Defense Leads Battle to Victory

BRISTOL, Va. – An effective press keyed John Battle’s 44-42 win over J.J. Kelly at the Tip-Off Classic Tournament at Virginia High School. The Indians finished the contest with more than 25 turnovers as they had problems solving the tough John Battle defense.

“We like to pressure people,” said Battle coach Kevin Perrigan. “We didn’t do a very good job at it our first two games. We turned up the heat, got in their face and that’s what helped us tonight.”

It was close throughout. A four-point lead by J.J. Kelly was the largest in the first half.

A five-point lead was the biggest in the second half. The contest was tied five times and there were seven lead changes.

Powerful post Ashley Mullins scored on the block to give Kelly a 36-31 advantage with 5:38 play. Then, John Battle turned up the defensive pressure and it paid off. Ashley Bryant scored three of the next four times the Trojans had the ball.

“We just kind of jumped J.J. Kelly’s guards with the press,” said Bryant. “We got the turnovers and the girls were able to get the ball to me.

“We had worked really hard in practice and winning feels good for all of us. J.J. Kelly has a good team and it was just back and forth the entire game.”

Payton Frank scored to give John Battle the lead for good at 41-39. Perrigan called a timeout with just over two minutes to play to go into a stall with the lead.

“We hadn’t even gone over the stall yet,” said Perrigan. “We tried something we had done in the past and ran off about 10 seconds and turned it over to Kelly. The next time down the floor we were just patient running our regular offense.”

Ashley Mullins and Courtney Brooks shared scoring honors for the Indians with 11 points each.

“We just didn’t take advantage of some opportunities we had,” said J.J. Kelly coach Robin Dotson. “Of course their pressure hurt us. We just folded our tent in stretches. We were supposed to be attacking and we just got real passive. Battle’s experience showed over our inexperience.”

Bryant finished with a game-high 21 points for John Battle.

J.I. Burton 59, Honaker 29
A couple of the top players in the area were on display but Ra’Shelle Miller and the J.I. Burton Raiders made easy work of Honaker and Rachel Artrip.

“Defensively we did what we wanted to do,” said J.I. Burton coach Mike Goforth. “Offensively, at times we were stagnant but this is only our second game of the year. We’ve been practicing a lot and the girls were excited to get on the floor and play.”

The Raiders led 13-4 at the end of the first quarter and started the second quarter on 9-0 run.

Burton then built an insurmountable lead with a 12-0 run to start the third quarter.

Miller led all scorers with 22 points, while Chelsea Forney and Iris Hill added 11 points each for the Raiders.

Artrip had 13 points for Honaker.

Sullivan Central 64, Lebanon 32
In another quarterfinal game, the Sullivan Central Cougars started the game on a 9-0 run and never trailed on their way to the win. Central held a 40-12 lead at halftime.

“We knew they would have a good team although I hadn’t seen them play,” said Lebanon coach Rex Parker. “We got about what we expected. They got the opening tip and drove by my quickest player for a layup, I knew we were in trouble.”

Erika Blizard led the Cougars with 14 points. Sophomore Kendall Helbert tossed in eight points for the Pioneers.