VIS hoops: StoneBridge boys upset at home while Cavalier girls move on to semifinals

Posted to: High Schools

The Virginian-Pilot
© February 28, 2008

By DAN COOLEY Special to The Virginian-Pilot For the first time, StoneBridge played host for both the boys and girls quarterfinals in the state private school basketball tournament as the higher seeds.

The Cavaliers hoped that would propel both teams to advance to the state semifinals for the second straight year.

After game one, they were on track as the StoneBridge girls prevailed over Wakefield School, 62-44.

The StoneBridge boys appeared well on their way to a clean sweep, after jumping out to leads of 7-0 and 20-10 after the first quarter. However, Tidewater Academy rallied to spoil the party in a 50-46 barnburner in the nightcap.

Ryan Barbosa’s 11 first quarter points kicked-started the StoneBridge boys jumped out to the quick lead.

But Warriors head coach Walter Westbrook then employed a diamond-and-one defensive tactic, with four players playing zone and Jake Adams closely guarding Barbosa.

Casey Rickman also came out to double team Barbosa. The tactic worked, as Barbosa did not make a field goal the rest of the game. He scored just two more points, on two free throws late in the game.

“Adams and Rickmond just did a great job and the other kids in the zone did a great job, too,” Westbrook said after his team improved to 22-7. “I’m really proud of these guys because this is the fourth straight game they have fallen behind 7-0 or more at the start. But they’ve come back to win three of them.”

Tidewater closed to within four at the break, at 28-24. The Warriors then outscored StoneBridge 18-7 in the third, to take a 42-35 lead.

StoneBridge, however, then made a comeback, twice tying the game in the final two minutes.

Trailing 48-46 with 15 seconds left, the Cavaliers had a chance to tie the game again. But Barbosa then committed a turnover, when a teammate cut differently than he expected and he threw the ball out of bounds.

“We tried to get Barbosa the ball to isolate him and it didn’t work,” said StoneBridge coach Cal Woolard. “A lot of things didn’t work. They were the better team.”

Julius Thomas led the Cavaliers with 15 Barbosa added 13.

Curtis Pittman, with 17 and Casey Rickmond at 15, led the Warriors.

Tidewater advances to tomorrows state semifinals at Richard Bland College in Petersburg. StoneBridge bows out at 21-13.

In the girls game, Wakefield trailed by as much as 13 in the first half. But the Lady Fighting Owls managed a late run to close the gap to seven at the half, 31-24.

Cavaliers coach Barry Rowe, looking for a spark, decided to switch defenses from a full court zone press to a full court man to man.

“The girls were a little tight in the first half and we needed some energy,” Rowe said. “The defensive switch got us going.”

Wakefield went scoreless for the first six minutes of the third quarter and committed six turnovers on its first nine possessions. StoneBridge put together a 19-4 run in the quarter to take a commanding 50-28 lead after three periods.

Caitlyn Unsworth paced the Cavaliers with 17, while Sarah Tabb and Ashlea Foster added 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Lilly Withers led Wakefield (21-8) with 13 and Ashley Marchi added 10.

StoneBridge (28-2) advances to Friday’s semifinals at St. Paul VI School in Alexandria.