ISLE OF WIGHT COURTHOUSE

Since January, the Isle of Wight Academy Lady Chargers have compiled a record of 8-4. With one more game to play in the season, which took place on Friday evening after deadline, the team (12-9 overall) has secured the third seed in the upcoming METRO Conference Tournament.

The first game will be on Thursday, Feb. 19, at 6 p.m., against sixth-seed StoneBridge. The tournament will be hosted at Atlantic Shores Academy, which is in Virginia Beach.

The Chargers swept the StoneBridge Lady Cavaliers (3-13) this season, 52-27 on Jan. 8, and 49-22 on Jan. 27.

“We’re working on the final points, our defense, and preparing for hopefully what we will face,” head coach Chris Hooper said. “We played StoneBridge twice and beat them, and we just need to make sure we do it again.”

Should they win, on Friday they will play the winner of the No. 2 Atlantic Shores and No. 7 Alliance Christian winner. The final, should they get that far, will be on Saturday. But Hooper said he wasn’t overlooking StoneBridge.

“We have to take care of Thursday night first,” he said.

In their most recent outing, on Wednesday, the Chargers came out strong against the Kenston Forest Kavaliers. The 30 points Isle of Wight scored in the first quarter was more than the Kavs would get all game in the 48-27 win.

Of Gabriella Hooper’s 18 points, 15 of them came in the first quarter. Hooper had much of the rest of the game off, as bench players were brought in to contribute. Off the bench, Abby Babb had seven points.

On Monday, the Chargers defeated the Lady Warriors of Tidewater Academy 53-43. Hooper connected from 3-point territory three times on the way to her game-leading 22 points.

The non-conference match was a game until about the third quarter, when the Warriors, who only go about six-players deep, couldn’t keep up.

On Feb. 6, the Chargers played a slow game against Broadwater Academy, in which the Vikings came away with a 31-29 win. Broadwater’s star Anna Sexauer, who averages 16 points a game, led both teams with exactly 16 points.

Hooper, who spent a lot of the game driving to the hoop, didn’t have a lot of success hitting the layups or free throws as she came away with an 8-point performance.

The Chargers, hosting the METRO JV tournament, will have that cut into their practice time a little. But coach Hooper said they will still get some time in.

“We’re working as hard as we can at the end of the season.”