Pioneer District Champions!

BUENA VISTA - You could hear it echoing loud and clear from the visitor’s locker room.

“Champs! Champs! Champs! Champs,” screamed the Covington girl’s basketball team after their bone-chilling 34-32 win over James River in Friday night’s Pioneer District regular season playoff at Parry McCluer High School.

It’s been a long time since the Covington girl’s basketball team has been able to say that – 13 years to be exact.

Covington’s last Pioneer District title came in 1999.

“It’s been a while,” said an emotional Covington coach Mark Pifer following Friday night’s thriller. “Eleven girls made this happen tonight, whether they got on the floor or not.

This was a total team effort.”

It was a defensive game from the opening tip and the game would come down to a defensive stand.

Last week, the defensive stand the Cougars needed ended with James River’s Ashley King swishing a three-ball from the corner to break a 46-all tie and lift the Knights past the Cougars 49-46 in Springwood.

Last night, the play call was designed to let the James River slasher take the final shot once more.

King got the ball in the right corner, made a spin move and went baseline, but Covington’s Leteashia Clarke stepped up with some great defense forcing King to rush her shot.

King’s attempt went long and Autumn Phillips corralled the loose ball as time expired and sent the Covington faithful into a frenzied victory celebration at midcourt.

“We’ve preached defense and getting stops since day one,” said Pifer. “I know tonight’s game wasn’t pretty to watch, but we got stops.

“Brittany Keyser will never go noticed except by coaches and the player she guards,” added the Covington coach.

“She’s all over you. She did a great job on King tonight.”

An even bigger difference in last night’s game compared to their previous meeting was Clarke staying out of foul trouble and on the floor for the Lady Cougars.

The Covington sophomore scored all five of her team’s buckets in the first half and finished with a 12-point, 15-rebound double-double to lead the Lady Cougars to victory.

“I’ve said it many times, but we go with Leteashia,” stated Pifer. “We know what we’re going to get from Sa’Mone, we know what we’re going to get from Autumn, but we go with Leteashia. She’s a force inside.

“She’s a kid that when she is on the floor, we are a much better team rather than when she is not on the floor,” added Pifer. “At James River, she got into some foul trouble and we had to pull her off the floor and that really hurt us.”

Clarke opened the game’s scoring with a jumper in the lane to give Covington an early 2-0 lead, but the Knights responded with a 5-0 run that was capped by Taylor England’s layup off an assist from King.

Moore added a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left in the quarter to pull Covington within one, 5-4, after one quarter.

James River’s Kaye Woods knocked down a jumper from the elbow to give the Knight’s a 7-4 lead before consecutive buckets from Clarke off assists from Phillips gave the Cougars an 8-7 lead with 5:05 to play in the first half.

Clarke’s stickback with 31 seconds left in the second quarter gave Covington a 12-8 lead, but James River’s Reanna Hamm and Woods added late buckets to knot the game at 12 at the break.

Clarke scored 10 points and grabbed eight of her 15 rebounds in the game’s first 16 minutes.

Phillips dished to Brittany Keyser who knocked down a 10-footer to open the third quarter scoring and give Covington a 14-12 lead, but James River responded with a 7-0 run.

Woods hit 1-of-2 from the stripe to get the run started and King capped it with a runner in the lane to give James River its biggest lead of the night, 19-14, with 2:31 to play in the third quarter.

The Lady Cougars responded with a run of their own.

Moore stroked a three-ball from the wing to get the run started and then dished to Daylin Tyree who knocked down a jumper to knot the score at 19. Moore then stroked a pair of free throws and Phillips capped the 9-0 run with a stickback to give Covington a 23-19 lead with 41 seconds to play in the third quarter.

King knocked down a jumper 11 seconds later to pull the Knights within two, 23-21, heading into the fourth quarter.

Mary Woodson’s stickback off a missed Covington free throw gave the Cougars a 32-23 lead with four minutes to play and they led 34-25 with 2:58 remaining following a Phillips layup, but the Knights staged a furious comeback.

King converted a three-point play and England made an easy two to pull the Knights within four, 34-30, with 1:09 remaining. King made a pair of free throws with 33 seconds to play to cut Covington’s lead to two and set up the dramatic finish.

Phillips added nine points and four assists for the Cougars, while Moore finished with seven points. Woodson, Tyree and Keyser had two points each to round out the Covington scoring.

King led the Knights (19-4) with 12 points, while Woods added nine.

The win secures the top seed and a bye in next week’s Pioneer District Tournament for the Lady Cougars (16-7).

Even more importantly, Covington secured the No. 2 seed and a first round bye in the Region C girl’s basketball tournament.

Covington will take on the winner of Monday night’s game between Craig County/Parry McCluer on the same floor Wednesday night in the semifinals of the Pioneer District Tournament.

“That’s what makes this win so big for us,” said Pifer. “Our goal from the start was a district championship, but to secure a first round bye in the regional tournament puts you one win from making it to states and that’s what every team plays to get to.

“Just a big night for Covington girls basketball. I couldn’t be more proud of that group of girls,” concluded Pifer.