Hopewell News

DINWIDDIE — There was little wrong with the Prince George Lady Royals defense Wednesday night in their Central District Basketball Tournament semifinal game. They held Meadowbrook to 20 first-half points, and nearly had a chance to win the game in the final minutes.
But you have to have offense to go along with the defense and on this night the Royals shooting was off in the early going. By the time the team was able to put some plays together, it was late in the fourth quarter. In the final minutes, Meadowbrook out-shot the Royals and secured a 48-41 win.
“I thought our kids played great defense, particularly in the second half,” Prince George coach Billy Gray said. “First half defense wasn’t that bad, but our shots wouldn’t fall.”
The Royals had problems getting started for the second straight game. Against Matoaca in the quarterfinal match, Prince George had problems scoring in the first half, but came on strong in the second half to secure the win. At that time, Gray said his team could not afford to start slowly against Meadowbrook, but they managed only three points in the first quarter and 12 in the half. Defense kept them in the game early, as Meadowbrook jumped out to an 8-1 lead midway through the first quarter. The Royals managed to hold them at eight points for the quarter, but could only muster one basket on a lay-up by Zakiya Saunders.
The second quarter was similar to the first. Prince George closed to within two points, but the Monarchs managed to slip away and had an eight-point lead, 20-12 at the half.
The Monarch’s Ashley Pegram kept her team out front with seven points in the third quarter, as Meadowbrook stretched the lead to 35-22. In the fourth quarter, Prince George finally started getting the ball to Jorden Lykes, who had 11 points.
The Royals surge started with Brianca Washington penetrating the lane, and Meadowbrook’s defenders adjusting to stop the drive. Washington found Lykes cutting along the baseline and her shot cut the lead to nine points with a little over six minutes to play. Tam McNealy scored the next basket for the Royals when she pulled down a rebound, made a neat spin move toward the basket, and dropped the ball in for two more points, making the score 35-28.
Meadowbrook opted to try to take some time off the clock at that point. However, their point guard lost control of the ball and turned it over giving the Royals a chance to cut the lead to five points.
Washington got the ball on the inbound play, and took it up court to the middle of the lane. She hit a short jumper to close the score to 35-30 with 3:38 on the clock. Prince George kept Meadowbrook from scoring, got the ball back, and found Lykes on the blocks in the low post. Lykes’ first shot attempt bounced off the rim, but she got her own rebound and stuck the basket to close to 35-32 with 2:49.
Things turned sour from there. The Monarchs got the ball and pushed up court. Courtney Coleman made the shot, but was fouled on the play, and pushed the lead back out to six. Seconds later, the Monarchs scored again to make it an eight-point lead with 1:32 left in the game.
Lykes finished the night with 13 points, and Washington tallied 11. The Monarchs were led by Pegram with 14 points, Courtney Coleman with 13, and Torie Cunningham added 11.
“We got the lead down, but there were a couple calls that went against us and they just took the momentum out of us. I am proud of the girls, they played well,” Gray said.

Prince George 56, Matoaca 36

Brianca Washington scored 20 of her game high 24-points in the second half to lead Prince George to a 56-36 Central District Tournament quarterfinal victory over Matoaca.
The Royals started a bit cold, and Washington sat most of the first half with a scratched eye and a pair of fouls. But the second half was vintage Royals. A reinvigorated Washington penetrated the lane at will and either was open for the shot, or dished the ball to Jorden Lykes along the baseline. Lykes finished with 18 points.
It looked like Matoaca was ready to play in the first half. Morgan Meadows was doing a good job of stopping Lykes in the low post along the baseline, and Sara Fletcher was key to stopping the penetration in the lane and scored 10 points in the first half to keep it close.
The Royals were up by two points, 19-17, coming out of the half. The Washington effect was immediate, as she scored nine points in the third and fourth quarters to lead the Royals surge. Meanwhile, they were able to get both of the Warriors big players into foul trouble. Fletcher picked up her fourth midway through the third quarter, but managed to finish the game without getting her fifth foul. Meadows picked up her fourth foul, and was benched until the final half of the fourth quarter.
That left things open for Washington and Lykes, who took full advantage. When Washington wasn’t open for a shot, she dumped a pass off to Lykes who collected eight points in the second half for Prince George.

Box Scores

Prince George.. 3 9 10 19 41
Meadowbrook 8 12 15 13 48
Prince George: Page 4, Saunders 7, Owens 0, Robinson 0, Washington 11, McNealy 6, Lykes 13, Johnson 0, Swope 0
Meadowbrook: Howard 0, Pegram 14, Cunningham 11, Stone 0, Ki. Marks 4, Ka. Marks 6, Coleman 13, Arrington 0

Matoaca............ 11 6 10 9 36
Prince George 11 8 19 18 56
Matoaca: Williams 2, Froggatt 12, Bailey 2, Scott 2, Yelverton 2, Meadows 2, Fletcher 14
Prince George: Constant 0, Page 3, Saunders 2, Gholson 0, Hannuksela 0, Owens 2, Washington 24, McNealy 2, Lykes 18, Johnson 6, Swope 1