Islander first string too much for Lady Trojans to handle

New Kent’s Anna Mathis dives for a loose ball ahead of Poquoson’s Poppy Crawshaw.

Alan Chamberlain photo

Against Poquoson’s reserves, New Kent’s Lady Trojans had their way, outscoring their Islander guests 39-19 over two quarters of play. Problem was, Poquoson’s first string played the other two quarters, posting a 38-8 scoring edge. It all added up to a 57-47 Bay Rivers District basketball win for the Islanders.

Poquoson’s starters jumped out to a 19-5 advantage after one quarter of the Jan. 31 contest before giving way to reserves for the rest of the half. The lead at the break stood at 13.

Islander starters returned for quarter three, erupting for a 17-0 run. Moments into the final quarter and with the reserves back in, the visitors held their largest lead at 50-19. But the rest of the game belonged to the Lady Trojans. Behind a sticky press and Adrienne Goodlet’s 18 fourth quarter points, the hosts roared back, but could draw no closer than the final margin before the buzzer.

“At least we showed heart,” said New Kent coach John Scorsone afterward. “We scored more points [28] in that fourth quarter than we do in some games. We made a run and we showed character.
The girls were encouraging each other saying, ‘Don’t give up,’ and I love hearing that.”

Poquoson’s full court press, however, set the tone early on. The Islanders registered nine steals and forced 16 New Kent turnovers in all in the first quarter.

Paige Simpson’s three at the 5:24 mark handed New Kent its first and only lead at 5-4. Poquoson scored the next 15 points. New Kent never got back on the scoreboard until Simpson sank her second three just moments into the second quarter.

“We usually hustle better than that and the turnovers were horrible,” Scorsone said. “But we’re still better than we were last year.”

Goodlet scored only one point before the final period to finish with 19. Simpson buried four treys to total 12. Kirsten Gipson tossed in five while Mikayla Scorsone added four, Brittany LaPrade, Becky Anderson, and Mariya Whitesides scored two each, and Anna Mathis contributed one.

New Kent dropped to 2-12 in the district and 5-13 overall.