The Supreme Court typically makes decisions with nine judges in the court.
Friday night, the John Marshall Justices girls basketball team only brought six to the court at the Salem Civic Center.
It quickly became an unanimous decision for the Hidden Valley girls team.
Taking advantage of a deplete John Marshall squad that was reduced by injury to five players midway through the second half, Hidden Valley rolled to the easy 74-45 win in the VHSL 3A quarterfinal.
“I was surprised,” Hidden Valley senior Hailey Singleton said after the blowout win. “We were stretching and I kept thinking they must have more players still coming out. I had no idea what was going on.”
Once things started it looked like John Marshall may only need six. The Lady Justices ran out to a quick 12-5 lead before Hidden Valley called time out and rapidly began to right the ship.
“In the first 3 1/2 minutes we played their game,” Singleton noted. “We switched some things and kept pushing the ball. We’re a running team and knew it would pay off.”
“We started slow, but with only six players we wanted to run ’em to death,” Hidden Valley sophomore Jordyn Sadler said. “By halftime, we felt like we had things under control.”
Despite the slow start, Hidden Valley had closed to 14-13 by the end of the first quarter. Singleton hit from behind-the-arc to start the second quarter, giving the Titans the 16-14 lead, and the onslaught was on.
Junior Drew Freeland hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second quarter and the Lady Titans cruised into the halftime break up 36-21.
By the end of the third quarter, Hidden Valley had pushed its lead to 56-33. The Titans were up 63-33 with six minutes left, and led 74-42 before the Justices finished the scoring on a late trey.
John Marshall head coach Travis Richardson admitted playing with only six players was an insurmountable challenge against a team like Hidden Valley.
“It was tough,” Richardson noted. “Things just didn’t go right for us this week. We had some players injured and others who couldn’t participate for let’s say, other reasons. It reached the point tonight where we were just outmanned. I’m proud of the way my girls played hard. We had a couple players out there who have turned this program around.”
“I never feel comfortable until the clock hits :00,” Hidden Valley head coach Randy Bush said. “Slow start, then we began to push the ball more. We upped the pressure to get then out of sync. I’m glad we got the win and stayed somewhat healthy. Give John Marshall credit, they came to play.”
Drew Freeland had a team-high 20 points, including a trio of treys, for Hidden Valley. Singleton netted 19, with Senia Garay adding 10 points for the Titans. Sadler canned 9.
Seniors Dajouniek Wingfield and Naterria Luster combined for 39 of John Marshall’s 45 points, scoring 22 and 17, respectfully.
Bill Turner
