Lady Warriors move to 6-1
Published 10:21 pm Friday, December 16, 2016
- Briana Autrey uses her speed to get down the floor for the Lady Warriors. The Lady Warriors have started the season off at 6-1. Melissa Glover photo
The Nansemond River High School girls’ basketball team moved to 6-1 after a win over Great Bridge High School on Thursday night.
The Lady Warriors are on a roll to start off the season. In the six games the Lady Warriors have played in the Southeastern District, they are undefeated. Their only loss came from a non-conference opponent.
Nansemond River got a 71-60 victory Thursday against Great Bridge. It was their lowest margin of victory so far this season. A win is a win, but Lady Warriors coach R. Calvin Mason Sr. felt his team could have performed better defensively.
“I didn’t think it was one of our better games,” Mason said. “Defensively, we were a little off, which is unusual for us. We’ve been pretty good up to this point defensively. Offensively, we played well. We just weren’t up to par defensively.”
Cassidy Simmons had 18 points, four assists and five steals. Briana Autrey had 16 points and five steals. At 6-1, the players are not content. Around this time last year, the Lady Warriors were 5-2 through seven games.
“We are at a really good starting point right now,” Autrey said. “We can’t get too complacent because we never know what can happen.”
Mason likes where the team is at this point as well. He feels they are getting better gradually and have some momentum going into conference play in January. Their strength is within their defense, and they are continuing to show improvement on the offensive end.
The Lady Warriors are undersized this season, but Mason is confident that the team will be able to adjust when facing larger opponents.
One thing Mason wants to see his team get better at is free throw shooting.
“I would like to see us shooting free throws at 70 percent or better,” Mason said. “We are not doing that right now. We want our free throws to improve considerably. It is going to help us in close games.”
Next, for the Lady Warriors, they will be competing in the King’s Fork basketball showcase Saturday. They will play William Fleming High School of Roanoke at King’s Fork. The game is set to begin at 3:30 p.m.
“We want to continue to improve,” Mason said. “These games will help us going forward into conference play. Everything we are doing and the games we are playing right now are going to help us for the conference games.”