KFHS girls take conference crown

The King’s Fork High School girls’ basketball team meant business on defense Monday night. The effort led the Lady Bulldogs to their second consecutive Ironclad Conference tournament championship, as they beat No. 4 Heritage High School, 46-33, at home.

“We just wanted to play good defense,” KF coach Maurice Fofana said. “We knew they were big,” and they knew the Lady Hurricanes liked to get the ball inside.

Heritage was able to put the ball up inside at times, but the shots were not falling for much of the night.

Additionally, the No.-2 Lady Bulldogs were nothing short of stifling when Heritage had the ball, and the Lady Hurricanes’ possessions were routinely interrupted by King’s Fork, which racked up 23 steals.

Heritage did not even reach double figures until the 7:48 mark in the fourth quarter. The Lady Bulldogs led 32-10 at that point.

Fofana said he did not initially realize his team had kept the Lady Hurricanes in single digits for so long and asked another coach if the scoreboard was right at one point.

After the first quarter, King’s Fork was up 11-1. Both teams struggled to score in the second period, though right before halftime, senior guard Imani Lewis of the Lady Bulldogs hit a three-pointer followed by a layup to make it 20-4 at the break.

“We didn’t score as many points as I would like to,” Fofana said.

King’s Fork was up 32-8 after three quarters, but Heritage began to pile up some points in the fourth quarter, and used strong defense of its own to pull as close as 43-32 in the waning moments.

Fofana kept at least one of his key ball handlers in throughout the second half and brought key starters back in during the fourth quarter, but he changed his lineup some in the final 16 minutes to give certain players a rest.

The Lady Bulldogs played only two days previously in the semifinals, and they will be back in action tonight to begin regional play.

Fofana said it feels good to be back-to-back conference tournament champions, and he is really excited with how the team is playing.

King’s Fork had unprecedented difficulty this season in conference play, dropping three games during the regular season. But it was able to complete a clean 3-0 sweep of Heritage on Monday.

“I think, as a team, we played well,” Fofana said. “I think we played good team defense.”

Lewis recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 steals. Sophomore guard Cydney Nichols led the Lady Bulldogs with 12 points and added five steals and freshman guard Camary Harris produced 10 points and four steals.

Sophomore forward Amesha Miller also contributed eight points and 14 rebounds.

King’s Fork (17-5) hosts Midlothian High School tonight at 6 p.m. in the opening round of the Region 4A South tournament. The King’s Fork boys’ regional game against Caroline High School will follow at 7:45 p.m.