By Jay Jenkins / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
Long before foul trouble impacted her aggressive approach, Haley Kent set the tone for St. Anne’s-Belfield.
A six-point flurry out of the gate for the Saints’ leading scorer ultimately changed the complexion of their first round game in the VISAA Division I State Tournament game, keeping the Saints’ season alive for at least one more day in the process.
Behind Kent’s early sharp shooting, STAB raced out to a double-digit lead and never looked back as it dispatched ninth-seeded Nansemond-Suffolk 43-31.
“Haley has been the backbone of our team all year,” STAB coach Phil Stinnie said. “She is our leading scorer and as Haley goes the team goes.”
With the playoff win, STAB (14-10) earned the challenging task of traveling to face top-seeded Paul VI (20-10) tonight at 5 p.m. The Panthers absorbed an 85-31 beating by Good Counsel (Md.) on Sunday in the semifinal round of the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, but Stinnie understands the tough task that looms in defeating a program that has won the state title the past five seasons.
“They are a good team,” Stinnie said. “From No. 1 through No. 7 … I know five of them can go D-1.”
Against Nansemond-Suffolk, STAB jumped out to a 16-6 lead after the first quarter as Kent scored six of her eight points. Sarah Tolliver also chipped in with a 3-pointer that helped provide the separation that the visitors never recovered from.
While scoring was at a premium for both squads, STAB used its pressure defense to make sure that the talented NSA squad was unable to score in double figures in any of the final three periods.
“As you could see we were very close with that team,” Stinnie said. “The only thing that was different was that our defense was a lot stronger.
“We had some breaks because of our defense. We had some deflections and took advantage of that.”
STAB, which led 24-15 at halftime, leaned on sophomore Nkechi Ilang in the second half as she scored 11 of her game-high 15 points. The native of Nigeria scored seven straight at one point in the second half and was also a force on the glass, grabbing a team-high 12 rebounds.
“As you can see she has a lot to learn,” Stinnie said, “but once she gets it she is going to be pretty good.”
Leading 34-22 entering the final eight-minute session, Stinnie pleaded with his players to relax and milk the clock. Midway through the quarter, Stinnie was forced to call a timeout to remind his players of that again.
“I told them that, ‘You have to make every possession count. The clock is on our side,’” the coach said. “They were not anywhere close to the bonus so they had to start fouling. All we had to do was take care of the ball.
“I told them, ‘You are winning. You don’t have to shoot.’ They looked at me like that was a foreign concept. I said, ‘Listen, we can just hold the ball as long as they stay in that zone. We can just hold the ball.’”
Nansemond-Suffolk eventually tried to pressure the Saints on the perimeter but that merely opened the passing lanes toward the paint and Ilang converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 2:02 to seal the victory.
“We basically started running a three-man weave to make them get out of [the zone],” said Stinnie, “and they came out of it and then we got some easy buckets.”
While knocking off the top seed today will not be an easy task, Stinnie said the recipe for success is simple.
“If we play defense and take care of the ball and make every possession count we can be in the game,” he said. “And as always we have got to make free throws. We have a chance if we play smart.”
