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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