Staunton River’s press shuts down JF girls

Playing on the road in the Seminole District is never easy.

Factor in the emotions that accompany Senior Night and the task becomes doubly difficult.

Despite the numerous roadblocks that the Staunton River Golden Eagles (18-3) faced, they hurdled all of them on their way to a 38-31 victory over Jefferson Forest, putting the finishing touches on a 12-0 district record in the process.

Five Cavaliers bid farewell to the home crowd Monday — Renae Brooks, Tiffany Neff, Cammie Crawn, Jessie Quarles and Mandi Dix. The emotions that accompanied the pregame ceremony may have had something to do with a bizarre first half that saw the Cavaliers (10-10, 6-6 Seminol) score just two field goals and commit nine turnovers.

“Anytime you have senior night, the emotions are going to be there … but it seemed to me when the tip went up, the girls put aside those emotions and really played hard,” coach Paul Redgate said.

The Golden Eagles’ Laquaksha Robinson hit an early layup for the first points of the game which the Cavaliers followed with two straight turnovers. Two possessions later, Neff was unable to handle a Dix pass underneath to add to the mounting Cavalier turnover total. Becca Fath hit a deep jumper at the end of the quarter to keep it close, but Forest had already committed five turnovers by that point.

“The entire first half, the pressure of Staunton River really got to us,” Redgate said.

Despite the sloppy play, Staunton River only led by a bucket after the first period. However, a prolonged JF scoring drought allowed the Golden Eagles to maintain a lead that the Cavaliers did not cut into until Rachel McKeague scored just over three minutes before halftime, their second and final field goal of the half.

“I was very proud for holding them to two field goals,” Staunton River coach Kim Jones said.

Despite the lackluster shooting, JF stayed close thanks to repeated trips to the foul line, where they shot more than twice the total of Staunton River. The Cavaliers finished the night 14-for-21 from the line compared to just 4-for-9 for the Golden Eagles.

Forest found itself within striking distance entering the second half, down just 14-8, a number that Redgate tried to use to motivate his team.

“I told the girls, ‘Yeah, we’re down 14-8, we haven’t played our best basketball, but look at it. You’re only down two possessions,’” Redgate said.

However, the shooting woes that plagued them in the first half continued after Dix aired a jump shot to open the third quarter. Brooks tried to keep JF close, hitting four free-throws in the third quarter. Brooks finished with six points and eight rebounds, but her four third-quarter points were not enough to prevent the Golden Eagles from outscoring JF 14-6 in the quarter. Down 26-14, the Cavaliers did cut the lead to nine twice in the fourth, but that was as close as they got.

“We have had so many close games … they always keep their head, they keep their cool, they keep playing hard and they just don’t panic,” Jones said.

The Robinson sisters led the way for the Golden Eagles as they have so often this year. Laquaksha scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Shaniesha netted 10 points and pulled down five rebounds. Dix paced the Cavaliers with nine points.