With nothing falling shot wise for either team in the first half of the first quarter it was pretty evident that the team that found a way to attack the basket regularly was going to get out in front. Charlottesville turned out to be that team as it hosted Western Albemarle. The Black Knights offense didn’t really get rolling until the second quarter, but with the defense holding the Warriors to a pair of substantial scoring droughts in both halves, not all that much offense was needed. With Rayquel Allen leading the back court and Vanessa Antwi stabilizing the front, Charlottesville was able to get out in front early and never have to really look behind in a 39-22 victory.
“We talked about this at halftime that tonight it was that we had to be clearly, like visibly clearly the more aggressive team at the basket,” said Charlottesville coach Jim Daly. “I thought our girls did a great job of staying poised even though the shots weren’t falling early.”
It wasn’t until late in the first that the Black Knights got some momentum going with Lidia Shimer knocking down a 3-pointer in the corner and then with a base line shot underneath off a rebound to make it 9-4. That was the beginning for a 9-0 run that extended in the second quarter and lasted more than six minutes.
On the other side of the floor the Warriors were managing to work their way through the press but outside shots simply did not fall and that combined with a slew of turnovers and the Black Knights cleaning up on the glass made for a rough first three quarters.
“This is a very young team in a tough environment,” said Western coach Kris Wright. “So many of our kids are just now learning the ropes, getting their first varsity minutes and it showed. Early on I thought we just didn’t settle down. It was strange because we were able to break the press and then we’d try to do too much or try to thread a needle or just be bothered by contact trying to finish. If we’re going to break the press we need to settle in and execute our stuff. This is all part of the growing up process.”
Charlottesville took a double digit lead for good when Allen came up with a steal and finish with 2:17 until the break. She and the rest of the Black Knights guards pushed the tempo in the latter half of the second quarter to get a rhythm going offensively.
“We were gonna go left, go right, it didn’t matter,” Allen said. “We were going to finish and if we didn’t finish our post was going to be there to clean up the boards and finish it for us.”
In those final two minutes Antwi was able to establish a dominant presence underneath and picked up back to back field goals with one off the offensive glass.
“We just tried to hustle so that when the ball went up everyone was going to it,” Antwi said. “We tried to fight our hardest and see what we could do. I had a lot of my teammates pushing me, we were all just doing a great job of pushing each other to be our best and to fight and hustle all the time.”
That put Charlottesville up 26-8 but Western was able to get a shot from Maggie Craytor at the buzzer to make it 28-10 at the break.
In the third, it was the Black Knights defense that came out firing on all cylinders as they held Western scoreless for the vast majority of the frame. Little changed on the scoreboard as both offenses struggled as they combined for nine points total in the quarter with Charlottesville getting the edge by one.
The fourth quarter saw Black Knights forward Aria Cafferillo attack the basket and get her points at the free throw line. The last four minutes were the best offensively for the Warriors with Craytor, Reeve Goldstein and Caroline Centofante all getting on the board and leading the way for an 8-2 run to close the game out at 39-22.
“Three different kids got their first varsity baskets so that’s pretty cool,” Wright said. “That’s going to be a lot of the season for us, how people can come off the bench and grow up and learn from that experience.”
On the night Allen led all scorers with her 14 points. Antwi added nine while Cafferillo chipped in seven and Lakia Thompson netted six.
For Western, Craytor, Ava Even and Elana Romesburg each had four points.
The Warriors will head to play the defending state champs in Louisa County on Tuesday while the Black Knights will hit the road to face Fluvanna County with both starts slated for 7:30 p.m.
