Sometimes you’ve got to take the good with the bad and let a player loose.
That’s exactly what Fluvanna County has done with Chaniya Brown on defense.
“She was worried about fouls for so long and (stealing the ball) is really a strength of her’s,” said Fluvanna coach Chad White. “Maybe two, three games ago I just said … let’s see what we get with it and if we pick up some fouls I’ll deal with that.”
Brown swiped seven steals, including several huge ones in the second half to help Fluvanna County secure a 45-31 victory over Orange County in the Jefferson District tournament semifinals. It was Fluvanna’s second win over Orange this year after the two squads split their regular season matchups.
“I knew this was a big game tonight so I came out and I executed and I did all I could for my team,” Brown said. “I anticipated the passes, I saw them coming and I just went after it and got it.”
Brown got some help defensively from Bri Harris, who drew the challenging assignment of marking star Orange point guard Kiani Hudgens. Hudgens finished with 11 points with Harris making her work for all 11.
“She’s progressed a lot and she did exactly what our coaches told her,” said Fluvanna’s Katie Stutz. “Just watching her work hard was really helpful on defense and motivating for us.”
Stutz had a monster outing in the low scoring game, accounting for nearly 50 percent of the Flucos’ offense. She poured in 21 points while also hauling in 10 rebounds and going 13-for-18 at the free throw line. With Stutz firing on all cylinders and the Flucos’ offense clicking, Fluvanna appears to be lining things up at the right time.
“Tonight was a big deal for us, we’ve been having a dip in our abilities lately,” Stutz said. “This night really brought our team together and we’re focused and ready to go.”
Fluvanna jumped out to a 6-0 lead against the Hornets to start the game, and Orange never could dig out of that early hole. By halftime it was 24-11 Fluvanna with the Flucos’ defense stifling the Hornets. Stutz connected on a leaner with a high degree of difficulty at the buzzer, drew a foul and hit the free throw to push the lead from 10 points to 13 going into the locker room.
The Hornets managed to cut the lead to nine but never could get over the hump.
Sincere Cook finished with seven points for the Hornets while Diamond Towles had six points to go with Hudgens’ 11-point outing.
“The style of game that was played tonight was their kind of style, that’s how they beat us the first time,” said Orange coach Dave Rabe. “They were able to play a little more physical and we didn’t respond well. They came out early in the game and kind of punched us in the mouth and we battled back it just took us awhile.”
Tamara Cook finished with nine points for the Flucos, while Harris finished with seven points for Fluvanna.
The Flucos advance to take on Charlottesville for the third time this year in the Jefferson District final.
