Williams takeover lifts Lady Panthers past Lady Trojans
Although Charles City coach Andre Jones declined to admit it, staying close to New Kent’s host Lady Trojans for three quarters and then putting the ball in the hands of guard Jolisa Williams for the crucial fourth proved to be sound strategy for his Lady Panthers.
Charles City rallied from seven points down in the final period as Williams scored 15 of her game-high 31 points to help topple New Kent 47-38. Last Thursday’s outcome upped Charles City’s record to 2-1 while New Kent fell to 0-2.
Afterward, Jones said Williams taking over the game wasn’t written into his game plan. He pointed to overall team play as key to the win, but didn’t dispute Williams’ role down the stretch.
“We dug down deep as a team tonight,” he said, noting his Lady Panthers recovered nicely after being blown away 60-29 the night before at Lancaster.
Charles City scored six unanswered points to start the New Kent contest, but the hosts were back within one by the first quarter’s end. In a slow-paced first half during which both teams shot a miserable 15 percent from the floor, the hosts managed a narrow 15-14 lead at the break.
Charles City failed to score over the final 3:42 of the first half and during the opening two minutes of the third quarter. New Kent took advantage with an 11-0 run to forge in front 19-14.
The Lady Trojan advantage grew to nine at 29-20 when Jordan Arrington buried a three-point shot out of the corner with 2:50 left in the third period. Charles City closed the gap to five heading into the final quarter, but Chante Garner’s basket in the paint opened the fourth, upping New Kent’s lead to 33-26.
Charles City, however, picked up the pace on defense with a half-court trap that led to impatience on the part of New Kent on offense along with costly turnovers.
“Our half-court trap allowed us to force the ball to the sidelines and force long passes,” Jones said. “We forced the ball to where we wanted it to go and picked off their long passes. I think we caught them off guard.”
New Kent coach Gierek Walker, meanwhile, did all he could to settle down his Lady Trojans.
“[Charles City] is definitely not a team you can run with,” he said. “All we had to do was keep doing what we’d been doing to get the lead. That’s why I was calling time outs to try to slow the ball down.”
But Walker’s ploy didn’t work. Williams took defenders off the dribble for a lay-in that closed the gap to one. Then after a Lady Trojan miss at the other end, she struck from three-point range to put her team in front to stay at 36-34.
“We’ve got to learn to stay focused throughout the entire game,” Walker said. “We don’t have the speed to go man-to-man on the floor because [Williams] would eat us alive.”
Charles City got six points from Shana Braxton and five from Shana Brown. Stormie Adkins and Shaunte Williams chipped in two each while Ebony Coles contributed one.
Garner led New Kent with 11 points. Kayla Timberlake finished with nine followed by Arrington’s seven, five from Nikki Jones, and three apiece from Maria Bates and Molly Maffei.
In the JV contest, New Kent used a 16-3 third quarter to take control and weathered a Charles City fourth quarter press to prevail 38-29.
Tyler Savage led New Kent with 13 points. Raven Randall scored seven followed by Casey Spencer’s five, Kandra Taylor’s four, three from Amber Jones, and two each from Kandice Bullock, Kathryn Hale, and Tyra Williams.
Toni Harris’ 15 points topped Charles City. Chayla Swinson and Jasmine Binford tossed in five each while Hilary Wynn and Allison Adkins added two apiece.