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BHS girls look for a rebound in final week of reg season
Local
By Dan Roem
Source: Gainesville Times
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9 2010
For the first time all season, the Battlefield varsity girls basketball team strung together back to back wins at the end of January, topping Hylton 65-36 and Osbourn 45-38 to give the Bobcats at least some momentum entering a tough February. Woodbridge quickly reminded Battlefield that it indeed faces one of the toughest local schedules as the 12-4 Vikings disposed of the 4-12 Bobcats 45-28 in Haymarket last Thursday night. Woodbridge forwards Katie Maksanty (12 points) Katie Bolander (11 points) provided just over half of the Vikings' score while senior center Annie Jones (10 points) led BHS. Battlefield senior guard Taylor Cordle (8 points) found a bit of a groove in the second quarter, sinking two 3-pointers and draining two foul shots. However, only sophomore forward Amber Lewis (7 points) put a mark on the scoreboard otherwise that quarter for Battlefield, hitting a field goal and a foul shot. "I think we picked up our tempo defensively" in the second half, said Woodbridge coach George Washington. "And that keyed everything. That keyed our offense against what they were doing, putting the ball in the basket. We did a better job of handling the ball too." Woodbridge outgunned Battlefield to the tune of a 13-4 third quarter, which increased the Vikings' four-point halftime lead to 13. (In) the first half, we allowed them to set up. We waited and then (they) set up," said Washington. "(In) the second half, we tried to push the ball quickly before they got set in their defense. So that was a big difference." Doing so knocked Battlefield out of sync defensive. Coupled with sporadic shots inside the arc, that created a gap in time-of-possession that greatly favored Woodbridge. "I think we definitely need to improve on slowing it down," said Jones. "We rushed a lot of shots, so we're constantly playing defense because we're rushing things on offense, and if we could just hold it for a minute and pass it around and get some open shot..." The Vikings also picked apart gaps in the Battlefield zone coverage, which allowed players like Maksanty and Bolander to attack the basket directly or be on the receiving ends of kick-back passes while they were in open territory. "I mean, most people shoot better closer to the basket, but we like to penetrate and dish. We did a good job in the third quarter. That was good. We did a good job penetrating," said Washington. Down the final stretch of the regular season, Battlefield could potentially end with a bang. Heritage (3-13) has struggled throughout the season, though the Pride beat BHS by eight points in Haymarket Jan. 5. A similar scenario played out three days later against second-place Loudoun Valley (12-5) when the Vikings prevailed prevailed by seven. In fact, Loudoun Valley rarely wins by margins more closely associated with district leader Stonewall Jackson, which has blown out all of its Cedar Run opponents by at least 33 points. Those games will also mark the last for the team's two seniors, Jones and Cordle. Both have already agreed with NCAA Division III schools to continue their basketball careers as Jones plans to attend Christopher Newport University and Cordle is signing on to Shenandoah University. Jones first started talking to CNU staffers during her sophomore year and after a few visits she said she felt like that was the place for her. "I think what go me noticed was my height," said the 6-foot center. She later added, "Most of the girls are from around here, so even though it's kind of far away, it's like a part of home and so we know, like, similar people and they're teams that I played, and even the coach is easy to talk to. It's not one of the coaches you're nervous around." Unlike a visit to another college where she said the school did not take her "under their wing," Cordle immediate fit in at the Winchester school. "I was up until 3 o'clock in the morning talking to one of their team (members). It was a lot of fun; we seemed to have a lot in common," said Cordle. Settling on colleges allows the two seniors to focus more on helping Battlefield close out the regular season and possibly enter the playoffs on a high note. "We're more relaxed," said Cordle "Since it's such a young team, we can help them get something from the ground up."
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