By Betsy Haugh / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
The Western Albemarle girls’ basketball team snapped an eight-game losing streak Wednesday afternoon, defeating Monticello 46-29 during the second day of competition in the Daily Progress Holiday Basketball Classic.
“It feels good to win. It feels better to be emotionally invested in what we’re doing,” said Western Albemarle head coach Kris Wright. “We could have lived with the result either way today as long as we put into it what you’re supposed to, and that’s something we hadn’t been doing during our losing streak, and I think we did a better job with that today.”
The Warriors grabbed the lead with the first basket of the game and never relinquished it, leading by as many as 16 points on the afternoon. Junior forward Bridget Shaffrey led the offense with 14 points.
“We like to work inside out, whether that’s feeding Bridget in the post where she’s extremely effective or just getting the ball to touch the paint on dribble drives or flashes in the paint,” Wright said. “If we can work inside out, through Bridget in particular, that gives us the ability to collapse the defense, and that creates space to work with on offense.”
As for Monticello, freshman Molly Shephard recorded the highest point total for her team, scoring seven points. Fellow freshman Meghan Comer followed close behind, contributing six points to the Mustangs’ offensive campaign.
Monticello head coach Josh McElheny cited a lack of energy as his team’s main concern right now, viewing Wednesday afternoon’s matchup as a “learning experience.”
“It gives us a chance to see a district opponent without costing us a district loss. It gives us an idea of what we really need to work on with the district starting next week,” McElheny said.
Monticello, now 3-5, will play in the tournament’s seventh-place game Thursday morning at 11 a.m.
Western Albemarle improves to 3-8 with the win. The Warriors will compete in the fifth-place game Thursday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
Both games will be held at Albemarle High School.
