Patrick Henry cruises past Waynesboro

It’s been quiet around Waynesboro High’s gym lately. The holidays allowed an eerie silence for a few days in prep hoops across Augusta County. That silence continued for the Little Giants girls basketball team after returning to the courts in the first-round of The Daily Progress NBC29 Holiday Classic on Saturday night - Patrick Henry-Roanoke was the only team making noise on the court in a 53-29 rout of the Little Giants.

The Giants (1-6) didn’t start the night unglued.

In the first quarter, the team kept up with the athletic Patriots. They were down 10-4. The Giants’ Shanda Brown hit a 3-pointer and Jolie Dudley followed with two points to keep the game up for grabs. But the Patriots were able to move the ball with precision and weaved in and out of Giant traffic.

They rolled off screens, dribbled and passed low and controlled the ball. In the second quarter, the Giants were down 16-11 but the game started drifting away after the Patriots’ Sarah Williams swatted the ball down for an offensive rebound. Teammate LaShe’ Walker followed with another rebound. Walker led her team with 13 rebounds and 10 points that punctuated the Giants’ woes.

“As a coach, you can’t always have things laid out for you,” said Giants coach Secrett Stubblefield. “For me, it’s a personal challenge. We haven’t quite meshed enough to overpower some of the defenses that we’re seeing. These teams are rebounding off of us on the offensive end.”

Waynesboro was down 32-19 at the half. The Patriots went on an 8-0 run in the third. The Giants were 1-for-11 shooting from the floor. By the end of the third stanza, Waynesboro forced 13 fouls in the game, but had problems at the line. Down 40-23, the Giants had a 6-0 run in the fourth, but that ended as the Patriots dominated the paint and kept the ball in possession.

“They try to give their best effort. Being so young and inexperienced against teams that have more experience and athleticism is very hard,” Stubblefield said. “We got the raw talent, so it’s a tough situation for us.”

The Giants will be back in action against Charlottesville on Monday at Albemarle in the second-round. Tip-off starts at 5:15p.m. Patrick Henry will face Miller at 8:45 p.m.