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The Raiders (7-13, 5-11 PD) held on to defeat Denbigh on Friday night behind 17 points from Breven Lyons, including a key free throw on Warwick's last possession. With Denbigh's 3OT loss to Woodside in today's game, the Raiders have a one-game lead over the Patriots for the 8th and final playoff spot. Warwick is tied with Gloucester and would have the 7th seed if the two teams were tied at the end of the regular season.
The Daily Press' Dave Johnson did a much more eloquent job than I did at summing up the craziness that is the PD girls' basketball race right now. His story can be found here.
With 3 regular season games left before the District tournaments, I thought it would be good to take a look at the playoff pictures for the boys and girls teams.
-Coach Moore's boys are currently tied with Gloucester for the 8th and final spot and are a half-game behind Denbigh for 7th. Warwick has games against Denbigh, Bethel (away), and Kecoughtan left. Denbigh has Warwick, Woodside (makeup game), Phoebus, and Gloucester. Gloucester has Heritage, Woodside, and Denbigh. My predictions? Denbigh goes 0-4, Gloucester goes 3-0, and Warwick takes the final tournament spot. The home game against Denbigh on Friday night is a must-win for the Raiders.
-Coach Starks' Lady Raiders are in a tight race near the top of the PD standings. The girls are currently in a 3-way tie for 2nd (with Hampton and Heritage) and a half-game out of 1st place (Woodside). My predictions for how the season plays out are listed below.
Warwick has Denbigh, Bethel, and Kecoughtan left, so they should go 3-0 and end the regular season 19-3, 15-3 PD. Hampton should also win out (Phoebus, Kecoughtan, and Menchville left) and finish 15-3 in the District. Woodside and Heritage are the two teams that are going to make matters even more complicated. Woodside has 4 games left; 3 of them (Kecoughtan, Denbigh, and Gloucester) should be easy wins. Heritage has 3 games left; 2 of them (Gloucester and Menchville) should be easy wins.
That brings us to Thursday, February 10th. At 5:30pm at Woodside High School, what looks to be the deciding game of the PD regular season will begin. In the first meeting between these two teams, Heritage won 35-34.
If Woodside wins the second matchup, the Wolverines will presumably be 16-2 and the top seed in the tournament; Heritage would fall to 14-4 and be the 4th seed, Warwick would be the 2nd seed, and Hampton would be 3rd (by virtue of the preseason tiebreak draw). If Woodside loses to Heritage, there will be 4 teams at 15-3 and the situation gets nasty. Consider: Warwick beat Heritage twice, Woodside beat Warwick twice, and Heritage (in this situation) beat Woodside twice. There's also Hampton, which split the series against Heritage, Woodside, and Warwick.
All 4 teams would have a 3-3 record against the other teams in that scenario, at which case the seedings for the tournament would come down to the preseason tiebreak draw according to Dave Johnson at the Daily Press.
In that situation, Warwick would get the 1 seed, Heritage 2, Hampton 3, and Woodside 4.
Everything apparently clicked for the Raiders on Tuesday night at Heritage. Warwick (6-13, 4-11 PD) scored a season-high 74 points (almost 25 higher than their season average) and were led by 18 from Devon Asbury and 16 from Donnell Staton. The victory moved the Raiders into a tie with Gloucester for the 8th and final tournament spot with 3 games remaining.
Dave Johnson's headline reads: "Warwick girls smoke Heritage 62-41." I can't say it any better than that, so click here to go to Johnson's article. The Lady Raiders (16-3, 12-3 PD) are in a 3-way tie for 2nd place in the PD, a half-game behind District-leading Woodside.
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