By Allen J. Kha / ScrimmagePlay.com contributor
Friday’s Jefferson District quarterfinal matchup between third-seeded Charlottesville and sixth-seeded Orange started out slow, with the first quarter ending with Black Knights ahead 8-6. Charlottesville was able to turn on the jets from there en route to a 50-19 victory, and the Hornets simply couldn’t match the Knights’ assault.
The Black Knights went on a 13-0 run and held Orange scoreless in the second quarter, opening up a 21-6 lead at halftime. Despite foul trouble keeping Charlottesville’s senior point guard and playmaker Ellie von Storch on the bench near the break, the Black Knights played a precise and high-intensity game that forced the Hornets into half-court mistakes and saw Charlottesville thrive in both transition and half-court possessions.
“We really didn’t take care of the ball and couldn’t score tonight. The execution wasn’t there on offense tonight and Charlottesville made plays and executed,” Orange coach David Rabe said. “We held [the Black Knights] to only eight points in the first quarter — our defense was there. And we know we’re a good team, but Charlottesville is a really good team. They are legitimate championship contenders in the Jefferson District.”
Led by junior forward London Todd’s interior presence, the Black Knights expanded their lead to 35-10 by the end of the third quarter. Charlottesville coach Dee Mitchelson had the luxury of giving some of her bench players substantial minutes, many of whom contributed as the Black Knights scored 15 points in the fourth quarter to finish off their victory.
Out of the young players Charlottesville featured in the game’s final stanza, Mitchelson was particularly impressed with freshman point guard Tamara Starchia.
“She’s going to be a great guard for us and the Jefferson District in the future. Sometimes she’s been timid and made ‘freshman decisions,’ but she was pretty composed tonight and played with such high-intensity. That’s really important for us,” Mitchelson said.
Mitchelson was also impressed with her team’s defensive effort, rebounding, and Todd’s game-high 13-point performance.
“We were really good rebounding tonight, but interestingly enough I don’t think we did a good job boxing out. That is something we have to work on going into [next week’s semi-final matchup against] William Monroe,” Mitchelson said.
Todd felt like the team was ready for next week’s challenge.
“Next week will be tough, but we’ll be ready. We played well tonight and the reason we did was simply because of defense, rebounding, and playing as a team.”
Charlottesville’s victory marked the end of the season for a young Orange team. The Hornets return most of their starters from this season next year, but face the challenge of moving up to Group AAA. Rabe is optimistic his team will be up to the task.
“I’ve only been [coaching Orange] for two years, and this team is young and shaping up into the system that we play. Our team will be better going into next season, and we just have to work hard in the off-season,” Rabe said.
The Black Knights, meanwhile, play William Monroe in the Jefferson District semifinals Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
