By Cain Madden/Managing Editor
cain.madden@tidewaternews.com

WAKEFIELD
The Isle of Wight Academy Lady Chargers started out December with a 20-point road win when they beat the Tidewater Academy Lady Warriors on Tuesday 54-34.

Head Coach Chris Hooper said the game plan was basic since they did not know a whole lot about Tidewater Academy. TA did not field a varsity team this past season.

“We went in working on our main focuses of trying to work on defense and meshing as a team,” Hooper said. “We did a pretty good job with that.”

The teams started out with a 7-7 draw going into the second quarter, but he said the Lady Chargers soon picked up the defensive attack. IWA limited the Lady Warriors to 2 points, while scoring 18.

From that pressure, during the second quarter and the beginning of the third quarter, they were able to get some steals and score more points on fast breaks.

After they built a cushion, later in the third quarter Hooper cleared the bench to give everyone a chance to play.

Gabriella Hooper, who is averaging around 15 points a game, achieved her season-high to this point with 22 points. She also had seven steals.

Carson Saunders contributed six points, eight rebounds and two assists out of the post.

On Tuesday, they played Denbigh Baptist at home and bested them 55-28 in the team’s first Metropolitan Conference game.

Hooper said they knew they had a size advantage against Denbigh, so they tried to center their game around the post.

Working the post, Denbigh switched up their defensive coverage and that enabled Brooke Olsavicky to get open for several jump shots. Shooting within the three-point line, Olsavicky made nine of her 11 attempts, scoring 18 points.

Robertson, in the post, added 12 points and had seven rebounds. Gabriella Hooper had 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

McKenzie Terry, filling in for an injured starter, contributed four steals, which helped on fast breaks, Hooper said.

“It was a good team performance,” he said, adding that IWA shot 52 percent from the field. “The girls moved the ball well. I liked what they were doing — they were really able to find each other. They were displaying good vision on the court that night, finding the open person.”

On Tuesday, the Lady Chargers, 4-1 overall and 1-0 in conference, will face Atlantic Shores in another Metro game.