Lady Bulldogs get first win versus rival
Published 3:04 pm Thursday, December 17, 2009
There is nothing in sports like a rivalry. Two teams that dislike each other just for the name. The passion, the intensity, the emotion, is unmatched when two rival teams get together.
On Tuesday evening, the King’s Fork Lady Bulldogs basketball team brought the passion, the intensity, and the emotion and defeated city rival Nansemond River 62-49 at King’s Fork.
Turnovers plagued the Lady Warriors throughout. Some of them were due to the pressure defense of King’s Fork, and some turnovers came without a single Lady Bulldog around the ball.
King’s Fork’s Whitney Nichols provided the offensive spark for the Lady Bulldogs. Driving into the lane at will, she finished with 25 points, most of them coming from the free throw line where she made 18 of her 25 attempts.
The game started at a slow pace for both teams, and three minutes into the game the Lady Warriors led 6-5.
A three-point field goal from Chelsea Robinson gave the Lady Bulldogs an 8-6 lead with 4:42 remaining in the quarter. King’s Fork held the lead the rest of the night.
A layup from Delisia Sharpe kept the game at one possession; King’s Fork leading 14-11 with 1:30 to go in the quarter. Sharpe scored seven of her team’s first eleven points, but didn’t score again until the fourth quarter.
At the end of the quarter the Lady Bulldogs led NR 16-11.
Tamara Stone started the second period with a floater, followed by a three-pointer from Kiara Branch, giving KF a double-digit lead at 21-11.
Kyri Davis provided somewhat of a spark off of the bench for NR. With 3:50 remaining she was fouled while scoring from the wing. She knocked down that free throw and made a pair of free throws on NR’s next possession to cut KF’s lead to 21-16.
As momentum started to swing the way of the Lady Warriors, Chantel Roberts made two free throws giving her team a 25-17 lead. Roberts followed with a big play on defense, scraping for the ball, and forcing a jumpball call with the possession arrow in favor of KF.
Ta’Quandrea Wilson took advantage of the possession, scoring on two free throws she extended the KF lead 28-17 with 0:40 remaining in the half. KF led 30-19 at the half.
Turnovers and fouls took a toll on Nansemond River in the second half. Sharpe committed her third foul at the 5:36 point in the third quarter.
One of the many free throw attempts from Nichols gave the Lady Bulldogs a 37-23 lead with 4:40 remaining in the third quarter.
A foul by NR’s Ashaunte Humphries would signify the night for her team. She fouled Wilson well beyond the three-point line in the act of shooting, with the clock winding down in the quarter. Wilson made two of three at the line, making the score 41-25 to end the quarter.
By the 5:10 mark in the fourth quarter, the Lady Bulldogs had blown the game wide open to a 47-27 lead. At this point, NR took a timeout, and instituted a full-court press, which proved to give KF trouble.
A three from Humphries cut the Lady Bulldog lead to 55-43 with 2:00 remaining.
A pivotal moment came on NR’s next possession as Kennia Webb missed a layup in the lane that would have cut the lead to 10. Robinson got the rebound and dribbled all the way down the court for a contested layup, killing any hopes of a Nansemond River comeback.
King’s Fork (1-3, 1-3) hosted Indian River on Thursday night and hosts Western Branch on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Nansemond River (1-3, 1-3) played at Hickory on Thursday and hosts Indian River on Friday at 7:30 p.m.