STANARDSVILLE — With so many teams muddled in the middle of the pack in the Jefferson District standings, all home games are must wins at this point, and behind the strong play of Katelyn Roach, William Monroe was able to get just that in their 55-34 victory over Goochland on Friday night.
“We put ourselves in a bit of a hole by dropping our first three (district games),” said Greene Dragons coach Phillip Lamb. “But we’ve been able to win our last two and work on getting back into the hunt.”
The Bulldogs were able to hang in during the first two quarters, forcing turnovers and rebounding well, but Monroe came out in the third quarter and took a monster lead.
“In the first half we turned the ball over 17 times,” Lamb said. “That’s very uncharacteristic for us. It was almost like we were trying to play too fast.”
Up six at the half, the Dragons solved their turnover problems in the second half. On top of that, Roach got hot on both offense and defense was able to fuel an 18-2 run to put her team up by 24.
“We played better defense, we boxed out, and we didn’t have the turnovers,” Roach said. “We actually looked and played like a team.”
In fact, Monroe wound up turning the table on Goochland, putting pressure on the Bulldogs and achieving desired results.
“Their press killed us,” said Goochland coach Sarah Nicholson. “That third quarter buried us.”
With a significant lead and a clock that was melting away, Monroe took their foot off of the accelerator and worked in the majority of their bench during the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs are in the midst of trying to build a well-rounded girls basketball program. Many Goochland players are seeing the court for the first time this year. This is the first year that the Bulldogs have been able to field both a varsity and junior varsity squad.
“We’ve been working really hard but the scoreboard hasn’t really shown that,” Nicholson said. “Tonight I was happy that we were able to play three decent quarters out of the four.”
Freshman Tammara Taylor and sophomore Amara Ezell each finished with 15 points for Goochland.
For the Dragons, five players finished with five or more points. Tiffany Snead finished with seven points while Alex Cave and Cally Troutman finished with six.
Goochland (0-6, 0-5) hosts Western Albemarle on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Monroe (6-7, 2-3) hosts Fluvanna County on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
