If you’re going to be a great team, you’re going to need players who aren’t always the top option, to step up in key situations.
In the last week, that’s exactly what an unbeaten Western Albemarle girls basketball squad has gotten from senior Annie Meenan, who’s been doing an impression of Big Shot Bob Horry for the Warriors, the seven-time NBA champion who hit clutch shot after clutch shot for Chicago and San Antonio. Big Shot Annie Meenan, if you will.
“We’ve been giving her a hard time about all the celebrity,” said Western coach Kris Wright.
Meenan, who hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer against Charlottesville at the end of the first half last week, finished a game-winning lay-in off an Elisabeth Coffman feed with 7.2 seconds to play Friday to help lift Western to a 40-37 victory over Albemarle.
With the scored tied at 37-37, Western’s Caity Driver came up with a steal with under a minute to play. That allowed the Warriors to melt the clock and set up a chance at a gamewinner. Western did that and the ball ended up in Coffman’s hands.
“It was amazing — coach was like ‘attack’ and I saw her cut and got it to her,” Coffman said. “She was able to make a play out of it and it was so clutch.”
Meenan hit the layup and drew a foul.
“We were cutting a lot — we had to waste that time and work through their trapping and get through all their pressure,” Meenan said. “When the time came, you’ve just got to take that opportunity when you can.”
After she hit the the free throw, Albemarle rushed the ball to halfcourt and took a timeout with four seconds left. The Patriots got the shot they wanted as Jamie Rademacher got open for a 3-pointer, but Coffman leapt and blocked the shot as time expired. The savvy block by a player that had been tethered to the bench in the middle of the second half with four fouls was typical of the senior guard.
“Seniors kind of come up in big moments,” Wright said. “She gets a lot of credit for shooting the ball and assists and all that but she’s one of the better defenders around here.”
That stretch without Coffman in the game was just as critical for the Warriors to come up with the hard fought win after trailing in the first quarter. Western had to lean on Mattie Shearer and Kaylyn Pelletier to survive and have a shot to win late and the tandem stepped up in a huge way, keeping Albemarle at arm’s length and re-taking the lead at one point.
“We knew we’d be okay and Kaylyn and Mattie who were in there at the same time played extremely well,” Wright said. “Particularly defensively, tipping balls, getting our energy up.”
Albemarle, meanwhile, battled throughout, with MarQuelah Wlson leading the offense with 11 points on the night, including a 3-pointer. Makinna Winterton chipped in nine points. The Patriots were tough from the outset, forcing Western to respond in kind.
“Albemarle always plays extremely hard — it’s always going to be a hard fought game,” Wright said. “I thought we were a little bit flat mentally and then they were playing hard on top of it. We had to get our energy up to be able to match that.”
Both teams will take a break before jumping into the Holiday Tournament December 27. Albemarle is set to play Brooke Point at 2 p.m. that day while Western plays Harrisonburg at 5:30 p.m.
Western Albemarle’s Annie Meenan talks about the Warriors’ narrow win over Albemarle including her gamewinner with seven seconds left in First Off the Floor presented by @PT_acac pic.twitter.com/2dkzCkNoBy
— scrimmageplay (@scrimmageplay) December 20, 2018
