Last Friday, our girls’ basketball team swept Western by 21 points, completing a crucial beginning of the season win. Last season, our girls faced off against the Warriors four times, beating them 55-49, 46-40, 57-52, 56-37. Although they came out with four wins, these games were hard fought battles, and the Warriors remain one of their toughest opponents going into this season.
With this in mind, the Knights came out strong in the first quarter, only conceding 2 points. On the defensive side, senior Kayla Drumheller and junior Avery Stavitski had impressive steals to keep the ball in CHS possession for the majority of the quarter.
Moving into the second quarter, the girls brought the same energy, although Western seemed to be gaining more of a fight. After senior Eva Floyd banked a three-pointer to make the score 8 to 20, Western’s sophomore, Maggie Camblos responded with two back-to-back threes. With the Warriors only trailing by 6 at the half, the game looked as if it could go either way.
However, from the first seconds of the second half, it was clear that CHS was not looking back; Drumheller opened the half with an easy layup followed by an impressive block by junior Kiley Jones. The Warriors tried to catch up, but impressive drives from Stavitski and junior Elaina Pierce grew the lead to 34-19. With 1:26 left in the third quarter, Western Coach, Kris Wright, called a time out, but it didn’t seem to help– the third quarter ended 38-19 Knights.
Finally, in the last quarter, Western subbed in their bench as CHS cruised along. Late in the fourth, Stavitski hit a three, tallying her 17th point, and putting the final score at 46-25.
Reflecting on the game, head coach, Jim Daly recalled, “I thought our focus was really good, we didn’t let them have any easy possession… I just thought we made them work for everything, and I thought our defense was very sharp, because that’s a good team, and to hold them to 25 points, I thought was very impressive.”
Looking to the rest of the season, the Knights will face the rest of the Jefferson District, where they are currently tied with Fluvanna County for first. Tonight, they head to Orange County, hoping to secure an easy on the road victory.
The Knights will rematch the Warriors at home on January 17th— a game that is sure to be intense, because as Savitski said in a postgame interview with Scrimmage Play, “It’s always good to beat your rivals.”
