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Lee-Davis senior center Autumn Ruiz was one of the few players that Confederates girls’ basketball coach Russell Williams looked to as a foundation for this year’s extremely young team. But with 4:30 left to play in the fourth quarter of Friday’s game against Hanover, Ruiz suffered what could possibly be a season-ending knee injury in the 66-36 loss to the Hawks.

  Dribbling down court on an open fast break, Ruiz stopped at the free throw line to shoot and her knee simply gave out.

  “You don’t like to see that, especially from a senior playing in her last year,” Williams said.

  The loss of Ruiz leaves the young and already short-handed C-feds team with only seven healthy players. “That’s why it hurts to have a senior go down,” Williams said.

  Yet, Williams who had already taken a stand of great patience with his young squad was encouraged by the grit of his team which came into the game over-matched by Hanover’s experience and talent. “To be young and be down 20 or 30 it’s kind of one thing to quit,” he said. “But to see them keep playing hard today was very encouraging, which is what I want them to learn now so they’re better prepared when they see stuff like that their sophomore and junior years and on.”

  It was the lack of early offense that proved to be the greatest undoing for Lee-Davis as attempts to get shots off against the stingy Hanover defense were few.

  After Ruiz answered a shot from Hanover’s Chelsea Coward to knot the game 2-2 in the opening minutes, the Confederates did not score again until 1:16 left in the first. Yet, Lee-Davis was given some relief when Coward picked up her second foul two minutes into the game and went to the bench.

  Even without Coward on the floor Hanover showed no lack of talent as Kimberly Browning and Amanda Woolard went to work for the Hawks opening a 14-2 lead. Browning finished the period scoring seven of her game-high 17 points and dishing out an assist to Woolard to give the Hawks a 16-5 lead.

  Though Coward was saddled with foul trouble throughout, Hanover made good use of the opportunity it presented and Mariah Douglas logged substantial minutes, scoring 12 points on the night. “She played very well,” Brooks said. “She contributed.”

  The second period began with Ruiz picking up back to back fouls in the opening minute to send Coward and Woolard to the line where they went 3-of-4, pushing Hanover ahead 19-5.
  The Hawks lead widened to 24-7 following layups from Douglas and Taylor Woolard. But then the Hanover fouls began to take their toll.

  Over the final 4:46 of the half, Hanover sent Lee-Davis to the line repeatedly where the C-feds went 6-12. Add to that five points from Raven Sims and the Hawks’ lead was trimmed to 30-18 heading into the locker room. 

  “We committed some pretty silly fouls early in the game just from not sliding our feet, not being in good defensive position,” said Hanover head coach Kevin Brooks. “The refs did a good job of calling it. It’s something we’ve got to improve on, playing without fouling.”

  Shortly into the second half, Hanover felt its own loss when point guard Tiquanna Hill suffered an ankle injury during a scramble for a loose ball. Hill, who had five points at the time, left the game not to return.

  Though Hill was out of the game, the Hanover offense continued to click. A short jumper from Browning was followed by a steal and score from Tia Dillich. Browning then added three on a steal and plus-one field goal to open a 38-18 lead.

  Lee-Davis’ Tiffany Burner momentarily trimmed the lead to 18, but a Amanda Woolard three from the left wing pushed the margin to 21.

  Hanover pushed ahead 52-31 by the end of the third and the Hawks were up 60-31 when Ruiz was injured.

  Though still citing things his team needs to work on, Brooks was pleased with the Hawks second half effort. “I thought in the second half we gave much better energy than we did in the first half,” he said. “We still didn’t play very well half-court offensively and I would like to get better on the defensive end.”

  For Williams, his young Confederates continue to improve from game to game. “They’re young girls still,” he said. “It’s hard to get them to focus on execution.” Add to that the intensity of playing in a rivalry and the game plan tends to slip away. “They’re so jazzed up they just forget a lot of the stuff we just talked about.”

HANOVER (1-1 Capital, 2-2) T. Woolard 2, Dillich 2, Cox, Coward 12, Deadmon 0, Hill 5, Douglas 12, Denton 0, A. Woolard 13, Browning 17, Webb 2. Totals 26 10-15 65.
LEE-DAVIS (0-1, 0-5) Barrier 3, Thomas 8, Bryan 4, Puller 3, Sims 9, K. Gardner 0, Ruiz 5, T. Gardner 4,. Totals 11 11-20 36.
Hanover…...... 16 13 22 14 — 65
Lee-Davis….... 5 13 13   5 — 36
3-point goals: H — Browning 2, Woolard. LD —Thomas 2, Sims.