By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
The student body was still on its holiday break on Jan. 3, but the student basketball athletes were on the court. The Fluco girls team with a 7-2 record hosted the 8-4 Albemarle High Patriots team in a battle of two of the top teams in the area.
It was a low scoring battle throughout, with the Patriots jumping to an early lead and managing to hold on to it. At the end of the first quarter, the Patriots were up by only three. The score was 14-11. They stretched their lead to five at halftime for a score of 24-19. The Fluco girls have been scoring quite a bit more than 19 points in the first half of late, but this was a defensive struggle. In the third quarter, the Flucos managed to outscore the Patriots, but only by two points. The Flucos won the quarter 11-9 to cut the Patriots’ lead back to three, 33-30. As the game wound down in the fourth quarter, the Flucos were unable to close the gap and the Patriots ended up with a seven-point win.
The Flucos were led in scoring by senior guard Nevaeh Ivory and by junior post player Khyariah Davis-Heinrich who both had ten points. Ivory also had two assists. Coach Chad White noted that he felt Davis Hienrich did a good job on the inside and he praised the play of sophomore post player Emma Russ who he said had a solid game as she posted five points, six rebounds and two steals. Point guard Jules Shepherd, who always surprises with more rebounds than expected of a point guard, had five rebounds against the Patriots.
Albemarle High is a Class 5 school, while Fluvanna is a Class 3 school, so the Flucos were playing up two classes (i.e. against a school with significantly more students to draw from.) In addition, Coach White noted that the Patriots were coming off a couple of good wins in a holiday tournament.
In an unusual Saturday game, the Flucos played an unusual opponent on Sat. Jan 5, taking on Charlottesville private school, St. Annes’-Belfield at Western Albemarle High. On Jan. 8, the schedule calls for Coach White’s team to travel to Waynesboro High. On Jan. 10 they will host the Black Knights from Charlottesville High. On Jan. 15, the girls host Western Albemarle High and then in a third consecutive home game against a Jefferson District opponent, they will take on Louisa County on Jan. 17.
