MIDDLEBURG - Middleburg High girls basketball got a standout performance from guard Mar’riah Davis to offset the high-scoring potential of Washington High’s Janelle Jones (22 points per …
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MIDDLEBURG - Middleburg High girls basketball got a standout performance from guard Mar’riah Davis to offset the high-scoring potential of Washington High’s Janelle Jones (22 points per game) as the Lady Broncos won their region 1-5A quarterfinal 49-37 Thursday night at Middleburg High School.
In other region contests, Orange Park lost to Pine Forest 59-42 and St. Johns Country Day School lost to Countryside Christian 41-30 a second time in a week to end both school’s seasons.
“My teammates have been working with me over the past two years to improve my ballhandling and leadership skills because a night like this would be coming,” said Davis who scored just seven points, but had back-to-back steals to layups in the fourth quarter that turned the momentum of the game. “We got that defensive trap (with teammate Sam Hardison) that disrupted their bringing the ball up, Sam got the ball, I broke and she got me the pass for a layup.”
Middleburg (19-6) will host Tallahassee Rickards (12-12) in the region semifinal on Tues., Feb. 18.
“I looked a lot of film mainly to see how their top scorer operated and then devised a strategy of new defenses to try and disrupt their offense,” said Middleburg High coach Michael Hayward. “I know they saw our film so I wanted to have a few surprises to slow them down.”
Middleburg opened fast in the first period with a 12-8 surge off quick jumpers from Davis and Autumn Vineyard as senior guard Britany Range opened up on defense of Washington’s Jones who was unable to crash into the lane where Middleburg High center Skylar Baltezegar awaited her.
“We knew Skylar would dominate in the paint with her size and recent play,” said Hayward. “I knew they would try and get her to foul out, but she stayed on her feet and took a few charges that slowed down the Washington offense.”
Twice, Baltezegar threw scoring passes from outside the three point stripe with Range hitting a three and Range slicing in for a layup. Range finished as top scorer with 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
“She is such a great passer from up top and had to draw out the Washington defense,” said Hayward. “She made some great passes and the girls finished. We had had games where we missed those layups, but tonight was better.”
Middleburg stayed on point through the second quarter as Washington could not string out any offense momentum because of Baltezegar’s inside prowess. Baltezegar finished with 17 points, 16 rebounds. two blocked shot and three assists on the night.
Washington closed to within three, 17-14, at the half, but a sweet step move layup by Davis scored the game 21-14 at the end of a 5-0 Broncos run opened the second half.
“We wanted to come out as fast in the third period just to not take the foot off the gas pedal and let them get closer,” said Hayward.
Now switching from a man-to-man defense to a zone, Hayward kept the Washington scorers outside and unable to hit open three pointers.
“The percentages were in our favor if they kept throwing up three points,” said Hayward. “We kind of wanted to see if they would hit any, but they were not and the zone is a little easier on us to be ready to run in the fourth.”
Prophetic as Hayward was, Washington surged to get as close as 21-20 with 5:37 left in the third, but layups from Baltezegar and Davis and a charge called on a drive against Baltezegar restored Middleburg’s five point gap with Range taking a feed from Baltezegar to get the game to 27-20.
A Davis feed to Range got a 31-22 gap for the Lady Broncos who surged to the win as Jones eventually fouled out.