Lack of offensive punch proves detrimental for Lady Panthers

By Andre Jones | January 22, 2018 10:45 pm

Charles City's Tessa Young (center) fights through a double team from Mathews' Abbie Hudgins (left) and Hannah Robbins (right).

Andre' Jones photo

For 13 minutes, Charles City’s Lady Panthers staunch defense held the visiting Mathews’ Lady Blue Devils without a field goal in Monday night’s affair. Unfortunately for the hosts, they couldn’t string together enough offense to cut into a deficit that had reached double figures by the end of the first quarter.

Mathews’ outscored Charles City 17-2 in the opening stanza before emerging with a 63-21 victory over the Lady Panthers in the Tidewater District clash.

With a ploy to slow down Mathews’ Ellie Armistead, Charles City deployed a box-and-one on the guard with great success. However, Lady Blue Devils Hannah Robins and Yolanda Fells made up the scoring slack. The duo scored 13 of the team’s 17 first quarter points for the visitors, with Charles City’s lone hoop coming from a Tessa Young Hook shot.

With the visitors’ lead eclipsing the 20-point barrier (23-2), Young strung together a run. Her corner three-pointer along with a jumper cut the gap down. Mathews built their lead back to 23 (33-10), but a free throw by Lady Panther Jaelah Wyatt accompanied a trifecta from teammate Skye Bradby. A jumper by Alexis Williams’ brought the guests’ lead to 17 by halftime (33-16).

Charles City’s stingy defense prevented Mathews from scoring from the end of the second quarter to the beginning of the fourth. However, the Lady Panthers only were able to put a small dent in the scoreboard from Wyatt’s lay-up and Williams’ three-pointer. But when the fourth quarter rolled in, so was the scoring for Armistead. Despite being held scoreless in the first three quarters, the Lady Blue Devil scored all 15 of her game high points in the final frame as Mathews outscored Charles City 29-0 to close the contest.

Lady Panther head coach Antoine King said that he was proud of the defense of his team, but said ample opportunities fell by the wayside.

“We missed a lot of easy shots tonight,” the disappointed coach said. “We were moving the ball around pretty good but we were just missing lay-ups.”

“We did exactly what we wanted to do by slowing 20 (Armistead) down for the game,” King added. “But she got going at the end of the game and finished it off.”

The Lady Panthers, who continue to search for their first win of the year with a record of 0-10, received a team-high eight points from Young. Williams finished with seven for the hosts, while Wyatt and Bradby each contributed three.