Lakeland continued its winning ways at the Lakeland Invitational field hockey tournament on Thursday afternoon, scoring four goals in the second half to defeat Norfolk’s Granby High School 6-1. Nansemond River also came out on top Thursday, coming from behind to defeat Great Bridge High School 4-2. The win raised the Lady Warriors’ record in the tournament to 2-3.

After neither team managed a shot for the first 10 minutes of Lakeland’s game, Jennifer Brinkley broke down the left sideline, and shot a pass to Katelyn Smither near the middle. Smither took a shot, which bounced off a Granby player’s stick and ricocheted straight up in the air. It came down directly between Heather Byrd and a Lady Comet, and Byrd quickly stroked the ball into the right side of the Granby net for the game’s first score.

The Lady Comets came right back, as Amy Volkmann took a pass in the center and sent it past a sprawling Kelsey Cutchins in the Lakeland goal with 16:31 left to play. Fortunately for Cutchins, Granby didn’t get another shot for the remainder of the game.

Ashley McCord gave the Lady Cavaliers the lead again at the eight-minute mark when she slammed home an assist from Nicole Debian.

At halftime, said Smither, Lakeland knew that it had more than what it had shown. &uot;That definitely wasn’t our best,&uot; she said. &uot;We needed to step it up.&uot;

They did so quickly. McCord flipped in her second goal less than two minutes into the second half, and Smither knocked in an assist from Kelly Bradley four minutes later. Debian knocked in a penalty stroke at the 16-minute mark, and Smither rebounded home another goal with 13 minutes to play. The win pushed Lakeland to the tournament’s title game, where they’ll meet Hampton’s Kecoughtan High School today at 4 p.m.

After Great Bridge scored in the first half of Thursday’s game, Ashley Aston breathed some fresh life into the Nansemond River offense, knocking in an assist from Tara Williams three minutes into the second half. Before the Lady Wildcats could react, Ashley Witt knocked in her own rebound two minutes later.

Witt wasn’t finished, diving through a crowd of players to score her first goal at the nine-minute mark. After Great Bridge cut the lead to one, Heather Horton snuck inside the Lady Wildcat defense to ice the game.

A broken bone in her hand had hampered Horton’s offensive abilities. &uot;That’s why I was surprised when I scored,&uot; she said. &uot;I can’t drive the ball with my hand like this. I was just trying to pass the ball to the forwards, but I ended up scoring.&uot; Nansemond River will take on Virginia Beach’s Landstown High School in the fifth- and sixth-place game at noon today.