Lady Trojan shooting woes continue against Lafayette

New Kent's Brynne Jones looks for help after getting trapped along the sideline by Lafayette's Rachel Lia.

Alan Chamberlain photo

Part of a head basketball coach’s job is keeping players focused, whether the team is 9-0 or 0-9. And that task becomes much more difficult when the team falls into the latter category, as is the case with New Kent’s Lady Trojans.

New Kent fell to 0-9 Saturday night, absorbing a 63-25 setback at the hands of Lafayette’s visiting Rams. The Lady Trojans showed spark at the start, scoring 10 points to stay within striking distance of the Rams after one quarter. Over the next two periods, however, the hosts managed just seven.

“We’re all frustrated,” said New Kent head coach Vann Baker. “With the amount of practice time and preparation time we put in, we want better results.

“The hard part now is to keep their heads up,” she said. “We’re doing that by taking everything they’ve done that’s positive and pointing it out to them.”

New Kent received positive play from center Brynne Jones in the opening period. Her stick-back of a teammate’s miss gave New Kent its only lead at 2-1. Her second basket pulled her team within two at 6-4 before Lafayette embarked on a 12-0 run.

Jones’ third field goal of the period closed the gap to 20-10. Foul trouble, however, limited her effectiveness the rest of the way. She picked up her fourth personal before halftime.

No one picked up the scoring slack. Over a seven-minute span, the hosts failed to score. Brittany LaPrade ended the drought with five points over the final two minutes of the half.

“We practice shooting, but in a game situation we just seem to rush it,” said Baker.

LaPrade and Kelsey Yates scored eight points each while Jones totaled six to lead New Kent. Sarah Major contributed two while Payton Slater chipped in one.

Rachel Lia’s 16 points and 14 from Kenya Holliday topped Lafayette.

“We’ve just got to keep the frustration at bay, and we’re not giving up,” Baker said. “This season we’ll just have to take our lumps and continue to push on.”

Arrangements are being made for her players to participate in summer league play and attend basketball camps, the coach added. Conditioning and weight training programs are planned for next fall.

“We’ll work together as a team,” she said. “Then we’ll see what happens next year.”