Colonels' girls allow Chargers to control tempo

WILLIAMSBURG — Surry County earned its first trip to the Group A, Division 1, Final Four in Richmond with a 60-48 victory over Altavista in Saturday’s state quarterfinal at William & Mary’s Kaplan Arena.

The Chargers (20-4) came out firing a flurry of jump shots, opening a 14-5 lead on Britney Johnson’s 15-foot swish from the right wing on transition and ReaChaun Edwards’ long two-pointer from the left wing off a cross-court, inbounds assist from Whitney Johnson.

“We just like to push the ball and expose a team’s weaknesses and capitalize off of that,” said Britney Johnson, who had 16 points and nine rebounds.

“Use our speed to our advantage,” added Edwards, who scored a game-high 22 points with five assists and four steals.

Senior center Chelsea Stephens, who led Altavista (18-8) with 17 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots, converted a putback of a 3-point miss by Carrie Cox to make it 14-10. Stephens later started a fast break off a defensive rebound, showcasing her ball-handling ability before sending an outlet pass to Cox. She banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key in the final second of the first quarter, cutting the Chargers’ lead to 18-15.

After Stephens’ turnaround banker pulled the Colonels back within 20-17 early in the second quarter, Britney Johnson started an 8-0 Chargers run by hitting a driving one-hander from the right wing and stealing the ball from Cox and going in for a left-handed layup.

Edwards finished the first-half scoring by sinking a running banker on transition and swishing a 15-foot jumper from the right wing two seconds before halftime for a 35-23 edge.

“That was our game plan,” Surry second-year coach Maze Toomer said. “That’s how we pretty much played all year. We have a lot of speed on the team, so that’s to our advantage to get out and run.”

“We did not have an answer for (Edwards) defensively,” Altavista coach Debra Spencer added.

Surry County outscored Altavista 16-0 on fast-break opportunities in the first half, when it shot twice as accurately from the floor (56 to 28 percent).

“Early in the game and throughout the game, we got shots that we wanted,” Spencer said. “We got shots in the paint. We got some pretty good looks, but we didn’t make them from the free throw line (and) we didn’t have any baskets in transition in the first half.”

Surry pulled away in the second and third quarters, outscoring Altavista 37-14.

“They were beating us in the paint, they were beating us in transition and that hurt us,” Spencer said. “Missing some of those (open shots) allowed them to get out on transition and we didn’t stop the ball well enough.

“Give Surry credit,” she added. “They did what they do and they did it very well. They made shots, they scored in transition, they beat us to the basket, so their penetration was tough to stop. They were able to dictate their tempo and score those easy baskets, and we didn’t.”

Edwards and Britney Johnson combined to shoot 16-for-25 (64 percent) for the game.

Turnovers plagued the Colonels, especially in the second and third quarters. For the game, they only committed two more than the Chargers (27-25), but most of Surry’s came in the fourth quarter, when Altavista went on a 15-2 run against mostly reserves, sparked by Jessica Myers (12 points, four steals).

“Their turnovers came late, ours came early and often,” Spencer said.

“They had some good runs, but I think we fought back and did the best we could,” Myers added.