Lady Raiders lose thriller to rival Brunswick
Published 11:14 am Friday, January 7, 2011
BY HATTIE FRANCIS/CONTRIBUTING WRITER
hattie.francis@gmail.com
Southampton Academy's Barclay Gatten shoots a free-throw in the fourth quarter of Thursday night's game against Brunswick. -- Hattie Francis | Tidewater News
COURTLAND—The Brunswick Academy Vikings edged the Southampton Academy Raiders girls’ basketball team 48-45 Thursday.
“We need to be a little bit more aggressive on defense, and we got to score more points if we’re going to stay with them in the game,” said Lady Raider Coach Chris Pope.
Brunswick jumped to a 3-0 lead. The first quarter ended with Brunswick leading 12-10.
SA’s scoring troubles continued. The Lady Raiders’ didn’t score a point in the second quarter until there was less than three minutes left in the first half. The Vikings walked into the locker room at the close of the half with a 25-17 lead, while SA walked in with 10 fouls.
“The way we shot in the first half came back to haunt us,” Pope said. “We couldn’t buy a basket, and the first half we couldn’t rebound either.”
“Things got better as the game went along, and that’s why we were able to get back in the game; we just came up a little short,” he added.
During the second half, SA pulled to within 3 points multiple times, but never overtook the Vikings.
With five seconds left in the game, the Lady Raiders in-bounded from half court to senior Catherine Glover, who got off a shot. However, Glover’s game tying 3-pointer fell short of the basket as time ran out.
“Compared to the game (when SA lost 45-35) we played over Christmas, we played with much better effort and much more intensity,” Pope said. “We’re getting better, but we’re still not shooting the ball and I think that’s what killed us.”
Glover led the Raiders with 11 points, while sophomore Barclay Gatten had 10 points.
Brunswick’s Mackenzie Blackwell led the Vikings with 16 points.
“If you can get a conference win on somebody else’s home court, it’s always a good night’s work,” said Brunswick Coach Hermie Sadler. “It was ugly at times, but we’ve got a real young team. It was good to have a game that came down to the wire, and we had to do some things to get it sealed.”
“Southampton’s a tough team, especially on their home court, and we’re happy to get out of here with a win,” Sadler said.