The opposition built two substantial leads early, but Charlottesville’s Ellie Von Storch forced her team back into contention. Not to be outdone, William Monroe refused to trail for long or by much. The Black Knights’ slim margin quickly turned into a sizable hole when Alexa Smith, Alex Cave and Katelyn Roach got rolling in the third quarter, and once the Greene Dragons grappled onto the double-digit lead, they never relented, picking up a 63-49 win at home to maintain second place in the Jefferson District standings.
“With our point guards getting into foul trouble, the strategy in the second quarter was to get stops and try and buy some time,” said Monroe coach Phillip Lamb. “We thought once the third quarter came around we’d be able to open things up, do things a bit differently and we did. We were able to feed the post. Alexa had her game on today so we wanted to keep feeding her the ball.”
Charlottesville trailed by four points at the half, but five straight points from Von Storch to begin the second half gave the Black Knights the lead. With help from London Todd, Charlottesville was able to roll with the punches for a while with the Dragons, but once Cave and Roach got in on the scoring with Smith, who had a strong game from start to finish, Monroe established it’s double-digit lead going into the fourth.
“We knew that Charlottesville’s a physical team and that London Todd’s a great defensive player,” said Smith. “I’ve played against her a lot before on other teams, and we were able to get her into a bit of foul trouble there and really take it at them down low. All game she was denying me hard so I had to keep getting down low and look for easier shots.”
Lamb’s squad held fast in the final quarter, pushing the court and putting up points on the break and free throw line to keep a healthy distance to earn the win.
In the early going of the game, Smith and teammate Tiffany Snead were forced to step up with Monroe’s guards getting into significant foul trouble. Cave missed much of the first half as a result, and so it was up to the Dragons post players to win the battles underneath the basket and both Smith and Snead were able to help their team lead by eight points on two occasions.
But before Monroe could muster up a big time run, Von Storch and Todd found away to cut both leads in half. However, with the defense struggling down the stretch, the Dragons were too far out too late.
“At the end of the second quarter and at the start of the third we were doing a better job of getting back on defense,” said Charlottesville coach Dee Mitchelson. “Then we got behind their bigs and put them on the foul line way too much and they were beast on the line.”
Smith led the way for Monroe with 19 points on six field goals and seven of eight shooting at the free throw line. Cave still managed to pile up 17 points despite her battle with fouls to start the game. Roach and Snead each finished with eight points.
For Charlottesville, Von Storch led all scorers with 21 points, while Todd was close behind with 17, accounting for all but 11 of their team’s points.
The Black Knights (2-2, 1-2) host Fluvanna County on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
The Dragons (7-1, 2-1) travel to Orange County also on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
