It didn’t need to be pretty, and by tallying 29 team fouls, it certainly wasn’t. But it was more than effective and it seemed somewhat fitting that the Albemarle girls basketball team’s first Commonwealth District tournament win in five years was a long and drawn out affair. Almost all of it was with the Patriots out in front as they cruised to a 54-35 victory over Brooke Point, putting them just one win away from qualifying for the Northwest Region tournament.
“It’s like they’re looking to persevere,” said Albemarle coach Rachel Proudfoot. “At the beginning of the year we kind of put our head down a bit. Now it’s like, ‘no, let’s go.’”
The test for the Patriots came in the first quarter with The Hawks leading almost the entire frame until KK Barbour got warm and put her team up by one just a few moments after trailing by five. What was eventually a 9-2 run continued over into the second quarter, and once Albemarle claimed a 15-12 advantage, it never really had to look back as it padded its lead slowly but surely with an outstanding effort defensively and Barbour doing the heavy lifting offensively.
“We played together as a team, that was the whole model this week in practice,” Barbour said. “Defense was the number one priority so we tried to get back and help.”
By the break the Patriots held an 8-point lead but in the third quarter the fouls truly started to mount up with key players like Alexis Anderson and Kendra Hairston both having to spend plenty of minutes on the bench. And while scoring came to a halt on both ends in the third quarter with both teams combining for 13 total points in the frame, Albemarle still had a 9-point advantage heading into the fourth.
“We knew we had the foul trouble so we came out in a 3-2 Syracuse defense,” Proudfoot said. “They don’t have great outside shooters so it worked to our advantage a little bit when we didn’t give them second chance opportunities.”
From there the Patriots took off and shut the door. Samira Hussaini stepped up offensively in the fourth to lead Albemarle on offense and with Brooke Point struggling all night at the free throw line, there was simply no digging into the Patriots lead.
“(This win) means a lot to us, but we still have a lot of work left to do,” Barbour said. “It starts with practice tomorrow.”
Barbour led all scorers on the night with her 22 points and also hauled in nine rebounds. Hussaini finished the game with 10 points, nine of them coming in the fourth. Dionna Corbin added seven points.
Albemarle will travel to CD semfinals at Stafford on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
