Plague of turnovers factor in Lady Trojans’ loss in opener

New Kent’s Peyton Slater (left) applies pressure defense to prevent any advancement down the court by Tabb’s Danielle Bennett.

Robb Johnson photo

After a five-win campaign last year, New Kent’s Lady Trojans came into their Nov. 28 season opener looking to improve on last year’s progress. However, the visiting Lady Tigers of Tabb had other plans.

Tabb’s press played a significant role in New Kent’s 32 turnovers, as the Lady Tigers topped the home-standing Lady Trojans 51-26.

New Kent’s aggressive first quarter allowed the hosts to remain in the contest early. But fouls plagued the Lady Trojans, as Tabb sank three of six attempts in the first quarter to take an 11-5 lead in the first.

Things didn’t get better afterwards for New Kent. Tabb’s full-court press resulted in nine Lady Trojan turnovers, sparking a 13-3 run to propel the visitors to a 24-8 halftime advantage.

A combination of nine additional miscues along with Tabb’s Brianna Harper trifecta of three-pointers pushed the contest out of reach in the third quarter.

After the contest, Lady Trojan second-year coach Neko Burson addressed the turnovers.

“We have to execute better because the press has been giving us trouble for a long time now,” he commented. “The pressure tonight was a little more than we expected.

“We have to be more aggressive out there and we are very thing in numbers,” Burson continued. “We don’t have a lot of room for errors with that lack of depth.”

Brynne Jones nine points led to New Kent, who now falls to 0-1. Returners Kayla Tirrado and Haley Hyndshaw scored seven and four, respectively, and the trio of Jada Hooker, Abbey Coutu, and Madison Foley each scored two points.

Tabb’s Harper led all scorers in the game with 18.