After rallying to tie game in second, Lady Trojans drop opener of Hoopville Tournament

New Kent’s Amiya Armstead snags a rebound despite being surrounded by traffic from Gloucester players.

Robb Johnson photo

New Kent Lady Trojans continue to navigate an early season filled with the learning process along with tough lessons. And at their first home holiday tournament, it was more coal in the stocking for the hosts.

The visiting Gloucester Lady Dukes upended New Kent 51-36 in Friday night basketball action.

New Kent’s offensive woes were evident coming off the winter break, as they missed a dozen three-point shot attempts. It would take a Talayah Wilson trifecta to finally break into the scoring column for the hosts. That basket would account for New Kent’s only points as they trailed Gloucester 9-3 heading into quarter number two.

Gloucester stretched their advantage out to double digits (15-5) when the hosts made their strongest push of the contest. A pair of free throws by Wilson were followed by Amiya Armstead’s putback. A Delaney Montgomery free throw helped slice the Lady Duke lead in half (15-10). That lead was wiped out as Montgomery sank two more free throws and Wilson converted another long distance shot to tie the game at 15 apiece, capping a 10-0 run for the Lady Trojans with 3:30 remaining until the halftime break.

But that would be the last the hosts would be within striking distance in the contest. Gloucester rebounded, posting a 7-0 run to take a 22-15 lead into the halftime intermission. From there, frustrations mounted as New Kent could not handle the pressure defense, and with Lady Trojans’ Head Coach James Montgomery ejected from the contest for arguing calls. From there, Gloucester closed out the contest and left New Kent’s gym with a win.

Wilson’s 11 points led New Kent (2-6) in the scoring column. Montgomery pumped in nine, Evie Davenport finished with eight, the duo of Rayne Otey and Anna Hetzel tossed in three points each, and Amiya Armstead chipped in with two.