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Fans of wrestling often use high school girls’ basketball as a comparative contrast to their favorite sport. But wrestling fans would most likely have been slightly daunted by the physical nature of the Capital District Girls semifinal games. Arms were flailing, bodies were flying and there were more takedowns than your average dual meet. Both Atlee and Hanover battled throughout (at some points quite literally) with hands-on, body-to-body, man-up defenses from Henrico and Highland Springs on Thursday night at Hanover High School.

  In a tight contest throughout, No. 1 seed Atlee took advantage of Sydney Henderson’s free throw shooting down the stretch to defeat No. 4 seed Henrico 56-46.

  A cold shooting first half and sloppy ball-handling was the undoing for No. 2 seed Hanover in their game with No. 3 seed Highland Springs. Playing on their home floor, Hanover committed 21 first half turnovers and trailed by 21 points at the break. The Hawks bounced back in the second half to trim the margin to two but could not close out the contest, falling to the Springers 60-47.

ATLEE-HENRICO

  When it comes to big games, Atlee’s Richelle Price turns into superwoman. Price (20 points, nine rebound, five blocks) and teammate Taylor Henderson (8 points) combined to score 13 of the Raiders’ 15 first quarter points in their semifinal contest against Henrico.

  “What makes a great player is when they play big in big games,” said Atlee head coach Anna Prillaman. “Everybody can score 20-25 points against so-so opponents, but when you’re playing in big games like this and you take over that’s when you know you’re great.”

  Meanwhile the Atlee defense limited Henrico to two made field goals until :05 remained in the first period, when Bria Harris scored from in close to pull the Warriors within eight, 15-7 at the break.

  The Atlee offensive production fell off in the second quarter while an opening minute right wing three from Henrico’s Jamia Cox (12 points, two 3-pointers) and inside jumper from Bria Robinson pulled the Warriors within three, 15-12.

  The clock had reached the 5:20 mark before the Raiders found the basket for the first time in the period off an inbounds from Sydney Henderson to Britt Hill.

  But Henrico found a hole in the Atlee defense. Driving the ball inside, Robinson dished off a drop pass to a wide open Harris in the block for a score. Following a pair of free throws from Henderson, Robinson ran the same play again, dishing to Cox for an easy score and bringing a quick timeout from Prillaman.

  “I think that’s a coaching issue where I didn’t teach the girls too well to rotate down,” Prillaman said. “The post player obviously has to go help when our girl gets beat on the penetration, the guard’s supposed to rotate down and it just wasn’t happening, which is why she was wide open in the block.”

  The Raiders responded on a Price assist to Hill (11 points) followed by a short jumper from Price herself to open a 23-16 lead with 3:09 in the half.

  However, Henrico then went on a run of their own. Ashl’e Freeman (11 points) drilled a three from the right wing, Shanell Dowling scored on a jumper and Freeman added a free throw to pull the Warriors within one with 1:43 in the half.

  Moments later, Latisha Ellerbe tied the game at 24 on a pair of free throws.

  Atlee answered on a score from Hill off a dish from Price and a plus-one field goal from Taylor Henderson after she was slammed to the floor on a drive to the hoop.

  But with 15.3 left in the half, Freeman added another pair of freebies to trim the Atlee lead to 29-26 heading into the locker room.

  Atlee pulled ahead 34-28 in the opening 1:22 of the second half but Henrico roared back. Cox scored twice and picked up an assist on a pass inside to Elaine Derricott. Freeman tacked on a jumper and Derricott went one-for-two from the line as part of 9-0 Warrior run that put Henrico ahead 37-34 with 2:43 in the third.

  Price responded by nailing a three from the top left of the arc to tie the game at 37.

  Harris momentarily pushed the Warriors back ahead on a free throw but a jumper from Hill with :15 on the clock gave Atlee a 39-38 lead heading into the final period.

  With 6:09 to play, Henrico retook the lead 43-42 on a shot from Harris but both the Atlee defense and the Warrior shooting touch tightened. Henrico only scored three points over the remainder of the game on a field goal and free throw.

  Still, the Raiders’ lead was only five, 50-45 with a minute and half to play so instead of taking bad shots they pulled the ball out and forced Henrico to foul.

  “What I told them was the clock was our friend and we still want to attack but we’ve got to get high percentage shots,” Prillaman said. “If we run the play through and when we get a shot that isn’t that high percentage we’ll just take it back out and go through another play.”

  Atlee’s Sydney Henderson went 6-of-7 from the line over the final 1:28 to seal the win, 56-46.

  “I knew tonight was going to be a tough one,” Prillaman said. “Gosh, they (Henrico) played hard under the basket.”

HANOVER-HIGHLAND SPRINGS

  Highland Springs came out in their semifinal contest against Hanover, playing hard-nosed defense against the home-standing Hawks resulting in just as many fouls as field goals (5) in the opening quarter of play. But the Springers’ press was still effective; forcing turnovers and shutting down nearly everyone but Hanover’s Kimberly Browning (16 points, two 3-pointers).

  Browning nearly acted as a one-player team in the opening quarter for the Hawks, taking the ball up court, setting the offense, then driving inside to score six of Hanover’s nine first quarter points.

  Meanwhile, the Springer defense concentrated on frustrating district Player of the Year, Hanover’s Chelsea Coward. Things started off bad for Coward, who picked up a foul 10 seconds into the game, and went down from there. Coward was limited to one point in the first half.

  Leading 13-9 heading into the second, Highland Springs turned up the heat. The intense, physical, scrambling man-to-man defense disrupted then discouraged Hanover throughout the second quarter adding to the Hawks’ total of 21 first half turnovers. The Springers pressed tight, stepped into passing lanes, deflected balls and poked away dribbles. Meanwhile the Highland Springs offense went into high gear. Freshman Jazzman Dabney (12 points) started things off with a short jumper then Shamecca Jenkins added a three from the right wing. Two minutes later and unguarded, Jenkins added another three from virtually the same spot.

  A free throw from Kyra Coleman (11 points, 11 rebound, eight steals) was followed by a jumper from Dashan Ross to cap an 11-0 run to start the second and give the Springers a 24-9 lead.

  The Hawks finally stopped the bleeding when Browning nailed a three from the left wing with 4:02 until the break. However, Hanover scored only one point over the remainder of the half while the Springers went on a 10-1 run for a 34-13 lead heading into the locker room.

  “The first half we didn’t do a very good job of getting shots,” said Hanover head coach Kevin Brooks. “You turn it over 21 times it’s going to be difficult to get back in it, much less stay in it playing a very good Highland Springs team.

  “It wasn’t that we dug ourselves a hole not playing hard,” Brooks said. “We dug ourselves a hole because we weren’t making shots and turning it over, which are very correctable basketball things but, give credit to Highland Springs. They made a lot of tough shots.”

  In the locker room the Hawks tried to regroup. “It was one of those things where the kids knew they hadn’t played at their best and they were going to play as well as they could,” Brooks said.

  Instead of throwing in the towel because they trailed by 21, Hanover came out on fire in the third and Browning scored twice to bracket a basket from Coleman.
  Then with 6:32 left in the third, Coward (11 second half points) scored her first field goal of the game, firing up the crowd and the Hanover defense, which appeared to rattle the Springers.

  Ross pushed the Springers lead back to 19 (38-19) on a half hook inside, but the Hawks responded with a 14-0 run. With 4:03 in the third, Woolard scored on a plus-one field goal then Browning added a three from the right baseline. Woolard swished a three from the left wing and thirty seconds later did the same once again to pull Hanover within five, 33-38.

  With :24 in the quarter, the lead was still five when Browning picked up her fourth foul going for a rebound. Charity Hart hit both free throws to give the Springers a 42-35 lead heading into the final period of play.

  Woolard stroked her third three of the game to open the fourth pulling Hanover within four but Hart answered.

  Hanover had a chance to trim into the lead with 6:53 but Woolard came up empty on a pair of free throws. Coward then pulled the Hawks within two, but seconds later Woolard once again missed a pair at the line and a chance to tie the game.

  “If we make a free throw it’s a different ball game,” Brooks said.

  After Coleman widened the Springer margin to four Coward had a chance to trim the margin for the Hawks but missed on the front end of a one-and-one. To compound matters, Browning picked up her fifth foul going for the rebound.

  Without Browning’s physical presence on the inside, the Hawks’ scoring threat was neutralized and Hanover scored only five points over the remainder of the game.

  “Kim Browning’s a Division I player,” Brooks said. “When she’s not in the game you’re team’s going to be impacted.”

  The Springers’ Shandell Taylor also stymied the Hawks’ plans by making 5-of-7 free throws down the stretch to hand Hanover a 60-47 loss.

  Three Hanover seniors, Browning, Coward and Woolard, scored all but three of the Hawks’ points.

“I’m really proud of how the kids fought in the second half,” Brooks said. “They did everything they could, we just didn’t get over the hump, but I’m proud of the effort the kids gave.”

HANOVER (8-4 Capital, 17-6 ) T. Woolard 2, Browning 16, Coward 12, Dillich 0, Douglas 1, Hill 0, A. Woolard 16.
HIGHLAND SPRINGS (8-4, 15-8 ) Jones 3, Jefferies 8, Dabney 12, Taylor 7, Jenkins 6, Hart 6, Coleman 11, Cannon 0, Tinsley 1, Ross 6.
Hanover ……………..….  9   4 22 12-47
Highland Springs ….. 13 21   8 18-60
3-ptrs: HS- Jefferies 2, Jenkins 2, Coleman 2; Han- A. Woolard 3, Browning 2.

HENRICO (18-6) Freeman 11, Ellerbe 2, Robinson 3, Hendrick 0, Tyler 0, Derricott 5, Harris 13, Cox 12, Lowry 0. Totals 17 9-14 46.
ATLEE (20-3) Hill 11, S. Henderson 17, T. Henderson 8, Price 20, Ashcraft 0, Eberle 0. Totals 19 16-22 56.
Henrico….......................... 7 19 12 8 — 46
Atlee ................................ 15 14 10 17 — 56
3-point goals: H — Cox 2, Freeman. A — Hill, Price.