Charlottesville’s London Todd and Sydney Calloway are forces in the paint, but their two-biggest contributions came in actions usually seen from guards. With her team traling by two mid-way through the fourth quarter, Todd pulled up and knocked down a 3-pointer to put her team out in front.
“It was open and I thought that we kind of needed the boost,” Todd said of spotting up. “We picked up on defense after that.”
They did, and on one play in particular. A few minutes after Todd’s trey, it looked like William Monroe’s Alex Cave was going to give her team the lead as she came up with a steal and rushed down court, but Calloway stepped up and stripped the ball away. With a full head of steam, the junior raced down the court and made it a 3-point lead for Charlottesville. The Greene Dragons never scored again and the Black Knights knocked down free throws to wrap up a 45-37 season opening win.
“When (Calloway) went coast-to-coast and then did the finger roll, that was just such a great feeling,” said Charlottesville coach Dee Mitchelson. “I love how versatile our big kids are. They can pretty much change and play any position and be comfortable with what they do.”
Up by eight at the half, Charlottesville’s defense held Monroe to just two points in the third quarter, allowing the Black Knights to take a three point lead as Tamara Starchia, Monique Perkins and Kendall Ballard thrived in transition. Both team’s struggled with turnovers, but Charlottesville’s rebounding edge with Todd and Calloway helped them maintain their lead midway through the fourth.
“We knew that Monroe was going to be a really great first challenge for us,” Mitchelson said. “We overcame the deficit at half time. We were losing our man on defense and giving them second and third chances. We just had to correct that and the small stuff.”
However, behind the play of Cave, Monroe clawed back to take its last lead of the game with four minutes to play. It was there that Todd knocked down her big shot.
“We’re not playing our best basketball yet, and we’ve yet to gel as a real unit, but this is a group I’m confident is up for the challenge to overcome the early adversity of the season,” said Monroe coach Phillip Lamb.
The Black Knights had four players finished with at least three field goals. Calloway had a team high 12 points. Todd and Starchia each added nine. Ballard scored eight points.
For Monroe, Alexa Smith led the way offensively with 14 points. Brianna Allen added five points. Cave and Carrie Doyle each finished with four.
The Dragons travel to Monticello on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
Charlottesville is off for the next two weeks and start back up on December 16th at home against Tandem Friends at 6 p.m.
