Goochland’s Lady Bulldogs had a tough couple of match-ups last week as they participated in the 11th Annual E. Dale Travis Invitational Tournament at Trinity Episcopal School. 

  On Thursday, the young Bulldog team suffered a 29-54 loss against Hampton Roads Academy. 

  “It was going our way in the first half,” said Goochland head coach Sarah Nicholson.  “We had every opportunity to win.”

  Nicholson’s girls went on to face the Steward School Spartans in Saturday’s consolidation round. 

  The Spartans started off strong, scoring the first three-point field goal of the game within the first few minutes of play.  Steward’s defense performed strong but the Bulldogs were able to come through as sophomore guard Carrie Mills cut into the lead with a free throw. 

  Goochland freshman Amara Ezell put four more points up with back-to-back field goals.

  On the game, Ezell along with Steward’s Emily Friend scored a game-high 12 points each, nearly half of their team’s totals.

  Going into the second period tied at eight, Goochland took the lead early.  Junior Morgan Thompson helped the Bulldogs take a four-point lead with two successful free throws. 

  After missed layups from the Spartan team, Thompson went on to score again and pushed Goochland ahead 16-8. 

  With a minute and half to play, Steward put the ball through the net to add two points to their score, but Goochland’s Chelsea Pavona answered and the Bulldogs led 18-10 at the half.

  In the third, Steward gained on Goochland’s lead.  The Spartans added two to the board, but Julie Remmers could not come up with two free throws to add to that total. 

  Although Pavona’s free throw added one point to Goochland’s lead, the Spartans scored twice more before the end of the quarter to trim the margin to 19-16.

  In order for the Bulldogs to secure their first win of the tournament and season, they needed to hold on to the lead by holding off the defensively strong Spartans. 

  Early in the final quarter, though, Steward scored their second three-point shot to tie the game. 

  While Goochland missed two free throws, Steward did not and moved ahead 21-19. But Ezell scored two for the Bulldogs and sophomore Tiffany Epps, added her first two-points of the game. 

  Holding a 25-21 lead with less than five minutes to play, Goochland discovered that Steward was not finished yet. The Spartans quickly closed in on Goochland’s lead with a free throw and a three-point shot. 

  In the tense concluding minutes of the consolidation game, both teams scored and the fans watched nervously as the Spartans’ free throw tied the game at 27-27 with a minute to play. 
  Time prevented Goochland from a comeback and Steward’s Friend went on to help her team win the game with a final score of 28-27. 

  Coach Nicholson was at loss for words to describe the game.  “It was disappointing,” she said to sum up her thoughts.

  The Bulldogs will use this performance as they head into next week’s practices. 

  “We need to work on shooting layups, rebounds, passing,” Nicholson said.  “You name it, we work on it, and we will continue to work on it.”

  The 0-4 Lady Bulldogs will look for their first win of the season as they prepare for upcoming games against Collegiate and Powhatan. 

GOOCHLAND (0-2) Jackson 0, A. Robinson 0, Epps 2, Pavona 5, Mills 3, Winston 0, Thompson 5, Ezell 12. Totals 9 9-18 27.
STEWARD (2-2) Edwards 0, Friend 12, Roe 0, Tharp 3, Oliff 1, Adams 3, Sauers 0, Bradshaw 0, Scott 0, Remmers 9, Menges 0. Totals 9 7-20 28.
Goochland….......... 8 10 1 8 — 27
Steward…............... 8 2 6 12 — 28
3-point goals: S — Remmers 2, Friend.
Highlights: G — Amara Ezell 12 points. S — Emily Friend 12 points, Veronica Tharp 7 rebounds.