After enduring a season that had many more downs than ups, the Lee-Davis girls’ basketball team was looking for a change when they kicked off their season as host of the Southerner Classic.

  But in doing so the Confederates did not schedule cupcakes in their openers, playing a Colonial Heights (3-0) squad that greatly outsized them then facing a talented Douglas Freeman (2-0) team as a follow up.

  Though the C-feds (0-2) fell to both teams, there was much more of an upside to the outcomes than the multitude of downfalls last season.

  In the Thursday opener, Lee-Davis fell to the Colonials 50-37, but score that was not indicative of the Lee-Davis effort throughout.

  Anxious to get their new season under way, the C-feds stormed out of the gate riding the deadeye shooting of sophomore Trina Gardner who scored 10 of her team’s first 12 points.

  Gardner, who finished the night with 18 points including five 3-pointers, opened the scoring with threes from the right baseline, right wing and left baseline to bracket a short jumper from junior Meredith Holmes.

  When Gardner connected on a free throw the C-feds had doubled up the Colonials 12-6 four minutes into the game.

  “We came out there ready to play- excited to play,” said first year head coach Alvin Puller.

  Though the first half of the first quarter was set with scorching scoring from Lee-Davis, the final four minutes of the period were an arctic freeze.

  Holding a six point lead, the C-feds went scoreless over the remainder of the period while being called for five fouls; a pattern that was repeated throughout the game. 

  Rather than anything Colonial Heights did, it was the fouls that proved to be Lee-Davis’ undoing largely due to the frustrating abnormality of their occurrences.
  While the Colonials largely utilized an aggressive man-to-man defense, Lee-Davis stuck mostly to a zone. However, through three quarters of play the C-feds were whistled for 13 fouls while the Colonials were only tabbed with four.

  Muscling the ball inside, the Colonials’ Savannah Philligane (7 points) repeatedly drew fouls and went to the line nine times on the night.

  At the same time, despite repeated drives into the paint, Lee-Davis could not come away with the same outcome.

  On the strength of six points from sophomore Divinity Ellis (18 points), the Colonials closed out the first quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 15-12 lead.

  But Lee-Davis bounced back, starting the second period as they did the first.
  A pair of free throws and a bank shot from Beca Parramore gave the C-feds a 16-15 lead less than a minute into the quarter.

  While a pair of free throws from Philligane allowed the Colonials to retake the lead Lee-Davis’ Samantha Puller and Logan Bryan answered on back-to-back shots to put the C-feds on top 20-17.

  But then just as in the first, Lee-Davis went scoreless over the final four minutes of the period. Meanwhile the Colonials went on an 11-0 run for a 28-20 lead at the break.

  Puller said the physical nature of the Colonials’ inside play disrupted his teams’ effort and went unnoticed by the officials who were watching the defenders’ hands and not their lower body. “They were bumping with the body down low,” Puller said. “They throw you off a little bit by bumping your body.”
  However, the C-feds came out of the locker room bringing the fight to Colonial Heights.

  Junior Chandler Thomas joined forces with Gardner beyond the parameter and the pair connected on five 3-pointers to start the third, that along with a jumper from Raven Sims tied the game at 32.

  Then with two minutes left in the third, Sims hit again and Lee-Davis held a 36-35 lead.

  But the basket turned out to be the C-feds’ final goal of the game.

  Just as in the first two periods, the C-feds once again went scoreless while being tagged with fouls, only scoring on a free throw over the remainder of the contest.

  Puller said the lack of offense down the stretch could be contributed to several factors. “We came out there ready to play in the third quarter and we used so much energy to try to get back in the game that we ran out of gas in the fourth quarter.”

  But Puller also pointed out that the fouls began to take their toll as well. “I think because the shots weren’t falling and the officials weren’t calling fouls the girls got frustrated,” he said. “You don’t get the fouls called inside you get frustrated and it makes the effort goes away.”

  Though falling in their first game of the season, Puller saw no major obstacles for his team to overcome. “Little things, no big things to work on,” he said. “Make the easy layups, make the free throws. Wasn’t nothing major. They didn’t hurt us with the way we played. We played hard and got after people.”

  On Saturday afternoon, the talented Douglas Freeman had their way with the C-feds, racing out to a 34-8 halftime lead that swelled to 44-17 after three quarters. Lee-Davis was led by 11 points from sophomore Logan Bryan.

COLONIAL HEIGHTS 50,
LEE-DAVIS 37
COLONIAL HEIGHTS (1-0) Ellis 18, Akers 10, Tyler 5, Thompson 11, Philligane 7. Totals 11-16 50.
LEE-DAVIS (0-1) Holmes 2, Thomas 6, Bryan 3, Tuller 2, Sims 2, Gardner 18, Parramore 4. Totals 4-8 37.
Colonial Heights . 15 13 13 9 — 50
Lee-Davis…............ 12 8 16 1 — 37
3-point goals: CH — Akers 3, Thompson 2, Ellis, Tyler. LD —Gardner 5, Thomas 2.

DOUGLAS FREEMAN 64,
LEE-DAVIS 35
LEE-DAVIS (0-2) Barrier 0, Holmes 2, Thomas 3, Bryan 11, Harris 0, Puller 4, Sims 6, Gardener 4, Korman 0, Skeens 2, Hughes 0, Parramore 3. Totals: 11 9-20 35.
DOUGLAS FREEMAN (2-0) Spinner-Wilson 11, Shulleeta 9, Mann 5, Mitrovic 0, Hall 6, Miller 4, Outland 7, Sykes 2, Witt 11, Robinson 4, Crewe 2, Ahrens 3, Coker 0. Totals: 23 14-23 64.
Lee-Davis…............ 6 2   9 18 — 35
D. Freeman ........ 18 16 10 20 — 64
3-point goals: L-D — Bryan 2, Thomas, Gardener. DF — Spinner-Wilson, Shulleeta, Mann, Witt. Highlights: DF — Katrina Spinner-Wilson, 2 steals, 2 assists; Victoria Witt 4 assists