Lakeland uses strong second half to pull away from New Kent for regional championship

New Kent’s Jaiden McCoy (left) tries to read the passing lane to prevent Lakeland’s Ke’monye Canady (1) from making a pass to teammate Kianna Gray (4).

Robb Johnson photo

In 2018, New Kent’s Lady Trojans bounced the Lakeland Lady Cavaliers from the Region 3A playoffs. During the Mar. 1 rematch, it was a revitalized Lakeland program that prevented New Kent from claiming another regional title.

The third-seeded Lakeland Lady Cavaliers used a strong second half to pull away from the fourth-seeded New Kent Lady Trojans 51-41 in the Group 3A Region A championship game.

After jittery starts by both teams, a Jakeira Thomas three-pointer provided a slight advantage for the Lady Trojans (8-5). From there, five straight points from McKenna Mueller elevated New Kent’s lead to six. A free throw by Mueller with 20.8 seconds remaining in the frame gave the Lady Trojans a 14-7 lead heading into quarter number two.

Lakeland began to pound the ball inside against New Kent. Deonna Lassiter’s easy basket was followed up by two free throws from Ke’monye Canady cut the lead down even more. Despite Katelyn Norman’s jumper, a three-pointer by Lakeland tied the game at 16 apiece, forcing New Kent Head Coach Neko Burson to call a time out.

Both teams continue to play back and forth basketball, with Mueller’s free throw at the end of the half knotting the game at 23 apiece as both teams headed into the intermission break.

Emerging from the locker room, a corner three-pointer by Mueller returned the lead to New Kent. But the Lady Cavaliers battled back, tying the score at eight apiece. Another Canady basket and an additional score provided Lakeland a four-point lead (32-28). The Lady Cavaliers maintained that spread (34-30) heading into quarter four.

Good ball movement resulted in a low post score for Norman to slice Lakeland’s advantage to three (36-33) before Lakeland put together one of their biggest runs for the night. A lay-up by Nyesisha Savage along with a trifecta provided the Lady Cavaliers an eight-point advantage (41-33).

Additional pressure by Lakeland resulted in unforced errors by the Lady Trojans. From there, six free throws by Lakeland pushed the third seed’s advantage to a dozen (47-35) with 1:45 remaining. Lakeland closed out the contest to earn the right to host a game in the state tournament.

After the game, Burson talked about the pace of the game.
“I knew it was going to be a physical game,” he said. “It was tough on both ends and we didn’t finish our game.

“We are still rocking and rolling so we can’t hold our heads too long about it,” Burson added. “Come Friday, we have to come to play.”

That trip on Mar. 4 is one to Meridian High School, formerly known as George Mason High School, a school that is the reigning champion and knocked New Kent out the state semifinals last year.