You can hardly blame Elisabeth Coffman for smiling more than usual in her senior debut for Western Albemarle’s girls basketball team. She’s trying to savor every moment.
“Coach always said that it goes by fast and man was he right,” Coffman said. “I’m definitely just trying to get the most from this year.”
The Warriors — led by an explosive first half from backcourt fixture Coffman — rolled 66-21 past Culpeper, the defending Region 3B champions. Coffman flirted with a triple double in the first half but say most of the second and finished with 13 points, six assists and six steals with all but two points and two assists coming before the break. The senior also finished with just a single turnover.
Coffman combined with Ellie Plantz at the top of the Warriors’ press to force a ton of backcourt turnovers that led to easy transition baskets. That approach led to a faster tempo that suits Coffman’s style and based on the ball-handling of post players Sydney Sherman and Caity Driver Thursday, suits the Warriors as a whole.
“It gets our energy up and usually when we have energy we play better as a team, we play together as a unit,” Coffman said. “Your offense works, your defense works and I just think that’s what happened.”
Plantz had six steals of her own and finished with 10 points (eight of them in the first half), shaking off some early turnovers to keep the pressure up defensively. Sydney Sherman had 11 points on the night, blocked two shots and dished out two assists. Driver had four rebounds and two steals. Annie Meenan chipped in two steals.
Western’s reserves also stepped up for big nights, with Mattie Shearer notching three assists and four steals. Kaylyn Pelletier finished with two steals while Vak Barbour had three rebounds.
Charlottesville girls drop James Monroe
Charlottesville’s girls basketball team picked up its second straight win over James Monroe, beating the Jackets 68-40.
The Black Knights got balanced scoring, with 10 different players getting in the book. La’Kasia Calloway led the way along with Kasey Lamb as each scored 10 points. Camiyah Brown and Andrea Lefkowitz each notched nine points.
The Black Knights get a break until December 7 when they’ll take on Albemarle at 6 p.m. on the road.
