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The Atlee High School girls’ varsity basketball team made winning look like a walk in the park Dec. 5 and 6 as they crushed their opponents in the first Tip-Off Tournament at Midlothian High School and won both of their games by a margin of 10 points and higher, but like all good teams, they say there’s always room for improvement.

The Lady Raiders kicked-off the tournament with a 71-28 decision over Colonial Heights. They scored the first five baskets of the game while holding their opponents to just four points in the quarter as they opened a 20-4 lead.

The Lady Colonials took to the perimeter scoring four field goals from beyond the 3-point arc, but a combination of quick hands and crisp passing kept Atlee in front.

“We played [Colonial Heights] at the Siegel Center last year in the first round of the Times-Dispatch [tournament] and they played very well against us,” Atlee head coach Anna Prillaman said. “We wanted to come out just like any other game, very focused and ready for a tough match.”

Atlee went with a zone defense early on but switched to a man-to-man press, which paid dividends quickly. Logan Spiers generated a steal up top and a give-and-go with Sydney Henderson to get down the court gave the Raiders their 16-point margin at the end of the first quarter. The team generated three more steals in the second quarter and seven in the second half.

“In a game like this, I just wanted to work on the little things and that was [to] get in passing lanes and pressure the basketball, so that’s why I picked man over zone,” Prillaman said. “I told them to pick up the intensity on defense [in the second half]. We seemed kind of flat out there. It seemed like the old-time, half-court basketball and I wanted to pick up the pace a little bit more. I think it was the defense that helped us.”
Atlee had three players in double-digits including Henderson with 24 points, Britt Hill with 16 and Richelle Price with 10. Colonial Heights was led by Caitlyn Wells with 10 points.

Atlee met Highland Springs in the winners’ bracket game on Saturday.

Despite carrying an eight-point deficit into halftime, the Lady Raiders rebounded with a 22-point third quarter and went on to win 60-50. Price led the way with 22 points, 10 rebounds and six steals while Hill added 13 points and Sydney Henderson put up eight points and nine assists.

Despite the two wins, Prillaman says her team still has some things to work on.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Prillaman said. “We’re not a team that has a lot of depth, so we have to come out every night with our big guns and make sure they’re focused on not getting into foul trouble or anything [like that]. Overall I liked how we played defense, I liked our offensive sets, but we’re not good yet.”

Sara Page is the sports editor for the Midlothian Exchange.