Girls’ Basketball: Lafayette 52, New Kent 48

Lady Trojan Karley Allen registers a steal as she slaps the ball away from Lafayette’s Desiree Jones.

Alan Chamberlain photo

Looking to start the season on a high note, New Kent’s Lady Trojans built a double-digit first half lead over Lafayette’s visiting Rams in the Bay Rivers District basketball opener for both.

The Lady Trojans shot 50 percent from the floor in the first quarter and had matters under control at the half. But the Rams dialed up the heat after the break, utilizing a press that the hosts could not handle. In the end, the visitors escaped with a 52-48 decision.

“When they put that full court press on us, we ran into problems,” Lady Trojan coach John Scorsone said after the Nov. 27 contest.

“We had 36 turnovers, and then we had girls in foul trouble and we were missing a lot of easy baskets,” he said. “We were looking forward to our first win of the year. It didn’t happen, but I know we’re better than last year.”

Lafayette failed to score over the final 4:30 of the first quarter. New Kent, meanwhile, used the span to pump in nine unanswered points, building a 15-7 lead heading into the second quarter.

When Paige Simpson buried her second three of the half with 1:36 to go, the hosts held their largest lead at 27-17. It was an eight-point margin at the half.

As play resumed after the break, however, the Ram press quickly reversed the game’s trend. An 11-0 run put the visitors in front to stay at 30-27.

Ta’racya Winston’s stick-back broke what had become a five-minute Lady Trojan scoring drought, closing the gap to 30-29. But the Rams surged again, opening a 38-29 advantage on the way to leading 41-30 after three periods.

New Kent answered with a press of its own, narrowing the deficit to four on three occasions in the last quarter, but could not draw closer than the final score.

Simpson tossed in a team-high 18 points while Brittany LaPrade and Anna Mathis finished with nine and eight, respectively. Mikayla Scorsone scored four followed by two each from Winston, Kirsten Gipson, Mariya Whitesides, and Becky Anderson and Adrienne Goodlet’s one.

Lafayette’s Libby Bland led all scorers with 19 while India Brown added 14.

“We’re coming along,” Scorsone said. “The older girls are helping the younger girls and we need to work on skills, but those skills will come.”