Westover Lady Patriots storm back to beat Monroe

ALBANY — It took some time for the Lady Patriots to get going on Tuesday night, but once they did, they were hard to stop.

Westover was down by at least eight points for most of the first half before they battled back to beat Monroe 49-40 in a key Region 1-AAAA game at Monroe High School.

The Lady Tornadoes went on a 12-3 run to open the game before closing the first quarter up 14-5.

Westover battled back in the second, outscoring Monroe 7-6. They trailed 20-12 at halftime.

Early on, Monroe was paced by Toddriannia Isler, who finished with eight points in the first half. She scored four points each in the first and second quarters. She finished with 18 points.

The Lady Patriots started the comeback in the third quarter, battling back before cutting the lead to just one. They used an eight-point quarter from Bryshea Jackson to trim their deficit to 28-27 at the end of the third.

Jackson finished as the game’s leading scorer with 21 points, 17 of which came in the second half.

The Lady Patriots outscored Monroe 15-8 in the fourth quarter.

“It was a game that we had to have,” Westover coach Lewis Smith said. “It is the second matchup, but it is the one that counted. We were able to come over here in a hostile environment and pull off a win.”

Monroe struggled to get anything going in the third quarter, scoring just eight points. It was the second time in the game they scored single digits in a quarter.

The Lady Tornadoes struggled to score when Westover began to press in the second half.

Westover took a 29-28 lead on a Jackson basket to open the fourth before Monroe briefly regained it.

Two consecutive 3-pointers by Nyla Perry gave the Lady Patriots the spark they needed.

“She has been the girl that has ignited our offense all year,” Smith said. “If you can keep her in check, then you can keep us in check. When she got a chance to knock down a couple of those, it gave us some breathing room. It got the crowd into it. We had a couple of defensive stops. Everything just kind of generates off of her knocking down those threes.”

Perry finished the game with 10 points.

Monroe received 12 points from Lynsey Washington.

This is the second time the two have met this year. Monroe won the first meeting that was played at Darton State College.

Monroe boys 63, Westover boys 40

Monroe jumped out to an early 15-4 lead in the first quarter and took a 30-20 lead into the half.

The Patriots struggled to get anything going offensively for the first half before coming out strong in the second half.

Westover went up early in the third quarter, but Monroe regained the lead and never looked back.

“I thought our guys played really well,” Marquis Davis said. “We had a little breakdown in the third quarter. They were able to answer the test. It is always tough to play an in-town rival.”

A monstrous dunk by Napoleon Harris capped the game and put a bow on the victory.