Girls’ basketball: Tabb 46, New Kent 35

NK’s Adrienne Goodlet (left) and Tabb’s Rachel Stratton engage in a race for a loose ball.

Alan Chamberlain photo

Unable to hold a four-point lead over the final two minutes of regulation, New Kent’s Lady Trojans headed into overtime with Tabb’s visiting Tigers. That four-minute extra period, however, proved unkind to the hosts.

New Kent failed to score while the Tigers pumped in 11 points. The result: a 46-35 Tabb win denying New Kent its first win of the season. The Lady Trojans fell to 0-4 in Bay Rivers District basketball play.

“We should be 3-1,” said Lady Trojan coach John Scorsone following last Thursday’s contest. In addition to the loss in OT, his team has dropped respective six- and four-point decisions to Warhill and Lafayette.

“We don’t know how to run the clock when we’re up,” he said, pointing to the final minutes of regulation when Tabb wiped out New Kent’s 35-31 advantage thanks in part to four missed Lady Trojan shots and three turnovers.

“We’ve got to slow it down on offense and do those things that we need to do,” he said. “But that’s a sign of immaturity and we’ve got to get a handle on that.”

In the extra period, the hosts managed just three shots, all misses, over the Tabb zone defense.

“We didn’t recognize their zone and get into our zone offense,” Scorsone said.

And the foul line became a factor. New Kent’s aggressive style of play sent the Tigers to the stripe 31 times. They converted 17. By contrast, New Kent got there just nine times and sank only one.

“But we played hard, played good defense, created havoc, and kept the score low,” Scorsone said pointing to the bright side.

After a low-scoring first half that had New Kent up 14-12, Tabb surged when play resumed, seizing a 23-17 advantage midway through the third quarter. But the Lady Trojans fought back, overtaking their guests at 29-29 on Mikayla Scorsone’s three with 4:45 left in the game.

Adrienne Goodlet’s steal and drive with three minutes to go put the hosts up 33-30. Then with 2:10 remaining, Paige Simpson scored from the perimeter for a 35-31 New Kent lead, but those were the team’s final points.

Simpson finished with 10 points while Scorsone tossed in eight. Goodlet and Anna Mathis both ended with four while Karley Allen chipped in three and Ta’racya Winston, Mariya Whitesides, and Becky Anderson contributed two apiece.