Central Region | Archive | February, 2008

You Again? Bird’s Back In

Posted on 29 February 2008 by redwan123.

by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond

Back in November, L.C. Bird‘s girls had a lot to work on. Things didn’t look too promising as the Skyhawks were dismantled in a scrimmage.

Three months later the work has paid off.

Bird toppled Monacan 53-33 Friday night in the Central Region semifinals at VCU’s Siegel Center, earning their second straight state Group AAA tournament and region final berth.

“At the beginning of the season, the girls didn’t know their roles,” Bird coach Chevette Waller said. “They had to find out where they fit in. We had to become a team.”

What a team they’ve been this week.

The Skyhawks (21-6) dismantled a good Deep Run team by over 30 points in the first round, and then turned in back-to-back beautiful defensive performances in a four-point win over Atlee and Friday’s win.

That sets up a region final rematch Monday at 6 p.m. at the Siegel Center with Mills Godwin, ironically the aforementioned scrimmage opponent who thumped the Skyhawks.

The Eagles rallied to defeat the up-and-coming Thomas Dale Knights in the first semifinal.

“I think both teams have changed [since November],” Bird star Ruthanne Doherty said. “As a new team, we’ve come really far.”

It was all Bird from the tip, as the Skyhawks jumped out to a 15-4 lead capped by a 3-pointer from the left pocket from Bianca Vaughan.

The Skyhawks had all of the momentum and energy early and it carried them to a 24-12 halftime lead as Victoya Ricks (eight points) and Candice Silas (four) were the only Chiefs to score in the first half.

The much smaller Skyhawks also controlled the backboards, a huge task against a Monacan team that fielded three 6-footers in Ricks, Silas and Rachel Robinson.

“We knew coming out that turnovers, rebounds and who could put the ball in the hoop was going to be key,” Monacan coach Larry Starr said. “We lost in those three areas.”

The lead grew to as big as 16 points as Doherty (team-high 17 points), Barbara Sitton (11) and Zukye Smith (nine) kept Bird’s offense pumping.

The Chiefs had one run left in them spurred on by full-court pressure. They went on an 8-3 run to start the fourth quarter, getting four of the points from Ricks.

The sophomore poured in a game-high 19 points as only four Chiefs put the ball through the net the entire night.

From there, Sitton and the Skyhawks started taking care of the ball better and stroked their free throws down the stretch to become Godwin’s dance partner Monday night.

“We’ve been coming out hard for the past few games,” Sitton said. “Every single person is stepping up. We’re just all clicking so well.”

Monacan  6 6 10 11 – 33
L.C. Bird 18 6 12 17 – 53
Monacan (21-7): Gray 2, Pullen 0, Ready 0, E. Meyer 0, Rainey 0, Ricks 19, Bacile 0, Toombs 0, Beadles 0, Silas 8, Robinson 4, Hatcher 0. Totals: 16 1-4 33.
L.C. Bird (21-6): Vaughan 7, Miles 0, Robinson 0, Reynolds 5, Doherty 17, Sitton 11, Smith 9, Coles 2, Kohler 0, Harris 2, Tweedy 0. Totals: 16 18-20 53. 3-point goals: Vaughan, Reynolds, Sitton.

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Mills Godwin Moves On

Posted on 29 February 2008 by redwan123.

by Seneca Contomanolis
DigitalSports Richmond

PHOTOS: Mills Godwin vs. Thomas Dale

In crunch time with a chance to advance to the Central Region championship and the state Group AAA tournament, Mills Godwin flourished while Thomas Dale wilted.

The Eagles used their experience to erase a three-point deficit, winning the fourth period by 16 points to defeat Thomas Dale 54-41 Friday night in the region semifinals at VCU’s Siegel Center.

The Knights scored four fourth-quarter points while Godwin’s Michelle Foley put in 10 points on her own. She finished with 15 points. Maggie Roy paced Godwin with a game-high 18 points.

“I think they might have run out of steam a little bit,” Mills Godwin coach Louise Foley said. “We have Maggie, Michelle and Brooke [Long] back and they were a huge part of last year. I think it was a combination of all that meeting in the fourth.”

The Eagles (25-3) will make their second straight appearance in the region final. Mills Godwin faces L.C. Bird in a rematch of last season’s title game in which the Skyhawks won. MG also gets the all-important state Group AAA tournament bid.

L.C. Bird beat Monacan 53-33 in the other semifinal.

The Knights finish a wonderful season at 21-6. Fabulous freshman Ka’lia Johnson led the way with 15 points, 14 in a first half that Dale led most of. Sophomore Alyssa Frye put in 11 points.

“This was a learning experience for us,” Thomas Dale coach Kevin Coffey said. “We have three sophomores and a freshman who play a lot. We had never been here before and it was a learning process for us.”

In their first-ever appearance in the semifinals the Knights’ youth was not a factor in the first half. Behind Johnson, Thomas Dale went ahead by as many as six in the second quarter and took a one-point lead into the break.

The teams swapped leads three times in the third quarter, the final a trey as time expired by Taylor Bradley to give the Knights a 3-point advantage heading into the fourth.

That is when the leadership and experience of Michelle Foley (junior) and Roy (senior) kicked in.

Michelle Foley scored a basket at the 7:01 mark to tie the score and followed that with a 3-pointer less then 30 seconds later to push the Eagles in front by three.

Thomas Dale, on the other hand, could not get a ball to go through the net as shot after shot rimmed out. Mills Godwin aggressively crashed the boards holding the Knights to single scoring opportunities on most possessions.

The Knights also committed careless turnovers under the pressure of the moment.

“I knew it was going to catch up with us one of these games,” Coffey said. “It is the one problem with having a young team. Mills Godwin is a very good ball club and when we came down the stretch my players got a little frustrated and had some easy turnovers.”

Rashida Scott‘s free throw to cut the Eagles’ lead to two at 41-39 would be as close as the Knights would ever get and Mills Godwin went on a 13-2 run to close out the contest. Thomas Dale had only four points in the entire fourth period.

Roy tallied six points in the period, as she went 6 for 6 from the free throw line. Michelle Foley, who only had five points before the fourth, scored 10.

Johnson was held to only one point in the second half, a product of Mills Godwin’s extra focus on her.

“We put Sallie Foster on her and we thought that if we could shut her down that the other players might step up but probably not,” Michelle Foley said.

The Eagles now have a chance to avenge their loss to L.C. Bird and keep the Skyhawks from repeating.

“We want to win. We are not satisfied with going to states. We lost last year in the championship and want to win it this season,” Michelle Foley said.

Thomas Dale  11 13  13  4 – 41
Mills Godwin  14  9  11 20 – 54
Thomas Dale (21-6): Frye 11, Johnson 15, Bradley 5, Curley 1, An. Hobbs 3, Scott 2, Al. Hobbs 2, Jones 4. Totals: 13 12-19 41. 3-point: Frye, Bradley, An. Hobbs.
Mills Godwin (25-3): Walker 0, Watkins 0, Foley 15, Nichols 5, Roy 18, Long 4, Foster 5, Sisson 0, Withrow 7. Totals: 18 14-17 54. 3-point goals: Foley 3, Foster.

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DigitalSports Interns

Posted on 28 February 2008 by redwan123.

We’re very proud of our intern roster here at DigitalSports Richmond.

Thomas Dale’s Chili Davis, Deep Run’s Mason Bryan, Mills Godwin’s Andrew Phillips and Highland Springs’ Trey Davis have done a great job of responding while being thrown into the fire of Central Region athletics.

If you are interested in journalism or mass communications and would like to be a DigitalSports intern, don’t hesitate to contact us. Learn more about our program by clicking here.

We have plenty of opportunities, from photography, writing, video, being on-camera talent, you name it, we do it. It’s a perfect spot to learn more about the business.

If you want more coverage of your school and want to help out with it and learn from professionals at the same time, then this is for you.

Watch our guys in action!
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Johnson’s 33 Lifts Dale

Posted on 28 February 2008 by redwan123.

Kalia Johnson scored 33 points and had six rebounds and five assists to lead Thomas Dale past No. 1 seed Cosby in the quarterfinals of the Central Region tournament.

The Knights, the Central District second seed, led by six at halftime but outscored the Titans 22-9 in the third to head into the final period up 19.

Cosby (20-7) rallied in the fourth quarter but just did not have enough as Thomas Dale prevailed by three points.

Alyssa Frye scored 19 points for the Knights and Andrea Hobbs had 10 points, six rebounds and two assists.

Andrea Bertrand led the Titans with 23 points, while Jazmin Pitts scored 17 and Becca Wann had 16.

Thomas Dale (21-5) will now face Mills Godwin (24-3) on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Siegel Center in the semifinals. The Eagles defeated Highland Springs 54-28 to advance.

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Bird Knocks Off No. 1

Posted on 27 February 2008 by redwan123.

by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond

L.C. Bird girls basketball coach Chevette Waller was being a realist and an excellent motivator at the same time early Wednesday.

“What I told him is to bring both jerseys,” Waller said, “because we may be doing inventory tonight. I guess they didn’t want to do it.”

The Skyhawks will hold on to their jerseys at least a couple more days as they took out Atlee 54-50 in the Central Region quarterfinals Wednesday night.

The Raiders were ranked first in the final DigitalSports Top 10 and were one of three No. 1 girls seeds to go down Wednesday.

Central District No. 1 Meadowbrook, ranked second in the final poll, fell to Monacan in overtime and Dominion top seed Cosby lost to Thomas Dale.

The Skyhawks will face Monacan Friday at 7:45 p.m. in the second semifinal at VCU’s Siegel Center, partly because of a defense that limited the high-scoring Raiders to 50 points.

Atlee scored no less than 68 points in six of their past eight games until Wednesday.

“You’ve got to give all the credit to Bird and they’re preparation,” Atlee first-year coach Anna Prillaman said. “They played really, really good halfcourt defense. Didn’t throw out the bells and whistles. Just kept it simple and play good, solid halfcourt defense against us. I think they were giving us some man-to-man defense we haven’t seen this year.”

Bird gave Atlee a taste of their own medicine as well with timely 3-point shooting from Jasmine Reynolds. The senior buried a huge bomb late for her 13th point.

With Bird up two with 1:34 to go, star Ruthanne Doherty (15 points) missed the front end of a one-and-one.

But the carom found Reynolds behind the 3-point line. Instead of backing it out to **** time and make the Raiders foul, Reynolds launched it to give Bird a five-point advantage.

“I should’ve and could’ve held the ball,” Reynolds said. “But at the moment, I was already feeling it. So I was like, hey, why not?”

Said Waller of Reynolds: “At the beginning of the season we kind of bumped heads. She’s definitely one of the most improved players.”

The lead was short lived as Atlee’s Britt Hill (10 points) raced it up and found Sydney Henderson on the wing. She buried her own 3-pointer to slice the lead back to two. Henderson finished with 18 points on the night, a game- and team-high.

Then Reynolds missed a one-and-one, but Hill couldn’t knock in the layup at the other end. Bird knocked in enough free throws from there to keep Atlee at bay.

“The second we’re put back on our heels we haven’t had a chance to deal with that,” Prillaman said. “I think with us blowing everybody out and having games where we’re winning by 20 we’ve never really had to chest that. I’ve tried to talk to them about mental toughness but you can’t really teach that. You have to experience it and we experienced it tonight.”

Bird took the lead as soon as Atlee star Richelle Price (10 points) went to the bench with two fouls with 2:17 left in the first quarter and never relinquished the advantage, though it was sliced to one or two points several times.

Bird responded each time, and it usually came from Doherty, but sometimes it came from lesser known players like Reynolds or Jordan Coles, who gave Waller great minutes late, including a pivotal bucket to hedge Bird out 45-40.

Bird fell to Atlee in the Times-Dispatch Invitational final. Monacan’s given them three of their six losses this season.

Can they turn the tables again?

L.C. Bird 18 8 13 15 – 54
Atlee     13 9 12 16 – 50
L.C. Bird (20-6): Vaughan 8, Robinson 0, Reynolds 13, Doherty 15, Sitton 11, Smith 4, Coles 3. Totals: 18 14-22 54. 3-point goals: Reynolds 3, Vaughan.
Atlee (20-3): Ashcraft 0, Gordon 2, Hill 10, Henderson 18, Lescalleet 0, Price 10, Martin 10. Totals: 20 5-7 50. 3-point goals: Price 2, Martin 2, Henderson.

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Monacan Outlasts MBK

Posted on 27 February 2008 by redwan123.

by Seneca Contomanolis
DigitalSports Richmond

After watching Meadowbrook’s Deja Middleton have her way against his team in the first half, Monacan coach Larry Starr decided to make a pivotal defensive change.

“We went to a triangle and two because we couldn’t stop Middleton,” Starr said about a defense that features two players playing man-to-man on the opposition’s best players.

The other three play zone in the shape of a triangle around the paint. “We thought we could stop her but they just kept lobbing it to her.”

The decision worked holding the 6-4 center to just two points in the second half.

The Chiefs still needed a pressure-filled overtime though, to defeat the Monarchs 64-60 in the quarterfinals of the Central Region tournament on Wednesday.

Candice Silas led the way for Monacan with 18 points and eight rebounds while Victoya Ricks had 17 points and 13 boards. Both sophomores, they only scored two points each in the first half.

“When I finally calmed down,” Ricks said about why she began to score. “I stopped rushing it and let it come to me.”

In overtime Silas scored six of Monacan’s 11 points and Middleton fouled out making it a lot easier on the Chiefs.

Monacan (21-6) advances to play L.C. Bird in the semifinals on Friday at the Siegel Center. The Skyhawks defeated Atlee 54-50 in the other semifinal and is the only other team to beat Meadowbrook (25-2) this season.

The teams both hail from the Dominion District and have met four times this season already with the Chiefs winning three times. Most recently Monacan beat L.C. Bird 56-42 in the district semis to claim the district’s second seed.

Middleton, a senior, dominated early compiling 12 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks in the first half. She accomplished a double-double with 3:19 remaining in the opening half.

Many of Middleton’s baskets came off of passes from Crystal Smith (17 points, 12 assists), who continually found her inside and was the other player the triangle and two focused on.

The Monarchs, the No. 1 seed from the Central District, held a six-point edge at the break. By the end of the third period the lead was only one, in large part because of Monacan’s defense and MBK’s inability to knock down open looks.

“They were guarding Crystal and Deja and sagging off everybody else,” Meadowbrook coach Mike Knight said. “We had good looks we just didn’t make the shots.”

The Chiefs immediately grabbed a one-point lead in the fourth on a Silas basket and on three occasions would stretch the advantage to three. But every time Meadowbrook would respond with a clutch 3-pointer, the final a trey from Smith with 42.6 seconds left in regulation to tie the score at 53.

With under 5 seconds remaining Melissa Holmes had a wide-open layup for Meadowbrook but missed it and Monacan quickly called a timeout with :1.9 on the clock.

Their inbounds pass would go out of bounds without touching anybody giving the Monarchs another chance to end the game.

From the sideline on their half of the court, Jessica Arnold threw the ball to Middleton down low but her shot was off and as time expired she rebounded her miss and put it through the net a second to late.

In the extra period Middleton picked up her fifth foul at the 1:17 mark and Silas followed that with two foul shots to put Monacan ahead 61-57.

Smith would nail a 3-pointer to cut the lead to one but the Chiefs were able run the clock down and hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 20 seconds. Emari Ready converted her two foul shots with 17.1 seconds to play to extend the lead back to lead to three.

“The more pressure we have, the more fire we have to come out and beat whoever,” Silas said. “The closer the game the more hustle we have, the more heart we have and we just go after it with all we have.”

Middleton finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds and Holmes added 10 for Meadowbrook. Courtney Coleman, one of the Monarchs best shooters and defenders, was unable to play due to an ACL injury she sustained in the Central District championship.

“People underestimated us in the beginning of the season and it took overtime in the region tournament to end our season,” Knight said. “We have a young team with everyone coming back besides Arnold, Middleton and Holmes. I can’t complain about going 25-2.”

Monacan’s Ready contributed 12 points and senior Rachel Robinson had nine points, 12 rebounds and six assists.

The Chiefs said they wouldn’t want it any other way than another date with rival L.C. Bird with a berth in the region title game on the line.

“Knowing that we have beat them three times, we feel we can do it,” Silas said. “But we can’t overlook them because if we overlook them we will just get beat.”

Monacan          10 13 18 12 11 – 64
Meadowbrook  14 15 13 11  7 – 60
Monacan (21-6): Gray 6, Pullen 0, Ready 12, Rainey 2, Ricks 17, Silas 18, Robinson 9. Totals: 23 16-18 64. 3-point goals: Ready 2.
Meadowbrook (25-2): Smith 17, Arnold 6, Forrest 5, Cunningham 5, Kat. Marks 3, Middleton 14, Holmes 10. Totals: 26 3-7 60. 3-point goals: Smith 3, Forrest, Kat. Marks.

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Top Dominion Seeds Advance To Quarters

Posted on 27 February 2008 by redwan123.

Cosby and Monacan, the top two girls seeds from the Dominion District, advanced to the Central Region quarterfinals with convincing wins.

The Titans (20-6) took down J.R. Tucker 62-38 as Jazmin Pitts registered 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the way. Becca Wann added 18 and Andrea Bertrand 11 for Cosby, who advances to face Thomas Dale Wednesday.

Cosby trailed by five points at halftime as Kerry Johnson (10 points) and Katie Huband (10) were playing well for the Tigers, but Cosby pulled away with a 19-7 third period.

The Chiefs, the Dominion District tournament champs, pounded Hermitage 79-42 to advance to face Meadowbrook.

Candice Silas (16 points), Rachel Robinson (14), Jordan Beadles (12) and Victoya Ricks (10) reached double digits for the Chiefs.

Brianna Dillard had a sensational night for Hermitage with 25 points.

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Boys Semifinals Set

Posted on 27 February 2008 by redwan123.

Highland Springs defeated Huguenot 75-57 in Wednesday night’s Central Region quarterfinal.

The Springers’ explosive offense and high-pressure defense proved to be too much for the Falcons, especially in the second half where the Springers exploded to a 15-point lead.

Harry Lee Daniel had 27 points in the game and not far behind him was Dazmond Starke with 20 points. 

Highland Springs will face Petersburg in the semifinals on Saturday at 7:45 p.m. VCU’s Siegel Center.

John Marshall will be in the first semifinal after defeating Henrico 77-58. Devon Thornton hit seven 3-pointers on his way to 27 points. Travis McKie put in 13, and Randall Ward had 15.

The Justices will play L.C. Bird, a 55-54 winner over Dinwiddie, as Rico Ferguson nailed a free throw late to preserve the victory.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THREE OF FOUR QUARTERFINALS GAMES BELOW!

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Jessee Saves Cosby

Posted on 26 February 2008 by redwan123.

by Seneca Contomanolis
DigitalSports Richmond

Ben Jessee is starting to get used to this end-of-game heroics thing.

The Cosby senior guard nailed a deep 3-pointer with only 7.8 seconds remaining to propel the Titans past Douglas Freeman in the first round of the Central Region tournament.

“Coach [Ron Carr] told me to get it across half and if I didn’t have a good look to call timeout,” Jessee, who scored a game-high 32, said. “But I saw an opening and I just took a shot.”

The Titans (20-6) wouldn’t had even been in this position had Jessee not scored a trey at the buzzer against James River in the Dominion District first round to send the contest into overtime. Cosby would prevail 56-47.

Cosby, the second seed from the Dominion District and a program not even two years old, will now visit Central District No. 1 Petersburg Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the quarterfinals. The Crimson Wave beat Armstrong 75-51.

On Tuesday night, the Titans led for much of the game even with the Rebels’ Jake Eastman pouring in 26 points. Eastman, a 6-3 junior guard, hit six 3-pointers, including two straight to begin the game.

Cosby also showed their range from behind the arc with Jessee and Luke Atwood (14 points) both compiling four 3’s each.

Behind Jessee’s 20 first-half points the Titans went into the break up 36-27.

In the third quarter Cosby’s advantage would grow to as large as 14 points even with the Douglas Freeman (17-8) defense focusing on Jessee. That opened up things for Atwood and David Robinson who scored eight and seven points, respectively, in the period.

“Just people chasing him around gives openings to others,” Carr said. “Atwood hit some big shots.”

Josh Brinkley (12 points) rallied the Rebels with eight points in the quarter and Douglas Freeman went into the final eight minutes down nine.

The Rebels continued their comeback in the fourth as Cosby looked to become a little too comfortable. Omari Vaughan-Nelson (10 points) gave Douglas Freeman their first lead since the first quarter with an old-fashioned 3-point play with only 2:25 remaining.

The teams would swap baskets until a Billy Giles (11 points) layup with :51 left put the Rebels ahead 63-62. A malfunction with the scoreboard showed the Titans ahead though, forcing Carr to burn a timeout in order to get things straight.

“I lost track of the score when the scoreboard messed up,” Carr said. “I didn’t know if we were behind, leading or tied. I didn’t want to call a timeout to set up a shot.”

Out of the timeout Atwood missed a trey and Cosby was forced to foul Eastman with 15 seconds on the clock. Eastman, usually lights out at the line, missed the first foul shot but got the second to stretch the advantage to two.

That set the stage for Jessee.

He rushed the ball up the floor across half court, dribbled behind hit back and then drilled an NBA-range 3-pointer with a hand in his face.

“He got a good shot so we didn’t have to call a timeout,” Carr said. “He can create his own shot, he knows what to do.”

Eastman pushed the ball the other way but his pass to Brinkley under the basket went off the 6-5 center’s hand and out of bounds with 3.2 seconds remaining.

The Rebels got the ball back after a Robinson missed free throw and Douglas Freeman coach Larry Parpart called a timeout to set up a play with :1.2 left.

The sideline inbounds pass went to Eastman who threw up a desperation shot a few feet in front of half court but the ball found the back of the rim and bounced off as time expired.

Douglas Freeman 14 13 17 20 – 64
Cosby                   15 21 17 12 – 65
Douglas Freeman (17-8): Eastman 26, Mann 2, Vitello 0, Smalley 0, Giles 11, Rohrer 3, Jackson 0, Brinkley 12, Vaughan-Nelson 10. Totals: 23 10-15 64. 3-point goals: Eastman 6, Giles, Rohrer.
Cosby (20-6): Jessee 32, Atwood 14, McDaniel 0, Johns 0, Egerton 4, Robinson 11, Higbie 2, Virak 0, Gorski 2. Totals: 25 7-9 65. 3-point goals: Jessee 4, Atwood 4.

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Skyhawks Get Revenge

Posted on 26 February 2008 by redwan123.

by Stephen M. Lewis
DigitalSports Richmond

It was deja vu, in reverse.

During Christmas break, Deep Run defeated L.C. Bird 72-56 at the Fort Lee tournament.

Two months later, the Skyhawks returned the favor with the same score, beating the Wildcats 72-56 in the first round of the Central Region tournament Tuesday night.

“We just wanted to play better tonight,” Bird’s Travis Keels said. “Last time they played us they embarassed us. We just wanted to play better and move on to the region quarterfinals.”

Bird (23-3), the top seed from the Dominion District, will do just that as it will take on Central District No. 2 Dinwiddie Wednesday at 7 p.m., as the Generals took down Varina.

After a first half with scoring at a torrid pace for both teams, the question was which team would hit an ice patch first?

It ended up being Deep Run (17-8), the fourth seed from the Colonial District, who trailed 37-33 at halftime.

The Wildcats took a one-point lead twice early in the third quarter, the last a 40-39 advantage with 5:44 left in the third on Jordan Ward‘s bucket.

DR would only score two more points the entire quarter as Rico Ferguson and Kendrick McClary took control of the contest.

The duo scored 21 straight points to put the Skyhawks ahead 60-49 at the 3:08 mark of the fourth period.

Ferguson continued his brilliant play with a game-high 29 points, 16 in the second half.

McClary, the football tight end headed to Norfolk State, registered 15 points and helped wear down a much smaller Deep Run team.

Once 6-4 forward Tommy Folliard went to the bench with his fourth foul with 3:33 left in the third period, Bird flexed their muscles in the paint.

“We thought we might go small and come out to the perimeter,” Deep Run coach Jeremiah O’Brien said. “Tommy getting in foul trouble was the biggest thing. I think we got a little tired.”

You had to be tired just watching Marvin Woodley chase first-team all-Colonial District pick Antone Exum around Chuck Tester Gymnasium.

He only scored six points on two 3-pointers, but Woodley’s harassment of Exum helped the junior to a tough shooting contest. Exum still pumped in 18 points – 12 in the first half – but earned every drop of it.

After Exum scored on a fadeaway over Woodley for a 38-37 lead, he wouldn’t score again until under a minute left in the contest.

“To be honest with you, during the whole time in practice, I didn’t even plan on guarding him,” Woodley said. “Then they made a decision before the game. I had to man up and play that defense.”

Keels put in nine points for Bird, all in the first half. He also blocked five shots.

Jordan Ward had 13 points for Deep Run, and Jay Johnson and Derek Jackson put in nine points each as Deep Run ends their best season in school history.

“It’s all about the kids,” O’Brien said. “We have a good amount of them coming back with Jay, [Michael Dosh], Antone and Tommy.”

Deep Run 18 15   9 14 – 56
L.C. Bird   20 17 11 24 – 72
Deep Run (17-8): Johnson 9, Ward 13, Jackson 9, Milligan 0, Buehler 0, Folliard 3, Exum 18, Dosh 4. Totals: 22 6-14 56. 3-point goals: Ward 3, Johnson 2, Folliard.
L.C. Bird (23-3): Ferguson 29, Woodley 6, Harris 0, Johnston 0, Martin 0, Palimore 7, Jasper 6, McClary 15, Keels 9. Totals: 26 14-22 72. 3-point goals: Ferguson 3, Woodley 2, Palimore.

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