Westover sweeps Shaw at home

ALBANY — It was a scrappy contest between the Westover Patriots and the Shaw Raiders, but it was the Patriots that pulled together in the second half to get a 57-43 home win.

The game was a makeup, postponed from earlier this month when storms rolled through Albany and forced the cancellation of several events.

In their previous meeting, Shaw came out on top 68-46 and Westover head coach Dallis Smith said his team didn’t play well, particularly on defensive end.

“We didn’t play well down there, it was early in the year,” he said. “Defensively, we just gotta rotate, we gotta talk and we gotta play together. I told them if we can do that, we’ll have a pretty good season.”

The first half featured the Patriots trying to find their shooting rhythm. They managed just nine points in the second quarter. Kris Gardner was able to find his shot, scoring 11 of the team’s 23 first-half points. The Patriots went into the break leading 23-17.

Westover pushed the lead to double digits in the third quarter with Jamerea Grier’s jumper to make it 28-17 with 6:38 left in the period.

The Patriots were able to break down Shaw’s defense and find Montavious Richardson and Ikenine Ochie open under the basket. After back-to-back baskets by the duo off passes from Gardner and Grier, Westover led 36-18 with 4:15 left.

As the Raiders fought to get back into the game in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to 11 at one point, Westover continued to look for the inside baskets and it paid off. Smith said they were able to react to what the defense was giving them.

“They were running a box and one on Kris, so what we did was start overloading sides, flashing a man to the middle to turn around and penetrate,” he said. “Once that ball rotates, the defense rotates and we got it to the basket.”

While he was satisfied with his team’s ability to execute down the stretch, he said listening and fully buying into the system early in the game will be the key as they continue with region play.

Smith added that he likes where they are right now in their region. He said it’s going to take hard work to carry out their season goals.

Gardner was the high point man with 17, followed by Richardson with 12 and Grier with 11.

Westover girls 44, Shaw 40

Jasmine Jenkins came through in the clutch to lead Westover past Shaw.

Westover came out aggressive and got Shaw into foul trouble early. A pair of free throws by Jenkins in the second quarter gave the Lady Patriots a 24-14 lead. They went into the halftime break up 24-16.

Things took a turn for the worse for the Lady Patriots in the third as they went scoreless for seven minutes, allowing the Lady Raiders to cut the lead to one point. A 3-pointer by Shaw gave them a 33-32 lead with 5:38 left in the fourth.

Enter Jenkins.

She continued to keep the Westover’s offense afloat and her pull-up baseline jumper with three minutes left gave the Lady Patriots the lead.

From there, Jenkins and Kameron Shelly knocked down huge free throws to seal the victory.

Jenkins finished with a game-high 28 points.