Saturday afternoon’s Group 4A girls state semifinal at the Salem Civic Center offered some contrasting action for the sizable contingency on hand.
At times it was on-the-edge-of-your-seat physical play with let-em-play action. At other times fans would have been best served with a book and pillow.
When the dust (and elbows) settled, William Fleming came away with the hard-fought 38-32 win over Woodrow Wilson of Portsmouth to advance to Thursday’s state final.
The Lady Colonels will take on Lake Taylor at 6:30 at the VCU Siegel Center in Richmond where Fleming will shoot for its first girls state basketball championship in program history.
The Colonels should be battle-tested after surviving Saturday’s game in which 38 combined fouls were called. That, despite Woodrow Wilson holding the ball at mid court for the final 4 minutes of the second quarter in what set up as a sideline showdown between Fleming head coach Champ Hubbard and his President counterpart, Roger Smith, over Wilson’s intent to make Fleming come out of its zone defense.
“That was a message for the coach,” Hubbard said afterward. “They’re not going to tell me what to play.”
The Presidents had plenty of other problems to contend with other than the Fleming D.
They continually missed from point-blank range in the paint, shooting 23.6 % from the field for the game. Add to that 3-for-14 from the free throw line and being out rebounded 48-33, and it was a recipe for defeat. Smith didn’t mince words afterward.
“I told our girls when you play far away from home, the referees favor the home team,” Smith noted. “It was physical at both ends, but we couldn’t get a score and fouls weren’t called. We should have won the game. We turned the ball over, missed free throws, missed layups. You just can’t do that in a game like this.”
Fleming rode the shooting of junior Gracie Doane to pull out to a 13-10 lead after one quarter. Doane had 11 of her team-high 13 points in the opening frame including 3 drains from behind-the-arc.
“When she hit the first 3-pointer, I told her to keep shooting,” Hubbard said. “She was on fire and we needed every bit of it, no doubt.”
“I consider myself a shooter,” the 5’10” Doane said. “I got some confidence when the first one went down and kept shooting.”
The two teams were tied at 18 at the halftime break and 24-all after three quarters.
Wilson took a 30-27 lead on Taura Jones’ basket midway through the final frame in what would be the Presidents final field goal of the contest. Fleming senior Keashe Lee put the Colonels ahead for good at 32-30 when she scored, drew the harm and converted the old-fashion 3-point play.
The Colonels closed the deal when Courtney Martin hit from the charity stripe, Lee netted three more from the line and Desiree Keeling added two more in the double-bonus to make it a three possession game in the final minute.Keeling finished with 10 points for the Colonels.
Mariak Coker had a game-high 15 points for Wilson, with Tomarrah Harris adding 10 for the Presidents.
“This gives us a chance to go to Richmond,” a smiling Hubbard added. “Even if we win by 1/2 point, I’ll take a victory.”
Bill Turner
