RICHMOND - Had her parents not moved from Henry County to Spotsylvania County before she was born, Jessica Hairston would have likely been on the court for Bassett on Tuesday night.

Instead, the senior forward for Courtland scored 24 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to help eliminate the Bengals 64-53 in the semifinals of the Group AA, Division 4 girls basketball tournament at the Siegel Center.

"Don't tell me that now," said Bassett coach Melissa Blair. "I did not know that. That would have been nice."

Nice indeed. Hairston, the younger sister of Duke's Josh Hairston, took over the game after the Bengals had assumed a 19-18 edge a minute and a half into the second quarter.

Hairston scored Courtland's final 13 points before halftime to give the Cougars a 34-21 cushion at the break. Nine of those points came on back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers as the senior was four of five from behind the arc.

The 5-10 swing player opened the second half with another triple to put the Cougars (28-3) ahead 37-21. Hairston added six blocked shots and two steals before fouling out with 3:21 left.

"She's just a phenomenal basketball player," said Blair. "We knew coming in that she could shoot from outside and she could drive. She's just so strong. Their guards are big and strong. We haven't faced many people of that size this year at all.

"You don't bring your post player out to guard her, then you get beat off the drive. It was tough."

Hairston, who is heading to Tusculum College in the fall, got plenty of help from Janae McNeal, an Army signee who had 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Imani Fennell (16 points), another senior.

"We've never really been a team just to depend on two people," said Hairston. "We have a lot of people who can do everything on the team. Imani knows and Melody [Buckley] knows when I'm not in the groove, they need to step up."

Hairston attributed her outburst in the second period to the way Bassett was playing defense.

"I couldn't tell you what it was. They were leaving that elbow shot open, and I knocked the first one down. Open again and knocked down the second one. Third time, open again, so I keep shooting."

The Bengals (18-5), playing in their first state semifinal since winning the Group AA title in 2000, made a run at Courtland in the third quarter, cutting their deficit to 39-32 midway through the period. But four free throws by Hairston and a three-point play by Fennell put the Cougars back in command.

Andrea Venable was the only Bengals' player in double figures with 16 points. Kirsten Seay added nine, all in the second half.

Bassett was manhandled on the boards 57-37, as the Cougars had almost as many offensive rebounds (31) as the Bengals had total boards. Bassett was also terrible at the foul line, missing 13 of 23 freebies (43 percent) and hitting only three of 11 from 3-point range.

"Offensive boards was a big difference," Blair said. "Second shots. We try to preach about that. Don't let them get a second shot. It's something we need to work on.

"We've had a great season. Our girls went out and played 32 minutes of hard basketball. They played their guts out. You can't ask for anything more. Courtland's ranked No. 1 [in the state] for a reason and they showed it tonight."

COURTLAND (28-3)

McNeal 6-15 5-9 11, Demps 0-7 2-6 2, Bradley 0-2 1-2 1, J.Hairston 7-18 6-8 24, Fennell 4-18 7-9 16, Stokes 0-1 0-0 0, Buckley 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 19-65 21-34 57.

BASSETT (18-5)

K.Barbour 4-8 0-2 8, S.Venable 2-7 3-10 8, A.Venable 7-14 2-5 16, Martin 1-2 1-2 3, Seay 3-9 2-2 9, Manns-Massey 1-4 2-2 4, Gravely 0-1 0-0 0, A.Barbour 0-0 0-0 0, Turner 2-4 0-0 5, Hubbard 0-1 0-0 0, M.Hairston 0-1 0-0 0, Scales 0-1 0-0 0, Wyatt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-52 10-23 37.

Courtland 18 16 14 16-64

Bassett 12 9 15 17-53

3-point goals - Courtland 5-11 (J.Hairston 4-5, Fennell 1-1, Stokes 0-1, Demps 0-2, Bradley 0-2), Bassett 3-11 (S.Venable 1-1, Seay 1-3, Turner 1-3, Hubbard 0-1, A.Venable 0-3). Rebounds - Courtland 57 (J.Hairston 17), Bassett 37 (A.Venable 8). Assists - Courtland 7 (Fennell 3), Bassett 4 (S.Venable, A.Venable, Seay, Hubbard). Total fouls - Courtland 19, Bassett 24. Fouled out - J.Hairston.

Weather Journal

11 hours ago