The Shadow
With the score knotted at 16-all at the half, the James River girls basketball team outscored the Covington Lady Cougars 28-11 in the second half en route to a 44-27 Pioneer District win Thursday night at the Cougar Den.
The win marked the first in district play for the Knights (2-10, 1-2) and was the first loss in the district for the Lady Cougars (7-3, 2-1).
James River’s stingy 3-2 trap zone defense gave the Cougars problems all night long.
Covington jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after Daylin Tyree knocked down four free throws in the game’s first two and a half minutes.
But the Knights quickly rebounded with a 9-0 run capped by Brooke Ware’s jumper to take a 9-4 lead with 3:40 left in the opening quarter.
Shanice Laws’ jumper coupled with Tyree’s dish to Ashleigh Brie cut the Cougars’ deficit to one (9-8), but River’s Dakota Kennedy knocked down 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to take a 10-8 lead after one.
Cheyenne Falls’ lane jumper and Morgan Hufford’s steal-and-layup increased the Knights’ lead to 14-8 with 6:39 remaining in the first half.
Another bucket from Falls gave James River a 16-10, but four points from Mary Woodson and a Laws dish to Autumn Phillips with 16 seconds remaining in the second knotted the score at 16.
The Lady Cougars outrebounded the Knights 20-16 in the first half.
James River had 12 turnovers, while Covington had 11.
The Lady Knights opened the third quarter with five straight points to take a 21-16 lead. Tyree knocked down 1-of-2 at the line to cut the Lady Cougars’ deficit to four (21-17) with 5:34 left in the third quarter.
James River’s Falls took over from there.
Three straight buckets from Falls increased the Lady Knights’ lead to 27-17 and they led 32-19 following a three-ball by Ware.
Another Falls bucket in the lane gave River a 34-19 lead, but Phillips added a stickback with 32 seconds left to make the score 34-32 heading into the fourth quarter.
Nakayla Moore’s layup cut the Lady Cougars’ deficit to 10 (34-24) with 7:40 left to play, but Falls – who scored 15 of her game-high 21 points in the second half – added two straight buckets to increase James River’s lead to 38-23.
River led 40-25 with 2:18 remaining and the Lady Cougars managed to get just one more field goal – a Darian Moore foul-line jumper – as they suffered their first Pioneer District loss of the season.
“We just got it handed to us tonight,” said Covington coach Mark Pifer. “We couldn’t do anything with Falls and offensively we just weren’t very good. Hopefully, we can bounce back, have a good practice tomorrow and give a better effort against Glenvar on Saturday.”
Falls 21-point, 11 rebound double-double paced James River. Ware chipped in nine points.
Tyree’s five points led the Lady Cougars. Covington had four players finish with four points each.
The Bath County Chargers now sit atop the Pioneer District girls basketball standings with a perfect 3-0 record in district play. Covington and Parry McCluer are both 2-1, while Craig County and James River are 1-2.
Highland rounds out the district standings with an 0-3 record.
Covington will be back in action Saturday at home against Glenvar.
Action starts at 1 p.m. with the junior varsity game.
The Covington jayvees opened the night with an exciting 29-27 win in the preliminary.
Sa’mone Moore led the Little Cougars with 11 points, while Leteashia
Clarke added nine. Montanna Hall had four, Aeija Davis had three and Tiffany Billups rounded out the CHS scoring with two points.
Kaye Woods, Kendal McGuire and Kayla Beckner had six points each for James River.
The Covington jayvees improved to 5-3 on the season and 2-0 in district play.
