PREP BASKETBALL: PH girls force tie atop Hogoheegee District standings

BY JOSH FLOYD
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
CHILHOWIE, Va. – Wasting hardly any time Monday, Patrick Henry stormed out of the gates to a commanding 17-point advantage during the first 11 minutes against host Chilhowie.

And the Rebels needed every point.

Paced by the aforementioned early outbreak, along with a swatting defensive effort that netted 16 steals and forced 24 turnovers, Patrick Henry crashed the Hogoheegee District
regular-season coronation party by hanging on for a gripping 49-48 victory over the surging Warriors.

“It’s really exciting,” grinned Patrick Henry forward Cadence Wilmoth, who connected on 8-of-14 from the floor for a game-high 20 points. “I think we had more momentum and
intensity, plus we worked way harder.”

Should the Rebels (17-2, 7-1) and the Warriors (13-6, 7-1) conclude their district schedules with favored wins over remaining competition, they’ll meet a third time next Monday at
Northwood (7:30 p.m.) in a deciding one-game playoff.

“I think we were just really pumped,” Wilmoth continued. “We knew we had to beat them in order to play them again and win the district.”

From the outset, Patrick Henry certainly dictated anything that Chilhowie – which had captured 11 of its last 12 decisions – wanted to do offensively, consistently cutting off entry
passes to the post while forcing low-percentage perimeter shots over much of the opening half.

“I credit their defense,” said Chilhowie coach Mark Halsey, whose squad found themselves down 26-9 at one point in the second quarter. “They’re athletic and tall, and we were at a
little bit of a size disadvantage out there. We had to compensate for that … so we started out in zone to try and protect the inside.”

In fact, the Rebels methodically ran roughshod against the Warriors, prompting an immediate 30-second timeout from Halsey at the 4:41 mark of the first after the visitors scored the opening 10 points.

“We talked about just coming out and staying positive by hitting open shots and taking opportunistic baskets when they presented themselves,” noted Patrick Henry coach Tommy
Thomas, who got 12 points from Kasey Uecker. “Even in the first half, we hit some crucial buckets that we really needed.”

At the 5:01 mark of the second, Halsey switched from matchup zone to an aggressive man-to-man defense against the soaring Rebels. The move quickly worked, as Patrick Henry subsequently committed four miscues and misfired on its final seven second-quarter attempts.

As if on cue, the Warriors rattled off 12 straight points – capped by Krystal Patton’s finger roll layup to beat the first-half buzzer and move the hosts within 26-21. 

From there, Chilhowie chipped and scrapped its way closer for most of the second half, looking to wrestle away momentum after the said characteristic had been in the Patrick
Henry camp all night. Patton’s driving layup with 2:59 to play put the Warriors on the proverbial doorstep, trailing 43-42 – much to the delight of an ever-increasingly louder home
crowd. But the Warriors couldn’t make the play to take the lead, missing on two open looks from the perimeter while committing two costly turnovers on their subsequent sets
during the game’s final 90 seconds.

“Turnovers killed us tonight,” admitted Halsey, who got 17 and 11 points, respectively, from Patton and Lauren Jones. “A couple of times, we had them back on their heels for a run,
but we just didn’t quite have enough to get over [the hump].”

Rebel forwards Kelsey Weddle and Katie Haynes calmly drained a combined four free throws to push the lead back out to seven at 49-42 with 18 ticks remaining. Patton did hit two acrobatic 3-pointers in the waning moments, but the Rebels were able to run off the final seconds after Chilhowie had spent all of its timeouts.

“I think we started talking about this game [last] Friday,” concluded Thomas. “We were ready for it [last] Friday. I just told them not to lose focus … and they carried it out.”

Chilhowie 63, Patrick Henry 33
Andrew Russell lit up the nets on 6-of-10 shooting for a game-high 17 points as the Warriors (10-9, 5-3) exacted brutal revenge against overwhelmed Patrick Henry (4-15, 2-7).

Teammate Austin Pote, who buried 7-of-9 from the floor, tallied 14 points – including three second-quarter baskets during a 15-3 Warrior run that put the hosts ahead by a comfortable 16 points at the break.

Conner Hayden also tossed in 13 points for the Warriors, whose 30-point victory was by far their largest this season. Chilhowie’s previous high was a 19-point decision against former district foe John Battle (Dec. 23).

Ben Crisp, meanwhile, finished with a team-high 14 points for the Rebels, who won a 49-41 decision over these same Warriors back on Jan. 12.