Golden Eagles girls complete three-game sweep of Bees

After ending Brookville’s four-year reign as Seminole District regular-season champions, Staunton River’s girls basketball team snapped the Bees’ string of district tournament titles at four with a dramatic 43-41 triumph Friday night in the first game of a girls-boys championship doubleheader in The Hive.

“It’s great. It’s awesome,” said Staunton River senior Kelly Jackson, who overcame an early-season injury and sickness that slowed her down this week to share team-high scoring honors with Jodi Salyer and Laquaksha Robinson with eight points. “It’s so exciting after losing four times last year to them to beat them all three this year. The other two went to overtime, but this was tougher emotionally.”

Playing on its home court, Brookville (19-4) took early command as point guard Emily Dunton sending a half-court pass to sophomore center Talisha Watts for an open banker that gave the Bees a 9-0 edge.

“At first, we handled their pressure well,” said Watts, who matched Katie Deacon with a team-high 12 points while Dunton added eight points and eight assists. “We started speeding up our game and it was harder to stay focused and play our game.”

Staunton River (20-3) didn’t score for the first seven minutes but cut the deficit to 12-8 by the end of the first quarter on a three-point play and layup by Shaniesha Robinson and a 3-point swish by Courtney Dearing.

“It was a great game,” said Staunton River coach Kim Jones, who was selected the Seminole District coach of the year. “For us to come out and start out down 0-9, that’s the heart our girls have had all year.

“Those were big because it got us going,” Jones said of Robinson’s scores. “She finally got us on the board and once she did, that finally broke the ice.”

Brookville coach Warner Dyke knew the Golden Eagles wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“We started the game very aggressively and scored on them early, but they’re a great team and we knew they were not going to quit,” Dyke said. “Once they finally got a basket, that picked up their intensity level and they got into a rhythm.”

Robinson’s older sister, Laquaksha, made two of the biggest defensive plays of the game, sneaking up from behind Deacon in the second quarter and Noelle Smith in the fourth to make two steals.

“Laquaksha is a phenomenal athlete,” Dyke said. “If she has a chance, she’s going to run you down and back-tap the ball and she did it twice tonight.”

“She’s fast,” Jones added. “When she has her mind set on it, she plays so hard on defense. I’m very proud of her.”

Dunton hit back-to-back pull-up jumpers from the top of the key to pull the Bees within 32-28 late in the third quarter before Deacon sank two huge 3-pointers in the fourth, the second giving Brookville a 36-33 lead.

But after Laquaksha Robinson was fouled underneath and hit two free throws, Dearing drilled her second 3-pointer from near Staunton River’s bench, lifting the Golden Eagles to a 38-36 advantage that they would not relinquish. After Jackson’s free throw extended their edge to 43-38 with 13.5 seconds to go, Brookville finally broke Staunton River’s press and Watts capped a break with a layup and a foul, completing the three-point play with 1.8 seconds left.

The Bees deflected the ensuing inbounds pass out of bounds and 0.9 seconds elapsed, leaving them without enough time to get off a potentially game-winning shot after Dunton recovered another deflected inbounds beyond the arc.

Staunton River, the top seed out of the Seminole in Region III, Division 4, will meet either Turner Ashby or Spotswood in next Friday’s semifinal round in Harrisonburg.

“We don’t know who we will be playing, but we know we’re going to give them a good game,” Jones said. “They just never quit.”

“We know we only have one game to win and we go to state,” Jackson added.

Brookville will play the winner of Tuesday’s first-round game between Lord Botetourt and Stuarts Draft in a Region III, Division 3 semifinal doubleheader next Friday at Stuarts Draft.

“We just have to regroup and get ready for regionals,” Watts said.