Sometimes, maturity shows itself at just the right moment.
“The thing I like about this group is that they’ve really grown up,” said Fluvanna County girls basketball coach Nick Ward. “I loved the patience at the end.”
Trailing Albemarle by a point on the road with under a minute to play, Fluvanna didn’t panic. They just settled in, moved the ball and eventually took advantage as Abby Seal fed Aniah Webb in the lane and Webb hit a twisting bucket from short range and drew a foul with seven seconds left.
“I saw the middle was open so I took the opportunity to get an open shot and I happened to get it,” Webb said.
Webb connected on the free throw and the Flucos’ defense held up on Albemarle’s final possession and the Flucos picked up a crucial Jefferson District win 44-42 over the Patriots.
Until Webb connected though, it was unclear that Fluvanna was going to get over the hump. Albemarle played particularly well in the first half defensively, holding Fluvanna to just 13 points and taking a 21-13 lead into the break. Fluvanna didn’t manage to cut much into that lead in the third and still trailed by six heading into the fourth, with Amaya Pendleton leading the offensive attack with 22 points. Riley Maynard chipped in 10 on the night.
But Fluvanna got going in the fourth as Webb scored 11 of her 13 points on the night in the final fame and Taty Turner tacked on six of her 16 in the fourth.
Those 17 points carried the offense down the stretch while Alana Carter-Johnston (who had nine points) came up with some big-time defensive plays.
“We’ve got some great guards, Alana and Aniah are just great,” Ward said. “(Aniah) she really wants the ball in her hands and when she wants to be, she’s really, really good.”
It didn’t hurt that Seal knocked down a big third quarter 3-pointer in her return to the lineup after being out for a couple of weeks.
Fluvanna also got some productivity out of its man-to-man defense against the Patriots which was a welcome surprise because they hadn’t played much man-to-man since Seal’s injury.
“They came in and I said ‘here’s the challenge, we’ve got to matchup,” Ward said. “We knew we could take it from them but could we make the rotations? And they really dug deep, it’s such a tough-nosed group.”
The Flucos will take on Orange County on the road Thursday before entering the final week of the regular season next week. Albemarle will try and bounce back Thursday with a short road trip to Charlottesville High.
