The Mathews High School varsity girls’ basketball team got a strong start to the 2014-2015 season, winning its first two games. The MHS Lady Devils defeated Northumberland in last Thursday’s home opener and beat the Lancaster Red Devils the following night.
The Mathews girls did suffer a setback on Monday, losing on the road to Rappahannock, 43-38.
Mathews struggled to get on the scoreboard at the start of last Thursday’s season opener, scoring only two points in the first quarter against the visiting Indians. But the Devils soon picked up the pace and added 12 more in the second quarter on the way to a 34-30 victory.
Senior Taylor South scored three 3-pointers in the second quarter to spark the Devils’ offense. Other top scorers for Mathews included Casey Kelly (six points), Savanna Wooten (five points) and Maria Spadaccini (four points).
On Friday night, the MHS girls traveled up to Lancaster and the two teams battled into overtime with Mathews eventually prevailing, 53-48.
Spadaccini had the hot hand for Mathews with 11 points, followed by Wooten (nine points), Hunter Thomas (six) and Madison Owens (four), among other scorers.
Mathews came up short on Monday against the home-standing Rappahannock Raiders, 43-38. Leading scorers for the Lady Devils included Kai McCann (10 points), Wooten (seven points), Madison Owens (five points) and Thomas and Spadaccini (four points each).
JV Devils
The junior varsity Lady Devils, meanwhile, kicked off the season with three wins, beginning with an impressive 26-4 victory over Northumberland. Jolie Ewell scored two 3-pointers and Hallie Duncan scored a total of 10 points in the win. Kate Respess scored four points and Kenzie Tunstall and Yolanda Fells each scored two.
The winning streak continued on Friday night against Lancaster, with the JV girls winning another lopsided game, 34-18. Duncan was the top scorer for Mathews with 19 points, with Respess (nine points) and Fells (five points) providing the rest of the scoring.
The JV girls faced their toughest test of the season on Monday against Rappahannock. But the MHS girls held on to win the intense battle, 33-29. Respess was the top scorer (10 points), while Ewell and Fells were right behind with eight points each. Tunstall scored three points, Duncan ended the night with two and Emily Carmine and Sarah Brown chipped in one point each.
The varsity Lady Devils were scheduled to host Gloucester last night. On Friday, the JV and varsity teams will travel to Northumberland, with the JV game starting at 6 o’clock.