GW girls stifled by Patrick Henry

ROANOKE — For nearly 11 1/2 minutes, all George Washington needed to fall was one basket. Just one shot to go down to gain confidence and maintain a working deficit with Patrick Henry.

Instead, the GW girls basketball team went scoreless for a stretch that included the entire second quarter as the third-seeded Eagles fell to the second-seeded Patriots 50-44 Wednesday night in the semifinals of the Western Valley District tournament.

The loss will lock the Eagles out of the Northwest Region tournament for the first time in 15 years.

“It was mainly the second quarter when we went scoreless — couldn’t get anything to go,” GW senior Jasmine Hairston said, who scored a team-high 17 points. “We played good defense, but just trying to get our shots to fall was our main problem.”

GW (16-7) held a 12-11 lead heading into the second quarter but was held scoreless over the last 2-plus minutes of the first to allow Patrick Henry (17-5) to catch back up.

The Eagles missed several layups and mid-range jumpers during the second quarter as the Patriots worked the ball inside to LaShe Walker. The Patriots’ center, who was hampered with foul trouble in both of Patrick Henry’s regular season wins over GW, was dominate early, scoring nine of her 17 points in the first half.

“We had opportunities and good shots and didn’t hit them,” GW coach Wayne Shelton said.

Lerisa Anderson scored nine points for the Eagles and Whitney White added eight, including a couple of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.

GW clawed back, using a pair of baskets by Hairston close the gap to 22-18 with a shade under 5 minutes left in the third. Patrick Henry responded with a 13-4 run, getting all but three points from Walker and Latoya Flint that saw the Patriots’ lead balloon to 35-22, the largest of the game.

“I think LaShe Walker stepped up for us and Latoya Flint hit some big baskets for us too,” Patrick Henry coach Torri Dunleavy said.

Flint finished with 12 points, and Sarah Williams and Kate Norbo each added nine.

After the Eagles cut the lead to 37-32 following a Hairston basket, the Patriots responded with a 7-0 run to widen the gap to 44-32. Patrick Henry shot 11-of-19 from the charity stripe in the final 2½ minutes of the game to seal the deal.

“It was a big win for us. At the end, I didn’t think the fourth quarter was going to end because they kept fouling us and I wasn’t real confident in our free throw shooting,” Dunleavy said. “Luckily, we were able to make enough free throws in the end.”

GW’s defense, which Dunleavy admitted wreaked havoc in the final few minutes, was able to force turnovers and start fastbreaks. However, as was like the second quarter, the shots just didn’t fall.

“In the last 3 minutes, we got five steals and didn’t convert,” Shelton said. “When you get turnovers late in the game and you’re behind and you get layups, you need to finish them.”