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The Atlee girls’ basketball team advanced to the Central Region semifinals after a pair of noteworthy early tournament home court wins over county rival Patrick Henry and regional rival L.C. Bird.

  Sydney and Taylor Henderson, Britt Hill and Richelle Price paced the Lady Raiders to a decisive 63-34 victory over Patrick Henry in the Central Region opener at Atlee High Monday night.

  Atlee kept PH on the perimeter and effectively shut down any attack the Patriots could muster, leading 22-6 after the first period and 44-8 at the half.
  Price’s sixth point of the night, a free throw, drew a special announcement for the Raiders’ star center.

  “With that last bucket,” the announcer stated to a roar of applause, “Richelle Price becomes Atlee’s all-time leading scorer!”

  Price (21 points) ruled the paint most of the night and followed several of her 10 rebounds with easy Raider buckets.

  “We knew exactly what to expect,” Patriots’ coach Leslie Nuckols admitted. “We just have a hard time matching up with Price.”

  Sydney Henderson (13 points), Taylor Henderson (10) and Hill (11) shot well and kept the Patriots on their heels with a boatload of hustle on both ends of the court.

  “That’s what we do,” Atlee coach Anna Prillaman said.

  Gracie Schmitt (13 points) and Taylor Huber (12) led Patrick Henry. Nineteen of the Patriots’ 34 points came in the fourth quarter.

  The victory set up Atlee’s much-anticipated rematch with L. C. Bird, which had KO’d the Raiders in last season’s quarterfinals.

  “It’s the same situation as last year. Second round, in the same gym, same opponent,” Prillaman said. “To say that the girls have something to play for would be an understatement.”

  Indeed the Raiders came out fired up for the Skyhawks the next night—and as expected found the two-time defending Central Region champions a much more up-tempo opponent from the start.

  Atlee won the opening tip, but LCB guard Barbara Sitton stole the ball from Taylor Henderson and laid it up for the first points of the game.

  Despite aggressive hustle by Sitton and fellow guard Porscha Walton, the Skyhawks could muster little momentum off the quick start. Price got the Raiders on the board 70 seconds in. Hill first assisted Taylor Henderson for an open three from the left arc, who then fed Price for a lay-in down low. Taylor Henderson capped the early surge with a steal and lay-in of her own for a 9-2 Raider lead.

  The Skyhawks emerged from a time-out with renewed hustle, scrapping for every ball and setting a tone of physical play. Just as jumpers from Ruthanne Doherty, Jewel Tunstall and Sitton tightened the score to 9-8, Taylor Henderson and Price combined for three unanswered buckets and a 16-8 Atlee lead after one.

  Prillaman signaled for a containment defense minutes into the second period, and the Raiders responded with a disciplined zone that held a tight perimeter and took few chances.

  Atlee gave up 13 points in the second but scored 17, capped by Sydney Henderson’s three from the left, giving the Raiders a 33-21 halftime lead.
  The teams ran each other up and down the floor and traded buckets early in the third, but Atlee began to show some fatigue when Zukye Smith walked in almost uncontested for a Skyhawk lay-up. A quick bucket and foul shot later LCB had closed to within nine, 39-30.

  Sydney Henderson dashed the Skyhawks momentum with a baseline three followed by a jumper from the top of the key to put Atlee up 44-30.

  With only 6-of-10 Raiders playing and three of them approaching foul trouble, Atlee had cause for concern, especially facing the Skyhawks deep bench.

  Bird challenged Atlee throughout the fourth and won more individual battles, but missed critical shots that enabled the Raiders to maintain their lead until late.

  Doherty mowed down a seemingly stationary Hill on the way to a lay-up that drew the Hawks closer at 51-39. A subsequent full press resulted in an intercepted in-bounds pass that narrowed the gap to 10. 

  With just over two minutes remaining, Bird had no choice but to foul, but Hill and Sydney Henderson combined for 12 crunch-time points from the line that offset the Skyhawks’ late surge.

  Sydney Henderson’s 23 points fueled the 63-52 victory and propelled Atlee to a Thursday semi-final matchup with Mills Godwin at the Siegel Center.

  Sitton led the Skyhawks scoring with 14 points. Doherty followed with 13, and her 16 rebounds eclipsed a longstanding school record.

  Price (16 points), Hill (15) and Taylor Henderson (9) rounded out the scoring for the Raiders.

  “We knew that they were a shooting team, and everybody’s a threat,” Skyhawks’ coach Chevette Waller said. “They hit from beyond the arc and they drove to the basket – and we’re the bigger team.”

  Price did her thing down low but chalked up the victory to strong defensive play from her smaller teammates.

  “I think we threw them off a little bit with our zone,” Price said. “They’re used to being able to drive, and our guards did a really good job keeping them out of the paint.”

  Price ventured out of the center several times to spring her teammates from traffic with timely picks. 

  “Bird has some really good guards, and we were just trying to free up our guards a little bit with some screens,” she said.

  Despite the satisfaction of turning the tables on Bird, the Raiders kept their emotions in check following the game.

  “We all know we’ve got two more games before we can make it to states,” Richelle Price said. “We’re happy about the win, but focused on our next game.”