run the final second off the clock.

Timberlake’s 16 points along with Maffei’s 13 and 11 from Nikki Jones led New Kent. Jordan Arrington finished with four followed by Maria Bates’ three and Chante Garner’s two. Challis scored 16 and King had 12 to top Warhill.

In the JV contest, New Kent cruised to a 29-9 halftime bulge and led by as many as 23 after the break before settling for a 46-33 win.

Tyler Savage pumped in 20 points for the winners. Raven Randall, Kathryn Hale, and Kandra Taylor each scored five while Casey Spencer and Amber Jones added four apiece, Kristen Tucker tossed in two, and Mekayla Greene chipped in one.