Friday, March 12, 2010
Champs top Chilhowie
Krystal Patton scores 26 points but the Warriors can't withstand a George Mason rally.
varsity.roanoke.com
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RICHMOND -- There was no doubt who the defending champ was.
After taking quite a fright from upstart Chilhowie, George Mason's girls are going back to the VHSL Group A Division 2 final after a 54-42 victory Thursday in a semifinal at the Siegel Center.
The Warriors (20-9) led by six with a little over five minutes left, but the Mustangs closed with a flourish to shatter the challenger's hopes.
Mason (22-2) next takes on Lancaster, a 62-53 double-overtime winner over Lee High, in a 3 p.m. Saturday final at the Siegel Center.
It's abundantly clear, George Mason would prefer to avoid a similar matchup with a player the caliber of Chilhowie's Krystal Patton. Playing in her last high school game, the 5-foot-5 guard gave it everything she had while scoring a game-high 26 points to go with six rebounds, four steals, two blocks and 10 turnovers, all in the maximum 32 minutes.
A Lenoir-Rhyne signee, Patton scored 13 points in each half despite the defensive net growing ever tighter as the game went on.
"Wow," Mason coach LaBryan Thomas said. "Patton is a heck of a young lady. She gave us fits. We tried double-teaming her. At one point, we even triple-teamed her. She took all our focus defensive-wise."
After Patton feathered in a shot from the lane with 11.3 seconds left in the second quarter, it was Krystal 13, Mason 11, the halftime spread.
"I think because I'd been here before, I wasn't really nervous about being out there on the floor," said Patton, whose team was a 2008 semifinalist. "And I just gave it my all, pretty much."
Her all was a load. She scored eight of her team's 13 field goals, sank nine of the team's 14 made free throws, and claimed four of its six steals. Patton was the only player on either team to be on the floor the entire time.
"She's probably the greatest player I'll ever play with," said post Elizabeth Harris, one of the Warriors' six seniors.
Patton had one more remarkable feat. In the first 2:55 of the third quarter, she collected her first, second, and third fouls. She never had another one.
"I didn't even think about it," she said.
"I definitely thought about it," Chilhowie coach Mark Halsey said. "A lot of times we've had to keep her on the floor with several fouls. It's one of those things, a good player adjusts and makes those adjustments to keep herself where she needs to be.
"Risks you take with no fouls is different than those you take with three or four."
Although they never in a basketball lifetime could do without her, the Warriors were far from a one-girl team. Post Heather Hash collected a game-high 14 rebounds and made all five of her foul shots. Harris made some big shots as the Warriors were building that 36-30 fourth-quarter lead. Lauren Jones stroked one of the team's two triples (Patton, who else, had the other), giving the Warriors a 16-11 lead 1:31 into the second half.
Still, the numbers were stark. Patton scored 10 more points than the rest of her teammates combined.
George Mason, which beat Floyd County 53-46 in last year's final, had five double-figure scorers. Bria Platenburg had 10 of her 12 after the break; Lauren Kane, a sophomore, had nine of her 11 after halftime, five in the fourth quarter. Senior Nicole Mitchell had a tough night shooting (3-for-11) but finished with 11 points and six rebounds.
"I think you guys got your money's worth tonight," Thomas said. "It was a great game. ... As I told the girls at halftime, a champion always shows its true colors under adversity."
GEORGE MASON (22-2)
Platenburg 6-12 0-2 12, Roth 0-2 0-0 0, L. Kane 4-9 2-4 11, Thomas 0-5 4-8 4, Mitchell 3-11 4-4 11, Kelly 0-1 0-0 0, Johansen 0-1 0-0 0, Cheney 2-5 12-14 16, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, K. Kane 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-47 22-32 54
CHILHOWIE (20-9)
Coe 0-2 0-0 0, Mooney 0-0 0-2 0, Patton 8-20 9-11 26, Harris 3-7 0-2 6, Hash 0-7 5-5 5, Jones 1-7 0-0 3, Pennington 1-2 0-0 2, Fields 0-0 0-0 0, May 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-45 14-20 42
George Mason 7 4 16 27--54
Chilhowie 7 6 13 16--42
3-point goals -- George Mason 2-11 (Mitchell 1-6, L. Kane 1-3, Johansen 0-1, Cheney 0-1), Chilhowie -- 2-8 (Patton 1-2, Jones 1-4, Coe 0-2).Total fouls -- George Mason 17, Chilhowie 21. Fouled out -- Hash. Rebounds -- George Mason 36 (Cheney 8), Chilhowie 37 (Hash 14).
