Charles City Lady Panthers claim Conference 42 championship

Charles City's Lady Panthers are smiles once again after claiming their second consecutive tournament title. Members are (kneeling, l to r) Ke'Ara Jones, Hailey Holmes, Jessica Hill, Sydney Richard, (second row, l to r) Cheyenne Davis, Mary Black, (back row, l to r) Adrienne Miles, Meryah Bates, Veonda Brown, Taylor Bradby, Kiandra Randall, and Tenasia Bradley.

Andre' Jones photos

Two years, two conferences, two tournaments, two titles.

Despite horrid free-throw shooting, Charles City’s Lady Panthers did just enough to survive a scare from the visiting Mathews Lady Blue Devils to claim a 36-32 victory and a Conference 42 championship trophy

Early on, Mathews jumped out to an early 5-0 lead with buckets from Savannah Wooten and Maria Spadachini. The visitors attacked the Lady Panthers defense, allowing them to enter the bonus free throw situation in the first quarter. Those free throws allowed Mathews to maintain an 11-6 first quarter lead.

The hosts got back on track to start the second stanza. A Hailey Holmes trifecta coupled with a Jessica Hill lay-up tied the game at 11 apiece. Mathews stretched the lead back to four, but a free throw by Cheyenne Davis and Hill along with an Adrienne Miles’ to Hill assist tied the knotted the game at 15 all.

But free throw woes plagued Charles City, as miss after miss prevented them from taking the lead. The Panthers shot five for 15 from the charity stripe in the first half, allowing Mathews to capitalize. It wasn’t until Miles’ step-through the defense as time expired tied the game at 20 heading into halftime.

Charles City took a 26-25 lead into the fourth quarter, before Davis converted two free throws to stretch the lead to three (28-25). After a Mathews’ miss, Lady Panther head coach VaShaun Otey elected to stall at the 6:30 mark to pull the guests out of their 2-3 zone. Mathews didn’t budge for two and a half minutes.

“Individually, we have a talented team and we knew we could take them off the dribble,” said Otey on the strategic move. “We wanted to go one-on-one with them and take the ball to the basket.”

It worked.

Mathews emerged from the zone at the four minute mark, but an overplay on defense left Miles to convert a lay-up. The next time down, Hill boxed out Spadachini and scored on a putback. Two free throws added by Hailey Holmes capped an 8-0 Lady Panther run and gave the hosts their largest lead of the night (34-25).

Mathews last ditch effort kicked in, with Taylor South draining a wing three to cut the lead to six. Spadachini added two free throws later and the Lady Panthers lead dwindled to four (34-30).

Mathews intentionally fouled Holmes with 14.8 seconds remaining in the game. Holmes knocked down the first of two to stretch Charles City’s lead to five (35-30). After a Spadachini lay-up, Holmes was fouled again with 1.6 seconds remaining. As with the previous free throw attempts, she nailed the first to give the Lady Panthers a 36-32 lead to savor the victory.

Otey spoke about his team’s aggression in the first half to get to the stripe, but failing to convert.

“We were getting fouled a lot, but we were missing layups and free throws,” commented Otey on the team’s 15 for 32 effort from the line. “It got better as the game went on but we left a lot at the line.

“On defense, we were playing out of position and that got us in early foul trouble and allowed Mathews to stay in the game,” continued the victorious head coach. “We were playing our zone too high in the first half but corrected it in the second half.”

Now, the Lady Panthers move forward, scheduled to host a first-round 1A East Sectional game. That game will likely be against former Tri-Rivers District rival Surry County on Tuesday night.

“We have to play sound defense,” added Otey. “We know we’re going to have a battle on our hand.”

Hill led the Lady Panthers with 11 points, while Holmes and Davis both added nine apiece. Miles finished with six and KeAra Jones chipped in with one.

Mathews’ Spadachini led all scorers with 14 points.

Conference 42 Player of the Year Adrienne Miles (center) splits the efforts of Mathew defenders Emily Brown (left) and Maria Spadachini (right).