|
|
Breven Lyons scored 18 in his final high school game and the Raiders played with a ton of heart in a 58-47 loss to Bethel. Warwick ends the season with an 8-15 record. Congrats and good luck to seniors Devon Asbury, LJ Carney, Melvin Hazleton, Breven Lyons, Jelani Saunders, Doryan Soto, Donnell Staton, and Daniel Wray!
-With a 57-47 win over Kecoughtan on Thursday night, Warwick's boys basketball team locked up the 7th seed in the Peninsula District tournament. Warwick (8-14, 6-12 PD) was led by Devon Asbury, who scored 19 points in the win. The Raiders will now play Bethel on Tuesday (02/15) at 7:15pm at Bethel High School; Bethel won the previous two matchups by 13 and 2 points.
-The Lady Raiders, led by 16 points from LaQuanda Younger, beat Kecoughtan 56-29 on Thursday night and earned the 2nd seed in the Peninsula District tournament. Warwick (19-3, 15-3) hosts 7th-place Denbigh on Monday (02/14) at 7:15pm; Warwick won the previous two matchups by 24 and 22 points.
The entire PD tournament schedule can be viewed here.
-Although it comes as no surprise, BIG congratulations to the Lady Raiders' LaQuanda Younger (19.5ppg) for being named the Peninsula District Player of the Year tonight. This is Younger's second POY honor and 3rd straight year being on the All-District first team. Thanks to Coach Starks for the correction.
BIG congratulations also go to senior Breven Lyons for being named to the boys' first team. Lyons is averaging 13.9ppg and has scored in double figures in all but 5 of the Raiders' 21 games so far.
Dave Johnson's story about the picks can be found here. A Johnson article about the playoff picture with one game remaining is here.
Please come out to support the Raiders and Lady Raiders in their final home games of the year tomorrow night against Kecoughtan.
-The boys basketball team lost a close one to Bethel on Tuesday night, but remains in 7th place in the PD standings. The Raiders (7-14, 5-12 PD) lost 46-44 and were led by 16 points from Breven Lyons and 14 from Devon Asbury.
-The girls basketball team beat Bethel 68-33 behind 16 points from Ashley Cunningham. The Lady Raiders (18-3, 14-3 PD) are still in a 3-way tie for 2nd place with one game remaining.
Dave Johnson wrote another article on LaQuanda Younger that can be found here.
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.
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.
-Jonquay Byrd might be the spark that Warwick needs. In his first game of the year, Byrd scored 28 as the Raiders (5-13, 3-11 PD) beat Gloucester 54-51. Byrd's 28 are the most scored by a Warwick player this year.
-LaQuanda Younger scored 16, Tenisha Williams scored 15, and Jaelynn Pearson scored 10 as Warwick beat Gloucester 56-32 on Friday night. The Lady Raiders (15-3, 11-3 PD) were without 3rd-leading scorer Doneisha Eley.
-Myles Spivey, Javon Walker, Darius Williams, and Desmond Fogg teamed to run 8:23.55 in the 4x800 at the Virginia Tech High School Invitational on Friday night. That time was good enough for 7th place and qualified the relay team for the Eastern Region Championships. Freshman Ian Barrett ran a District-qualifying time of 37.53 in the 300m on Saturday.
-The girls swimming team took 3rd place at the Peninsula District Championships on Saturday at Midtown. Caitlin Shipman won the 100 breast in a Regional-qualifying time of 1:13.82. Caroline Cirillo was the other individual winner for the Raiders, winning the 100 back in 1:04.21.
-The boys swimming team finished in 5th place at the Peninsula District Championships. Individual winners were Andrew Gurley in the 200 IM in 2:03.80 and Brad Hancock in the 500 free in 5:04.65.
After a slow sports week because of semester exams, a number of Warwick teams are back in action this weekend.
I'll be blogging from Blacksburg on Friday and Saturday; 11 athletes from the indoor track team will be competing in the Virginia Tech Invitational.
The boys and girls basketball teams host Gloucester on Friday night. In their last meeting back in December, the boys lost 61-55 despite 24 points from Breven Lyons and a season-high 14 from LJ Carney. Since that game, the Raiders have lost 9 of 11 and 5 straight. The ladies beat Gloucester 57-18 to kick off an 11-game winning streak. The Lady Raiders have won 11 of 13 since that December 14th matchup.
In possibly the biggest event of the weekend, the boys and girls swimming teams will be competing at the Peninsula District Championships on Saturday at Midtown Community Center. The meet begins at 9am.
Best of luck to all Raiders athletes competing this weekend!
Recent Comments