Sussex overpowers Charles City with 1st quarter surge

After Sussex’s game-opening run, Charles City’s Lady Panthers turned their Tri-Rivers District basketball encounter with the visiting Tigers into a one-point game. Problem was the Tigers’ initial burst totaled 29 unanswered points, and that proved to be the difference in a 57-27 Sussex win.

The Tigers led 27-0 after one quarter of the Jan. 22 contest. They tacked on another two points early in quarter two before a baseline drive by Shana Braxton and dish off to Hilary Wynn underneath led to the Lady Panthers’ first points, just over a minute into the period.

Wynn’s basket ignited a 7-0 run, closing the gap to 29-7 with 3:48 left before halftime, but that was as close as the hosts could manage.

“The district schedule doesn’t do us any favors,” Charles City coach Andre Jones said, pointing to a loss at Franklin three nights earlier, the Sussex contest, and an upcoming Tuesday road trip to Surry. All three rank among the top Group A teams in the state.

“Tonight was just one of those nights,” he said. “We didn’t hustle in the first half, but in the second half we hustled pretty decently. We’ve got to have that intensity because we understand that every time we step on the court, we’re going to be underdogs. Our girls are busting their butts because they know they’re playing teams ranked in the state.”

After surviving Sussex’s early onslaught, the Lady Panthers kept pace, and not against the Tigers’ second string. The visitors dressed just seven players.

“We had trouble with their 2-3 zone and didn’t start breaking it until the second half,” Jones said. “We figured we could run the floor with them, but we ended up running the floor to get back on defense while Sussex ran the floor to score.”

The hosts’ 7-0 second quarter run ended up as their lone points for the entire first half. Sussex owned a 38-7 lead at the break.

“Basketball is like making a chef’s salad,” Jones said. “Everybody’s got to put in ingredients to make it a good meal.”

Toni Harris led Charles City with 11 points, all in the second half. Wynn and Braxton each finished with six while Shana Brown scored three and Chiquita Black added one.

Sussex got 19 points from Jasmine Deloatch and 18 from Libria Jackson.