Brown leads CHS past Waynesboro

Charlottesville girls basketball coach Harry Terrell found himself in unfamiliar territory entering his team’s second-round game on Monday afternoon against Waynesboro in The Daily Progress NBC29 Holiday Classic at Albemarle High. His Black Knights squad has sputtered through the first few games this year and lost to the Miller School in first-round action on Saturday.

In short, CHS (2-3) needed a win against the Little Giants. Senior Shalita Brown made sure her team got it.

Brown scored a game-high 30 points and pulled down 19 rebounds in leading Charlottesville to a 62-41 victory. Brown, who was held to seven points during the middle two quarters as the Giants pulled to within five points, exploded for 15 points in the fourth to help CHS pull away.

“They came out strong in the third quarter and that’s when coach sat us down and said, ‘Turn it back up,’” Brown said.

The Black Knights did just that in the final stanza, outscoring Waynesboro 22-6 after a sluggish effort in the third.

“We missed some shots and didn’t come out ready to play good defense [in the third quarter],” said Terrell.

The Little Giants took advantage of those CHS miscues and ripped off a 10-0 run midway through the quarter before Brown responded with five straight points to stop the Waynesboro surge.

“That’s what she should be doing,” said Terrell of Brown’s impact on the game. “She’s been here for four years. She has to take on that leadership role as far as how she plays out there. If she can do that every game, that makes us a lot better.”

Brown got help with the scoring load from Shawntae Payne, who poured in 13 of her 16 points in the first half.

“Shawntae stepped up for us and that made everyone else step up,” Brown said.

Shanda Brown led Waynesboro in scoring with 17 points. Latoya Diggs was the only other player in double figures for the Little Giants with 12.

Charlottesville moves on to face Albemarle today at 2:15 in the fifth-place game. Waynesboro will take on Culpeper at 11 a.m. in the seventh-place contest. Both games will be played at Albemarle.