Girls hoops: Local coach hatches annual event

Lake Taylor statistician Mike Whittington had been getting an earful from his friends in the Richmond area.

"I had heard a lot from them about how the 757 was spoiled and always wanting other teams to come to us," he said. "So since I was from there, I started planning in March."

Whittington's brainchild was the inaugural StatVA Girls Basketball Invitational - a four-game showcase Saturday at Highland Springs High School in Richmond.

"We had great crowds all day long," said Whittington, who is an assistant football coach and teacher at Lake Taylor Middle School. "It was a good showcase of talent because all of the teams were in their own region tournament last year. And many of them were in the state field.

"I'm already working on next year's event."

The lone snag was a scheduled game that didn't happen - between Lake Taylor and Huguenot.

The Titans were warming up for the second game of the day but had no opponent.

Huguenot coach Bo Jones Jr. "was taken to the hospital that morning with chest pains," Whittington said. "He thought the assistant coach was going to handle things.

"Our girls and coach (Saundra) Sawyer took it pretty good. They were concerned and knew that these things sometimes happen."

Whittington said Jones is out of the hospital and doing fine.

In the games that were played, Princess Anne edged Cosby, 42-44, without guard Galaisha Goodhope - who has been out with the flu; Grassfield beat Robert E. Lee, 73-65, and Western Branch lost to Highland Springs, 82-49.

It's down to the wire in Southeastern district

It's an important week for Western Branch. With a little help from other teams, the Bruins could find themselves back in the title hunt.

Western Branch is in third place in the Southeastern District, three games behind King's Fork and two behind Grassfield.

Western Branch hosts the Grizzlies on Thursday, then travels to meet the Bulldogs on Friday.

"This is it... crunch time," Bruins coach Troy Terry said. "This week will determine our district. We could get back into a tie for first, but would need help. Our goal is to at least finish second in the district and get an automatic bid to region."

Western Branch had played seven games without sophomore Alexis McKay, who Terry said is capable of playing anywhere on the court.

McKay had 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five steals in her return to district play. She's averaging 15.7 points in seven games.