The Bay Rivers District girls basketball tournament semifinals were two very different stories Thursday night.
While top-seeded Grafton had no trouble with No. 5 Lafayette in beating the Rams 96-39 at home, it took a fourth-quarter rally and hard-nosed defensive effort for No. 2 Poquoson to overcome No. 6 Tabb, 40-34, on the Islanders’ home court.
No. 1 Grafton 96 No. 5 Lafayette 39
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Girls Final
No. 1 Grafton vs. No. 2 Poquoson, Saturday, 7 p.m., Grafton High
Girls 3rd place Consolation
No. 5 Lafayette vs. No. 6 Tabb, Friday, 6 p.m., Lafayette High
Boys Final
No. 1 Grafton vs. No. 2 Bruton, Friday, 7 p.m., Grafton High
Boys 3rd place Consolation
Tabb 77 Warhill 68
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You may have to check NBA scoreboards to find a team scoring more points than Grafton’s girls of late.
The Clippers’ 96-39 rout of visiting Lafayette in Thursday’s district-tournament semifinals marked the third consecutive game in which Grafton scored 95 points or higher.
“If we had made our free throws it really could have been interesting,” Clippers coach Tommy Bayse said of his team’s 13-28 mark from the charity stripe, the only downside of his team’s performance. “We’ve really been shooting the ball well lately and hit 11 3’s tonight.
“The offense has been clicking the last four or five games. We’re coming around at the right time.”
As a team, Grafton shot 53 percent from the floor and a respectable 46 percent from 3-point range. Individually, no one had a hotter hand than point guard Emily Beyer, who netted a team-high 26 points on 11-15 shooting from the field, including 4-5 from beyond the arc, to go along with five assists.
“Emily was lights out,” Bayse added of Beyer, who was one of five Clippers to score in double figures. “She’s really coming into her own and looking for her shot. It seemed like everything she threw up went in tonight.”
Lafayette hung close early, and neither side had trouble putting the ball in the hoop as Grafton led 30-17 after the opening quarter.
The Clippers (22-2) stretched their lead 52-27 at the half, and put the game away in the third quarter by outscoring the Rams (10-12) 28-3 in the period to take a commanding 80-30 lead heading into the final eight minutes.
Grafton’s four other scorers to reach double figures were Olivia Wilson (18 points), who added a double-double with 11 rebounds, Hayley Marshall (16 points), Christa Hall (13 points), who also pulled down seven rebounds, and Hannah Olson (10 points), who added eight rebounds, six assists and five steals.
The Clippers advance to their third-straight district tournament final with the win, and will host No. 2 Poquoson at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Grafton High. No. 5 Lafayette will host No. 6 in the consolation game at 6 p.m. Friday.
“Beating a good team three times in a row is always difficult, and they have a lot of players that can shoot the ball, so it’s going to be tough,” Bayse said.
BOYS
Third-Place Consolation Game
No. 4 Tabb 77 No. 3 Warhill 68
What a difference 24 hours makes.
Following its worst offensive outing of the season Wednesday night in a 58-40 semifinal loss at Grafton, in which Tabb scored just eight points in the first half, the Tigers followed with perhaps their best offensive performance of the season a day later to beat Warhill 77-68 Thursday in the third-place consolation game of the Bay Rivers District boys basketball tournament.
Tabb (14-11) jumped out to a 43-27 lead at halftime and held off a strong second-half push from the host Lions, who were led by Elden Tyler’s 22 points.
The Tigers’ explosive scoring tandem of Kaleb Mitchell and Daniel Schiele, who together were held to just 15 points in Wednesday’s loss, combined for 44 of Tabb’s points on Thursday. Mitchell led the way with a game-high 24 points and Schiele added 20. Terrell Sheffey also continued his strong play with 18.
Brandon Pugh chipped in with 16 points for the Lions and Marcus Brooks added 10. Leading scorers Devonte Dedmon and Jacary Crew combined to score 14 in the loss.
“Tabb just took it to us tonight,” Warhill coach Justin Hayes said. “They outplayed us and kicked our butts.”
The 77 points scored were a season-high for the Tigers, who will likely visit Warhill again next Tuesday in the opening round of the Region I Division 4 tournament. A loss by Caroline in the Battlefield District tournament could bump Tabb up to fifth in Division 4, thus setting up a first-round matchup at No. 4 Courtland. Warhill would then play host to Caroline.
