By Drew Goodman / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
After suffering its third defeat at the hands of Western Albemarle in the Jefferson District semifinals, Albemarle girls basketball head coach Rachel Proudfoot was grateful to have nearly a week to rally her troops.
With her young team facing a win-or-go-home situation for the first time this year, Proudfoot ratcheted up the intensity in practice in the days leading up to Monday’s Class 5, Region D play-in game against Halifax.
The Patriots had been locked into a first round showdown for several weeks, which gave Proudfoot plenty of time to scout the Comets and to prepare her team for what to expect.
The extended rest and the extensive preparation paid off, as Albemarle barely broke a sweat in its 61-38 thrashing of visiting Halifax.
Albemarle’s hot shooting and detailed knowledge of Halifax’s defensive schemes allowed the Patriots to scorch the nets on offense in the early going. One week after tallying just 30 points all night against Western, AHS poured on 25 in the first nine minutes of Monday’s contest.
The Patriots (10-12) led by double digits for the vast majority of the contest and were on pace for close to 80 points after an ultra efficient first half. It did not matter what type of defense that the Comets ran- Albemarle simply could not miss or be stopped.
“I think it was just repetition,” said Proudfoot of her team’s offensive prowess. We saw film on [Halifax] we knew that they were going to run some kind of zone to begin with, so we had been kind of working on the triangle zone offense, where we’re passing it to high post and low post, kicking it back out, trying to see the skip pass when it was there.”
Halifax scored four of the game’s first six points, before Albemarle used an 11-0 run to take control of the contest for good.
The red-hot duo of of Haylee Howard Radde and Jade Radmacher were unstoppable inside the lane and from beyond the arc. Radde scored the bulk of her 16 points during the first quarter surge. Meanwhile, Ramacher began to heat up during another big AHS run in the second stanza, and ended up leading her team with 17 points on the night.
Radde and Ramacher combined to shoot 60 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range. Proudfoot made several in-game adjustments in shifting Radde from the four to the two guard, but the junior rotated seamlessly between the front and backcourt.
“[Radde and Ramacher] were shooting well and making good decisions,” Proudfoot said. “I felt like we found the gaps in their zone… when we’re executing, Haylee can get excellent rebound position with put-backs.”
Albemarle led by 20 points at intermission and the Comets could not draw any closer than 16 points down in the second half. Jazmyn Thompson added eight big points and a team-high four steals for the home team.
The Patriots will travel to Roanoke for a showdown with top-seeded William Fleming with on Wednesday night. The Colonels are 20-1 on the season with all but five of their wins coming by double digits.
