Lady Warriors advance to Semis, BR girls season ends

Elk Lake jumped out early in their opening matchup with league rival Mountain View and defeated the Lady Eagles for the third time 59-41 to advance to the semifinals.

Pressuring the ball and challenging every Mountain View shot Elk Lake held the Lady Eagles to five points in the opening quarter.

“We came out very aggressive defensively, we got some turnovers and converted them into points,” said Elk Lake Coach Kevin Tewksbury.

On the other end Krista Jones and Lilly Decker attacked the basket and Mercedes Zajackzkowski cleaned the glass as the Lady Warriors built a 21-5 lead.

“We forced up bad shots and didn’t run our offense well in the first quarter,” said Mountain View Coach Bill Simons. “Elk Lake put pressure on us and we had trouble handling it.”

Elk Lake kept the foot on the gas in the second quarter doubling up Mountain View 18-9 to take a commanding 39-14 lead into intermission.

In the third quarter Mountain View tightened up defensively but were not able to generate much more offense as the teams evened up 9-9 in the quarter.

With the game in hand and Elk Lake Coach Kevin Tewksbury utilitzed a large portion of his bench. Moutain View had its best quarter outscoring Elk Lake 18-11 for the final margin.

Jones and Decker led the way for Elk Lake each registering a double-double. Jones finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds to go along with five assists, and Decker scored 12 points and also snared 10 rebounds. Zajaczkowski chipped in 13 points.

Regan Cameron led Mountain View with 10 points while Jade Travis chipped in with eight, including a 6-6 effort from the free throw line.

Blue Ridge found out how much Holy Cross’s Kaci Kranson was eager to return to action as the Sophomore dropped 32 points and led the Lady Crusaders to an easy 58-11 win in a matchup of the two and seven seeds of the Class 2A girls’ bracket. 

Kranson who had sat out the previous two weeks after suffering a concussion scored 20 of her points in the first quarter.

Holy Cross overwhelmed Blue Ridge, who played without leading scorer Ashley Torres, with pressure and tenacity reeling off 32 unanswered points to start the game and led 35-2 after the opening quarter.

In the second quarter Holy Cross relented on the pressure and Coach Barry Fitzgerald went deep into his bench as Holy Cross outscored Blue Ridge 14-5.

Blue Ridge Coach Mike Courtright expressed how much his team progressed and persevered through a string of injuries during the year.

“Even with the injuries, we improved as the year went on and this will carry into next year for us if we stay committed in the offseason,” said Courtright. 

He also praised the leadership of his three Seniors Torres, Savannah Glover, and Christie Baldwin. 

“I can’t say enough about how our Senior leaders have set such a great example for our younger players,” added Courtright. “Both vocally and how they carry themselves day in and day out.”