ORANGE — Atlee made the most of its size advantage and used a first-quarter scoring tear to upend Orange County to capture the Conference 16 title on Friday night.
Junior center Alyse Armentrout registered a triple double and the Raiders prevented the Hornets from getting into a rhythm as they prevailed 53-38.
Orange, the top seed, had already secured a Region 5A North bid and will play host to Stafford in a first-round game on Monday night. Atlee will host a tournament game on Tuesday.
“The girls were motivated. Alyse and Ashley [Weaver] have been our go-to players all year and they got started early so when they’re going early, it really helps and brings the rest of the girls along,” Atlee coach Michael Rawlings said. “If we’re controlling the inside with blocked shots and rebounds, it makes the other part of the game a little bit simpler.”
The visitors made things look easy early on as Weaver sparked a 15-0 run. Atlee was also aided by strong perimeter shooting during the stretch — the Raiders knocked down three consecutive long range baskets, including back-to-back threes by Jennifer Weigle.
Orange ended its drought with a 3-pointer from Deja Wilson to cut the deficit to 18-7 by the end of the first quarter.
Armentrout dominated the boards throughout, and was particularly effective in the second quarter. The junior scored eight of her 12 points in the frame, including a pair of offensive putbacks as the Raiders extended the advantage to 26-14. Armentrout grabbed a game-high 19 rebounds. When she wasn’t pulling down boards, Armentrout was batting away shots, finishing with an impressive 10 blocks.
“With their long arms they do a good job of jumping straight up, keeping their hands straight up,” said Orange coach David Rabe, who guided his team into the region playoffs for the second straight year. “We’ve always been the shortest team this entire season, but it seemed like tonight their length just really hurt us and we didn’t know how to respond.”
The Hornets (20-5), which trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half, cut the lead to seven in the fourth. Lexi Lomax got a steal, then dished the ball to Laine Harrington, who drained a long jumper to make it 39-32 with 4:41 to play.
Atlee (15-10) responded with a three-point play as Weaver took a pass from Kylie Eastman, made a basket underneath and drew the foul. The senior converted the free throw to give her team a double digit lead midway through the quarter. Weaver led all scorers with 19 points to go along with nine rebounds. The Raiders continued to pull away behind the inside play of Armentrout and Weaver, who were adept at grabbing rebounds on both the offensive and defensive end.
Orange trimmed the deficit to seven again with just under two minutes remaining as Lomax got her hand on the ball and tipped it to Kiani Hudgens, who raced the length of the floor and converted a layup. Hudgens finished with eight points and five assists.
However, Atlee was able to get to the foul line, making four free throws down the stretch to help seal the win.
“We knew they wanted to slow it down, play a half court set. So we got into their gameplan and we couldn’t quite get into ours,” Rabe said. “We thought we could pressure the ball a little bit more on them and get some more turnovers. We got a few, just not quite enough. Several times we would get a defensive stop or get a turnover and we couldn’t capitalize on it.”
Eastman reached double figures for Atlee with 10 points. Wilson and Lindsey Slaughter led Orange with nine points apiece and Sincere Cook finished with eight points. Harrington tallied seven rebounds and three steals.
Tipoff for Monday’s game is set for 7 p.m.
