Hornets go Green at buzzer

With a 14-point halftime lead squandered, two of their best players fouled out, and Albemarle playing with all the momentum, things didn’t look good for the Orange County girls basketball team in their quarterfinal game in The Daily Progress NBC29 Holiday Classic.

Trailing by one with 13 seconds to play, Hornets guard Jasmin Johnson got an open look at the hoop, but missed.

“I didn’t think she’d miss too be honest,” said Orange guard Angelique Green.  “My reaction was to just grab the rebound.  I didn’t think there was enough time left, but I put it up anyways.”

There was time left — 3.3 seconds, to be exact — and Green’s shot gave the Hornets the 52-51 victory as Albemarle’s Tamika Lewis missed on a 15-foot jumper as time expired.

“We like to make it interesting,” said Orange coach Lauren Luck.  “We had to tell them repeatedly to calm down and trust the leaders on the court.”

Each team saw its fortunes change after the break. In the first half, Johnson scored 15 of her 21 points to put Orange up by double digits heading into halftime.

“She has such a pure shot,” Luck said.  “She’s really been working on her defense and dribbling abilities so she can be a two-guard or point guard when we need her.”

Johnson’s defense was more than up to par against the Patriots as she had four steals on the night, three of which she took all the way down the floor for easy layups.

Albemarle turned the ball over on every other possession for the first two quarters and watched Orange turn the mistakes into easy points.

“I almost had to check the book and see if that was our team out there in the first half,” said Patriots coach Anita Jenkins.  “There was no heart.”

That all changed in the second half when Hornets point guard Skylar Scott went to the bench with foul trouble.

The Patriots chewed into the Orange lead behind Laura Gomez and Cynthia Jackson. The pair helped to cut the deficit to three points midway through the fourth quarter.

“They were in a 2-3 zone,” Jenkins said. “I just though that Laura was bigger than anyone back there. We just had to get the ball in there to her and let her just go.”

With 45 seconds to play, the Patriots were up by three thanks to a 3-point play from Gomez in the paint.

But the Hornets fought back.  Micalah Sacre tied the game on a 3-pointer.  Dee Dee Hopkins put the Hornets up by a point when she hit one of her two foul shots, but Jackson answered by hitting a pair of free throws on the Patriots’ next possession to set up Green’s winning shot.

While losing a game after coming back from a double-digit lead stings, Jenkins hopes this as a potential turning point for her team.

“I hope this will be a learning experience,” Jenkins said.  “They need to take this situation and build on it.  At some point they need to pick up and decide what they want to do.  In the second half, they decided they wanted to play.”

Spotswood blows past Culpeper

For the second straight year, Orange County will find itself facing Spotswood in the semifinals.

Just like last year, the Hornets will have their hands full when they tip off against the Blazers on Monday.

Spotswood put on a passing clinic in its opening-round game as they routed Culpeper, 95-16.

“We were pretty unselfish today,” said Spotswood coach Chris Dodson.  “I think you could see that with the extra pass to get the layup.”

Carter Williams and Alycia Meadows led the way for Spotswood. Williams had a game-high 26 points while Meadows put up 17.

Already a strong shooting team, the Blazers showcased their full-court press and strong transition game in the win.

Dodson and his team were the runner-up in last year’s tournament. The Blazers are eager to avenge their loss to Waynesboro in the championship game one year ago.

“We take this tournament very serious every year,” Dodson said.  “It’s a great chance to play some [Group] AA and AAA opponents.  We really worked hard this week in practice with zone defenses — which you see a lot of out here — and also our press.”