Western Albemarle senior Shannon Moore is integral to what the Warriors’ girls basketball team is trying to do night in and night out.
“If you only look at the scoring box score, you don’t know how good Shannon is,” said Western coach Kris Wright. “She can score, but it’s all the other stuff she does — she contests shots, she blocks shots, she boxes out, she sets good screens, she makes the extra pass. It’s all the little things that help us be good overall.”
Moore was a critical factor in a fast start that helped spark Western to an early lead in a 67-32 victory over defending Jefferson District champion Louisa County Tuesday night. Moore yanked down six rebounds in the first quarter and eight in the first half as the Warriors jumped out to a 21-9 lead in the first quarter. Moore also got some help during that fast start from point guard Elisabeth Coffman who had eight first half steals and finished with nine for game.
“We started really fast and we’ve done that in both district games so far but we have to do a better job of executing later,” Wright said. “We got back into it, but there was a stretch in there that wasn’t quite as good as the start. A good start can be nullified really quickly if you don’t stay with it. That’s something we’ll watch on film and try and learn from it.”
Coffman also finished with 11 points on the night as part of a balanced offensive effort, with Annie Meehan notching 12 points, Anna O’Shea scoring 12 (on four 3-pointers), and Sydney Sherman scoring 12. It’s exactly the kind of balance the Warriors are looking for and with two straight wins to open Jefferson District play (including one over Charlottesville Friday), they have some solid momentum heading into a clash with rival Albemarle late this week.
Louisa County, meanwhile, is breaking in an almost entirely new lineup in coach Nick Schreck’s second retooling project after the Lions lost all five starters from last season’s Jefferson District title run. They’re leaning heavily on Terriana Neely, a senior, and Alexis Miller, a sophomore, to guide a rebuilt backcourt and bench.
“We’re very inexperienced — we’ve got two girls who really didn’t start for us last year but they were key players and role players and now they’ve got to take a big jump,” Schreck said. “We’ve got some young girls that have just been thrown into the fire.”
But with some of those younger players like freshman Lydia Wilson, who scored 11 points against the Warriors, already showing progress, the future looks bright for the Lions.
“This is a group of girls that works had and Terriana and Alexis are great leaders for us and it’s just going to be a process.”
That process continues Friday when the Lions head to Fluvanna for a road test at 7:30 p.m. while the Warriors host rival Albemarle that same night at 6 p.m..
