New Kent can’t slow down Lake Taylor’s Washington, falls in regional semifinals

New Kent’s Anna Hetzel (1) slices to the basket against Lake Taylor defenders.

Robb Johnson photo

A second half scoring drought by the New Kent Lady Trojans brought their season to an end in the Region 3A semifinals.

Eternity Washington’s 14 third quarter points for the visiting Lake Taylor Lady Titans powered the visitors to a 41-26 victory over the Lady Trojans.

The first half of the contest consisted of both teams feeling each others’ style out. The slow pace of the game along with a lack of offensive output led to Lake Taylor holding only a 14-11 lead heading into the halftime break.

The beginning of the third quarter saw Washington pump in the first four points for Lake Taylor. New Kent’s Anna Hetzel’s three-pointer kept the hosts within striking distance (18-14). The Lady Trojans stayed close after Vyktorya Otey’s trifecta as the hosts trailed by four (24-20).

But at that point, Washington began utilizing her size advantage in the paint against the much smaller Lady Trojans. Washington dominated inside, scoring eight points as part of a 10-0 Lake Taylor run to take a 14-point advantage (34-20) heading into the fourth quarter. That lead grew to 17 after Jamyah’s Parker foul-and-one conversion to start the frame.

Otey scored five in a row to cut the lead back to a dozen, but the visitors outscored the Lady Trojans 7-1 the rest of the way to close out the contest.

While New Kent finished the season with an impressive 18-4 record, all of the Lady Trojans’ team members are underclassmen. The group plans to return all 10 members to make another run on the court in the upcoming season.