Girls basketball

From B1 though, pushing the ball down the floor and finding an open shooter waiting in the corner. That shooter, junior Megan Bunting, wouldn’t miss with the open opportunity, burying the triple as time expired and giving life to a team that minutes ago had looked lost after giving up their eightpoint lead.

In overtime, the Trojans took advantage of the momentum the buzzer-beater gifted them, stealing a 6863 victory over the Indians in what should be considered the most exciting game to be played on the Powhatan floor this season.

Midlothian’s win can largely be attributed to their consistently killer perimeter game that was set up by skip passes and decisive ball movement against Powhatan’s trap-heavy defense. Midlothian knocked down 13 3-pointers out of 23 field goals, with Bunting, Lexey Knoll and Danielle Marmo hitting three apiece.

Despite the result going in the opposition’s favor, Powhatan head coach of those spots occupied by Manchester athletes Allison Jones and Ellie Nuckols and the top spot taken by James River freshman Tia Neblett at 33-03.00.

On her senior day, Dickerson took fifth place with a throw of 26-11.

In the boys shot put, the senior Morris had a memorable senior day outing, placing second with a best throw of 39-11, which was behind a 40-8 performance from James River’s

Andrew Melton.

Steve Washburn said he was proud of the fight his team displayed to get back into the game as well as their composure in handling a game that wore on every player both physically and emotionally.

“I’ve coached for a long time, and one thing I know is the score doesn’t always define what type of effort you’ve gotten and our effort was extreme,” Washburn said. “We had some young players step up in some new situations and really provide us with a muchneeded lift. We never got down.”

One such young player was freshman Emily Gibbs, who was instrumental to the team’s late comeback. The up-and-coming guard put together a fantastic performance off the bench, pitching in 12 points and hitting the go-ahead bucket in the final minute with a highly-contested baseline jumper that saw the ball bank off the backboard and roll through the net.

“Emily has just progressed so far,” Washburn said. “For a ninth grader to step into that kind of situation and really handle the ball the way she did and shoot the ball the way she did really says a lot about

One of the best performers for the boys’ side of the track and field team was sophomore Torie Nash, who continued a season in which he’s consistently been among the top finishers in triple and long jump events with a second place triple jump and a seventh place long jump result at home. His triple jump result of 36-2.50 was just behind James River senior Matthew Don Weaver, who won with an im - her and how far she’s progressed since the season started.”

Powhatan was led by a great performance from senior Katherine Cerullo, who headed the team with 18 points and was the driving offensive force for the Indians girls basketball team in the first half with 11 points. Thanks to her scoring efforts, the Indians were able to take a 32-30 lead into the half. Cerullo’s layup with three seconds left off a steal from Samantha Flippo also gave the Indians their three-point lead before the buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

Sophomore Emma Terry gave Powhatan a big lift the first half alongside Cerullo, adding 11 of her 12 points including five points in a one-minute span early in the second quarter that saw her bury a corner 3-pointer and lift up a soft floater on a drive down the middle of the paint to give Powhatan an early 25-23 lead in the second quarter.

Junior Corynn Lampman also added 12 points and made some huge plays down the stretch despite being hampered by a leg injury in the fourth quarter. After taking a hard foul on a drive with 1:45 left in the pressive 41-foot leap.

On the track, juniors Grant Johnson and Justin Myers took home second and fourth place finishes in the 500-meter dash, with Johnson 1:13.19 result coming just behind top finisher Andrew Hathaway from Clover Hill (1.11:78). Myers’ 1:13.86 had him comfortably ahead of fifth place finisher Dylan Sandeford from Manchester (1:16.14).

The Indians also had a collectively strong finish in the fourth quarter, Lampman took a moment to recover and hit two much-needed free throws, helped force a jumpball the next possession on a half court trap with Flippo, and hit a huge baseline mid-range jumper with 1:03 left to keep it a one-point game.

Despite the late-game heroics from multiple players, the game came down to that one final play in the fourth quarter, which saw the Indians lose sight of one shooter in the left corner.

“We kind of got caught ball-watching a bit,” Washburn said. “We hadn’t really gone over those situations yet, I was a little concerned about fouling the jump shooter, and I think we got a little out of sorts and they found the right person. She hit a big shot; it was a really high-pressure shot. We just kind of got disoriented and two people went after the same person and left someone wide open.”

Powhatan can get back on the right track when it hosts Monacan for another important Dominion District matchup on Jan. 26. That game tips off at 7:15 p.m. robby Fletcher can be reached at rfletcher@ powhatantoday.com

1 600-meter run, with freshman Dylan Mapes leading the way with a third place finish in 4:55.51 followed by junior Tane Jeffs in fourth place (5:11.71), sophomore Caleb Edling in sixth place (5:15.11), sophomore Gionvanni Hernandez in seventh place (5:16.47) and junior Owen Kearns in 10th place (5:32.37).

Next up for Powhatan is a meet at St. Christopher’s indoor track against a field of seven other schools on Jan. 28.