Click on the
“Photos” and “Videos” links above for pictures and video highlights
from the game.
Raiders Remain Undefeated in Cedar Run
By Paul Frommelt
In a meeting after the Stonewall Jackson girl basketball team’s 11-point win over Osbourn Park — a game in which the Raiders increased their district lead to two games — head coach Nsonji White informed his girls that they would have practice on Saturday morning at 6 a.m.
“We had a lull in the third quarter and we can’t do that as a championship team,” said White after telling his team. “These girls talk about all the time about getting to Richmond and if
they want to get to Richmond, they have to play good defense and we
didn’t play good defense totally tonight.”
After holding the Yellow Jackets to 18 points in the first half, White was disappointed with Osbourn Park’s 13-point third quarter.
Senior Kyani White sighed when talking about her early-morning plans, but was quick to point out the importance of the practice.
“Of course it’s going to help. Defense wins games. Defense is our
emphasis and that’s what we are going to practice all the time,” she said. “If we
come out in a game and we don’t do what were are supposed to do on
defense, we will be in the gym at 6 o’clock in the morning.”
It was Kyani that got the game going in the right direction for the Raiders. Within the game’s first minute, she hit two three-pointers, helping the Raiders jump out to a 7-0 lead. Stonewall scored 21 points in that first quarter, taking a 12-point lead. White finished with a game-high 25 points.
“We talk about coming out strong. We came out like gangbusters,” said coach White. “Jumping on them right there, they had to play from behind and they aren’t a play from behind team.”
To their credit, the Yellow Jackets were able to put up a fight in the second half. Led by Rachel Gordon and Destiny Shearin, who combined for 28 points, Osbourn Park outscored Stonewall in the third quarter and pulled within six points with 3:28 left to play.
White called a timeout calm his girls down.
mimics me. In those times, we call a timeout to slow them up,” he said. “I called a couple of timeouts and what we talked about was letting the
defense come to us because we were up and we were playing like we were
down, that’s the rivalry. We pressed this game because they really
wanted to put it on them. We weren’t attacking and we weren’t playing smart. All we have to do right now is let them come to us.”
The Raiders held the Yellow Jackets scoreless in the final three minutes and added five more points to earn a comfortable 52-41 win. The win gives the Raiders a bit more distance between themselves and the rest of the Cedar Run District with only a handful more regular season games to play.
“It’s real easy sometimes to get to the top. We had a plan. We gave up our summers. These girls worked extremely hard. They are in the weight room, they’re on the track,” said White. “The hardest part of any championship team is staying on top and I think that they are doing a mighty good job at that.”
Staying on top sometimes requires waking up early on a Saturday morning.
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Stonewall Jackson 21 7 12 12 52
Osbourn Park 9 9 13 10 41
Stonewall Jackson 52, Osbourn Park 41
STONEWALL JACKSON (52) — Kyani White 8 4-6 25; Samantha Jordan 3 2-3 8; Joy Caracciolo 4 0-2 8; Aramis Judson 2 1-2 7; Tiffanie Couts 0 2-4 2; Briana Terry 1 0-2 2. OSBOURN PARK (41) — Rachel Gordon 8 2-4 18; Destiny Shearin 1 8-8 10; Kelly Hamner 4 0-0 8; Kelia Atkinson 1 2-5 4; Katie Tassa 0 1-2 1.
Processing your request, Please wait....
