Coming into this season, the Varina girls basketball team was a mystery to nearly everyone outside of the program. But after handing visiting Atlee a 69-41 loss on Friday night to move to 4-0 there is no longer any mystery in why the Blue Devils are undefeated on the young season and ranked No. 10 in last week’s TD Top 10 poll.

  “We are out to kind of prove ourselves,” said Varina head coach Becky Snow. “We got off to a good start last year but never could really beat another ranked team so really that’s our goal this year, to pull out some of those wins.”

  Atlee head coach Anna Prillaman was not surprised by what she saw from the Blue Devils. “I think they’re a great team,” she said. “I’ve said from the beginning I think they can scare some people. They’ve been young for so many years and now with their experience— I feel like I’ve seen all of these faces for three years and Becky does a great job with them. So I think Varina can definitely give Henrico and some of the other teams in the region a run for their money.”

  Adding to Atlee’s disadvantage was the absence of sophomore Karlie Suber and her backup Mattie Fitzgerald, both of whom are out with concussions.

  Knowing that Varina possessed a quick and athletic team, Prillaman sent her Raiders to the floor to play a 1-3-1 zone defense, which was very successful in the first quarter. The zone halted the Blue Devil penetration and forced them to ineffectively shoot from the parameter, keeping Atlee in the game, to trail 13-12 at the end of the first.

  “The first quarter I think we started off a little slow,” Snow said. “We were shooting a lot of three pointers in the first quarter and they weren’t falling.”

  When the Raiders’ Cierra Shelton dished off to Steff Staples for a short jumper 30 seconds into the second quarter Atlee took a 14-13 lead.

  But from there it was all Varina as their shooters suddenly found their touch and the Blue Devils went on a 22-7 run to close out the half.

  Mia Fitts connected on a three from the left wing and Ashley Logan scored on a shot inside. Neka Dunaway (16 points) and Logan were fouled inside for four straight free throws then Dunaway and Fitts each scored to cap a 16-2 run by the host team.

  “Basically I told the guards try to drive a little bit so they can get to the free throw line,” Snow said. “Once they started doing that they sort of loosened up and started hitting their three-point shots and it all kind of fell into place from there. We got hot from behind the line and that’s really been our first game that we shot well. We have great shooters but we haven’t shot well yet. So four games in we finally shot well.”

  “They just started making open shots,” Prillaman said. “We played the zone to stop their penetration. I feel like they’re a quick team. We stopped that but they started hitting threes. So it’s tough when you have those many different weapons that started to work, so we had to pick up man from there.”

  Trailing 35-21 heading into the third, Atlee tried to hang with Varina but the inside-outside combination of Logan and Mica Cox (20 points) proved too much. When the Blue Devils weren’t hitting shots, Logan (8 rebounds), Fitts (7 rebounds) and Cox (5 rebounds) were inside to pull down the ball and maintain possession.

  “We have a couple of big girls but we have some really athletic girls who can jump and get in there,” Snow said.

  Likewise, Varina’s board work forced Prillaman to go away from the zone. “That’s the problem with that zone,” she said, “especially the 1-3-1 it’s hard to box out from, it’s hard to rebound out of the zone and they were taking advantage of us on the offensive boards.”

  Offensively, Atlee was hampered by the absence of Suber and Fitzgerald therefore pressure to score fell on the shoulders of senior point guard Taylor Henderson, who led the Raiders with 14 points. But Henderson’s frustration grew as she attempted to run the floor while becoming a focal point of the Varina defense.

  “With Karlie being out, Taylor’s really the only big offensive threat,” Prillaman said. “I think there’s a pressure with that and when the other players aren’t stepping it up and doing their part she gets frustrated. But she’s a senior, she’s a leaders, she’s got to be able to fight through that.”

  Also, with so many new players this season, Prillaman felt her team was thinking too much and therefore their shots were not falling. “These girls, their basketball IQ is not where it needs to be yet so they’re thinking so much out on the court sometimes they forget to just play basketball,” she said. “So when they finally do get that open shot they’re worried so much, ‘Did I do the right thing to get that open shot?’ and it kind of messes with them.”

  Despite the lopsided outcome, Atlee newcomers Tyler Clarke and Shelton turned in solid performances to compliment Staples (14 points) late-game shooting.

  “I feel like because we are so young our learning curve is going to be much steeper than some other teams,” Prillaman said. “And plus with us not having two key players, we’ll be a different team the next time we play them for sure.”

  Playing without Suber last Tuesday, Henderson scored a game high 28 points in a loss to county rival Hanover, 46-35. With 15 points, Hanover sophomore guard Amber Norris led a group of four Hawks in double figures.
 
NO. 10 VARINA 68, ATLEE 41
ATLEE (1-3, 0-2 Capital) — Staples 14, Mullen 0, Bami 0, Doggett 0, Henderson 14, Shelton 3, Tyler 7, Booth 3. Totals—17 4-9 41.
VARINA (4-0, 1-0) — D. Cox 8, Dunaway 16, Fitts 8, Tedder 1, Mitchell 2, M. Cox 20, Tart 4, Logan 10. Totals—24 14-19 69.
Atlee 12 9 12 8 — 41
Varina 13 22 20 14 — 69
3-point goals — A—Henderson 2, Booth; V— M.Cox 4, Fitts 2, D. Cox.
Highlights: V—Raneka Dunaway 3 assists; Micha Cox 5 rebounds; Ashley Logan 8 rebounds; Mia Fitts 7 rebounds.
HANOVER 46, ATLEE 35
HANOVER (1-1, 1-0 Capital) —Woolard 10, Norris 15, Throckmorton 1, Fehl 10, Douglas 10, Laukford 0, Hess 0. Totals—15 14-23 46
ATLEE (1-2, 0-1)—Staples 2, Barry 0, Fitzgerald 0, Henderson 28, Shelton 0, Tyler 2, Booth 3. Totals—14 3-6 35
Hanover 11 15 8 12 — 46
Atlee 8 11 7 9 — 35
3-point goals— H Woolard, Norris; A Henderson 4.