Defense propels Stafford to win
Stafford raced to a 29-4 halftime lead with suffocating halfcourt man-to-man defense and went on to blow out the visiting Yellow Jackets 58-24 in the Indians’ season home-opener.
It was a dramatic turnaround from the first contest between the two in which the Indians squeaked out a 62-58 win at OP on Dec. 11.
Megan Vrabel had 13 points and 10 rebounds, Lara Meyer had nine points and seven rebounds and Hannah Taylor added eight points, six rebounds, four steals and a blocked shot for the Indians (6-0).
For the game, Stafford had 11 steals.
“I can’t say enough about our team defense tonight,” said Stafford coach Rick Butler. “If somebody got beat, somebody else picked them up….We just lived in their shorts.”
n HYLTON 65, BROOKE POINT 20: The Bulldogs had no trouble keeping their record unblemished with an easy win over non-district foe Brooke Point.
Hylton limited Brooke Point to just eight points in the first half, and seven field goals for the game. Hylton’s Jennifer Rhodan tallied a game-high 15 points, while teammate Jasmine Byrd added 13 for the Bulldogs (4-0).
BOYS basketball
n Gar-field 63, NORTH STAFFORD 43: The Indians improved to 4-1 with a non-district victory over the host Wolverines.
Michael Askew had 24 points and Greg Tekampe added 12 for the Indians, who led 35-23 at halftime and kept a comfortable double-digit lead throughout the second half.
Gar-Field guard Ryan Smith added seven points and five assists and Demetrius Howard had 10 points and seven rebounds. The Indians host O’Connell Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
n BROOKE POINT 61, Hylton 57: Tim Pedersen had 15 points and hit all six of his free throws attempts to help hold off the visiting Bulldogs (0-1).
Pedersen, who also had three steals and three assists, converted on four straight free throws in the final minute to help break a 51-51 tie. Teammate Pierce Madison came off bench to score 14 points for the Black-Hawks (3-1), who hit 15 of 22 for the game.
Ahmad Brooks had 17 points for Hylton, who hit just 11 of 23 free throws.
MONDAY’S LATE GAMES
GIRLS BASKETBALL
n HYLTON 61, CULPEPER 32: Jasmine Byrd had 18 points and Jennifer Rhodan added 12 points and four rebounds as the Bulldogs (3-0) smashed the Blue Devils in a Monday night non-district game.
Tanisha Brown added eight rebounds for Hylton, which led 27-16 at halftime.
n EMMANUEL CHRISTIAN 61, FREDERICKSBURG CHRISTIAN 47: Megan Gibson scored 24 points, had four assists and grabbed five rebounds in the Flames’ Delaney Athletic Conference win on Monday night.
Teammate Sara Hendry added 15 points for Emmanuel, which led 28-19 at halftime.
BOYS BASKETBALL
n EMMANUEL CHRISTIAN 97, FREDERICKSBURG ACADEMY 48: After taking a 48-32 halftime lead, the Flames rolled in the second half to crush Fredericksburg Academy in a Monday night DAC contest.
Emmanuel’s Steve Guaglianone led all scorers with 29 points. Guaglianone got help from Anthony Mills (16 points) Mike Young (13) and Ken Clark (12).
Fredericksburg Academy’s Larry Weber had 28 points. Justin Jackson added 11. Emmanuel improved to 7-3 overall and 6-2 in the Delaney Athletic Conference. Fredericksburg dropped to 1-5 on the season.