Sometimes the buzz in the stands isn’t the way it is on the court. The obvious storyline coming into Saturday’s game with host Albemarle welcoming cross town rival Charlottesville was that it was the first time that new Patriots coach Harry Terrell was up against the school where he spent the majority of his coaching career. On top of that, the current senior class for the Black Knights helped Terrell earn trips to the Group AA tournament as freshmen and sophomores. That seemed like the storyline, but in a classic example of competition consuming all, it was all about the play on the court and not a lot else.
“You can’t get hung up in that if you’re a coach,” Terrell said. “You’ve got to be level headed and focus on the game at hand. So while it was really nice to see (Charlottesville coach Dee Mitchelson) and all the kids again, it’s about competing. Once everyone was on the court they were just another team you’re trying to beat.”
With London Todd and Olivia Levine out because of injury, the Black Knights were banged up. As such, it was up to Von Storch, Syndey Calloway and Monique Perkins to carry the load more so than usual against Albemarle. Although the Patriots struggled mightily from the field, they made a living at the free throw line to keep the game close in the first half. But with Von Storch and Calloway having their way, and the emergence of Nia Johnson in the second half, Charlottesville took care of business picking up it bh3s fifth straight win on a 55-34 victory.
“We’re always excited to play Albemarle every year,” said Mitchelson. “It’s a great win for us and it’s always special for the kids when they are able to beat the Patriots.”
Offensively, Charlottesville’s approach was fairly straight forward — get the ball to Von Storch, let her go coast to coast or find Calloway or Perkins underneath. That worked all game, and by the end of the first quarter, the Black Knights were up by seven.
The Patriots had two field goals in the first quarter, and did not get another until a few minutes into the fourth quarter, but by attacking the basket Albemarle spent almost the entire game shooting free throws, reaching the double bonus early in the second quarter.
With Charlottesville struggling to finish on its shots underneath, the Patriots were able to put together an 11-2 run just on foul shots to take a 2-point lead a few minutes before halftime.
“We didn’t have a good game, but the only thing we did well was shoot free throws,” Terrell said. “We hit 23 of the 29 we took, but we still needed to play good fundamental defense.”
However, the Black Knights reclaimed the momentum to finish the first half with a 10-2 run on their own to go up seven going into the break.
“We talked about it at halftime that we had to not foul as much, and do a better job of rebounding and finishing at the basket,” Mitchelson said. “In the third, we didn’t exactly follow that first thing we talked about, but after a timeout I thought we got it straightened out.”
The second half was all Charlottesville. Von Storch and Calloway piled up the points in transition and on second chance shots and all of the sudden, Johnson started to hit jump shots to create double-digit seperation. It stayed that way for the rest of the night.
“We knew that we all were going to have to play a lot more minutes, so we were just trying to pull together,” Von Storch said. “Everyone had to pitch in on defense and on the boards. I think we showed we could get a really good team effort without a couple of our leaders being able to play.”
Von Storch led all scorers with her 18-point night while Calloway had 17. The two also cleaned up on the glass with Calloway collecting 10 rebounds while Von Storch had eight boards. Johnson put together a 12-point performance. Perkins scored eight.
For Albemarle, Jasmine Taylor led the way on offense and defense, despite battling with foul trouble before fouling out early in the fourth quarter. Taylor had 10 points and three steals. Jessica Hairston had seven points.
Charlottesville (8-3) heads to Louisa County on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Albemarle (2-10) hosts North Stafford on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
