Long scoring drought dooms Lady Trojans

Lady Trojans Mariya Whitesides (22) and Kirsten Gipson trap Smithfield’s Dexedre McGee after McGee grabbed a rebound.

Alan Chamberlain photo

New Kent’s Lady Trojans didn’t allow Smithfield’s powerful Lady Packers to pull away from the outset. But the host Lady Trojans failed to score in the second quarter, enabling the Packers to cruise to a 65-28 Bay Rivers District basketball win.

“Once that happened, I saw all the wind go out of us,” said Lady Trojan coach John Scorsone, pointing to the Dec. 20 contest’s dismal second quarter.

“We didn’t have a lot of turnovers, but we had a lot of missed shots,” he said. “I thought we would play better offensively. We’ve been shooting better, we’ve been rebounding better, and we’ve been breaking the press better. We got a lot of shots, but we didn’t make many.”

New Kent went 0-for-11 from the floor in the second quarter. And the cold streak began after Lady Trojan Anna Mathis capped a 6-0 first quarter run with a conventional three-point play to close within a pair of the Packers at 14-12.

But with New Kent unable to find the basket, Smithfield had no problem stretching its lead to 31-12 at halftime. The advantage reached 45-12 before Lady Trojan Mariya Whitesides’ basket in the paint at the 3:54 mark of the third quarter ended what had become an agonizing 13-minute plus scoring drought.

Paige Simpson’s eight points and Brittany LaPrade’s seven led New Kent. Mathis, Adrienne Goodlet, and Becky Anderson finished with three each while Whitesides and Mikayla Scorsone added two apiece.

Jordan Brooks and Jackie Jordan led Smithfield with 20 and 14, respectively.

“I love our team,” Scorsone said after his Lady Trojans fell to 1-7 in the district and 1-8 overall. “They’ve got a lot of heart. We’ll get it together.”