Martinsville Bulletin - Chris Doherty is a sports writer for the Martinsville Bulletin.
RICHMOND – After two straight losses last week at the Region 3A West tournament at Brookville, Magna Vista had to get back to playing their game for four quarters. Wednesday afternoon at the Siegel Center at VCU, the Lady Warriors looked like their old selves and ran away late to beat the top-seeded team from 3A East, Hopewell, 50-33.
“It was a good basketball team we played,” Magna Vista head coach Vicky Hayes said. “I thought it was a total team effort and I’m proud of my kids. We talked a lot about refocusing and getting back to who we were as a team and I thought one-through-nine we did that and played well.”
Last week, the Lady Warriors struggled with giving up offensive rebounds and second-chance points. Wednesday it was Magna Vista attacking the offensive rebounds and scoring second-chance points. Moriah Hairston scored five points in the opening few minutes and buckets from Taisha DeShazo and Kayla Cabiness got Magna Vista out to a quick 10-0 lead.
“Getting that lead is a good thing, probably, for your psyche,” Hayes said.
The lead got up to 12-1, but Hopewell ended the first quarter on an 8-4 run to cut the lead to 16-9 after the first quarter.
Four quick points early in the second quarter from Hopewell cut the Magna Vista lead to 18-13, but a Cabiness 3-pointer started a 7-0 run to get the lead to double figures, 25-13. Hopewell ended the half on a 4-0 run and the Lady Warriors led 25-17 at the half.
“Once they make their run, we have to get a stop,” Hayes said.
That’s exactly what they did in the second half when Magna Vista never allowed Hopewell to get any closer than seven points.
Leading 35-27 early in the fourth quarter, DeShazo scored eight straight points to push the lead to 43-27 with under 2:30 to go.
Hairston led the way with 18 points, DeShazo scored 13 and Cabiness scored 10.
“We know that if we can get all three of these girls scoring at the same time that’s been probably our biggest hurdle,” Hayes said. “To have all three of them scoring on the same night is a big lift for our basketball team.”
Hairston had a team-high eight rebounds and also had three steals.
“I always say that people underestimate her a lot,” Hayes said of Hairston. “She does a lot of things for this team… When we need somebody to be strong on the ball, we put her there. When we need somebody to guard the other team’s first or second player, we put her on them.
“Now, I think either she’s made up her mind or we actually convinced her that she needed to actually pick up some of the scoring load as well. She did a great job tonight. I thought she was under control when she went to the basket, I thought she took really good shots and I thought she rebounded well.”
Kelsea Moyer returned to the starting lineup back at 100 percent after dealing with an illness last week. Her presence changed the defensive dynamic and the Lady Warriors held Hopewell to just 36 percent shooting from the field.
“I think the proof is in the outcome of the game,” Hayes said of Moyer’s impact. “She played great. Kelsea is our best on-ball defender and actually she did a lot of really good things on offense too.”
Moyer finished with seven points and seven assists.
Hayes said the team was able to get back to playing the defense they did throughout most of the season and that played a big role in being able to keep Hopewell at bay.
“Our game plan was to use the defenses that have gotten us here and that was our 1-3-1 trapping defense and then go to the full-court (pressure defense) if we need to. I think our half-court (defense) is just as good as anyone’s,” Hayes said.
The win makes it three in the Siegel Center in the past two years. That experience seemed to give Magna Vista the advantage over a Hopewell team that didn’t have the same experience.
“To me, I think experience plays a lot. We have been here before, we know how to do things and we know how to fight for it,” DeShazo said.
The win pushes Magna Vista through to the Group 3A semifinals on Friday afternoon. The Lady Warriors will play at 3:30 p.m. against Hidden Valley after the Titans defeated Tabb 57-54.
Magna Vista 50, Hopewell 33
MVHS – 16 9 7 18 – 50
HSH – 9 8 8 8 – 33
Magna Vista scorers: Moriah Hairston 18, Taisha DeShazo 13, Kayla Cabiness 10, Kelsea Moyer 7, Chelsea Moyer 2.
Hopewell scorers: Tyah Hunter 12, Daijah Jefferson 10, Tyjana Simmons 9, Kamisha Doby 2
