Burton Girls Fall to Bland In State Quarterfinals

SALEM, Va. – Ra’Shelle Miller was exhausted.
The five-foot-10 J.I. Burton sophomore had just spent the day battling against a bigger, deeper and more experienced team from Bland.

Miller collected 13 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots, yet it wasn’t nearly enough to give Burton its first state tournament win in school history.

The Region C champion Bland Bears blocked 10 shots and held the Raiders to 24-percent field-goal shooting en route to a 48-32 win in Saturday’s Group A, Division 1 Division girls state quarterfinals at the Salem Civic Center.

J.I. Burton earned its first state tournament berth in 17 years despite having just one senior. Bland, which relied on six seniors, advanced to the state semifinals last season.

“Bland has been at this point before and this is our first year,” said Miller, who snared nine rebounds in the opening quarter. “We were very nervous.”

The Bears (21-4) opened a 12-3 lead as quick-firing guard junior Laurel Hankins (18.8 points per gam.) hit consecutive 3-pointers while Burton’s 5-3 defensive stopper, Sheniqua Woods, was on the bench.
Burton closed to within 22-18 with just under two minutes left in the first half behind the rebounding of Miller and the offensive creativity of Woods. The Raiders lost their momentum moments later as Miller collected her third foul. Bland took advantage for a six-point run, then held on.

Third-year Burton coach Mike Goforth pointed to the big-game maturity of Bland.

“It makes a tremendous difference,” Goforth said. “As a coach, you can just hope you’re team is ready to play. I don’t think my girls knew what to expect until the game started.”

With Miller weaving through and soaring over defenders, Burton (23-5) closed to within 33-30 in the opening minute of the final quarter before six-foot-one senior post Morgan Brizendine (10 points, 9 rebounds) answered with two straight hoops for Bland.

“We needed another stop there, but there’s not a whole lot you can do against that type of size,” Goforth said. “Bland has the total package, and they took advantage of the things we did wrong.”

Bland faced the Raiders in a scrimmage over the summer. Bears coach Jason Lambert came away with a bottom line scouting report.

“[Miller’s] thing is to get out and run. As soon as she got the rebound today, I wanted one of my girls to stop her,” Lambert said. “We talked all week about challenging every shot, and I felt like we did that.
“We’ve got mostly juniors and seniors, so our girls are used to the big stage.’”

The Bland team and community was dealt a shock two weeks ago when the brother of senior forward Kristin Dunn was killed a car accident. The Bears have since won four straight games by an average margin of 16 points.

“That was a dose of reality, and it seemed like we’ve grown closer as a family after that,” said Lambert, whose players wear memorial armbands in support of Dunn.

After a few moments of emotional reflection following Saturday’s loss, Miller managed to see the positive big picture.

“We worked hard all summer to reach this point,’ Miller said. “We will definitely remember this and try to play twice as hard the next time.”

Woods and Brianna Stallard each scored six points for Burton. The Bears converted 13 of 16 free throw attempts, while Burton was just 6 of 14 from the free throw line.

J.I. BURTON (32) – S. Woods 3 0-3 6, Hill 0 0-0 0, B. Stallard 2 2-2 6, Miller 5 3-6 13, A. Hamilton 0 0-0 0, Hensley 2 1-3 5, M. Stallard 1 0-0 2, Collins 0 0-0 0, J. Woods 0 0-0 0, K. Hamilton 0 0-0 0, James 0 0-0 0, Forney 0 0-0 0. Totals 13-53 6-14 32.
BLAND (48) – Hankins 4 2-2 12, Duncan 0 2-2 2, Mustard 1 0-0 2, Brizendine 4 2-4 10, Dunn 2 3-4 7, Magyar 2 0-0 5, Dillow 0 2-2 2, J. Looney 0 0-0 0, Williams 0 0-0 0, Duncan 0 0-0 0, S. Looney 3 2-2 8. Totals 16-53 13-16 48.
J.I. Burton 9 9 8 6–32
Bland 16 11 6 15–48
3-point goals – Burton 0-15, Bland 3-12 (Hankins 2, Magyar). Total fouls – Burton 14, Bland 16. Fouled out-none.

agregory@bristolnews.com|(276) 645-2544