High School Hoops Recap: Oak Hall girls basketball moves on to regional semifinals

Graphic: Cliff Tumetel

BY CLIFF TUMETEL

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Oak Hall Eagles girls basketball team defeated the Countryside Christian Minutemen Wednesday night, 45-28, in the Class 2A Region 1 State Tournament.  

Eagles soaring high

In the early moments of the first quarter, Countryside was able to get a 4-0 lead against Oak Hall, thanks to Madelyn Watson’s pair of free throws and Sam Keith’s layup. 

The Eagles responded back, with Sri Lanka Richardson leading the charge; she knocked down a pair of free throws to put her team on the board. That seemed to get her going, as she was able to grab a steal and go all the way for a layup to tie the game, 4-4.

The Eagles began to pick up on the defensive end, forcing a couple of turnovers; at one point Richardson blocked a shot and went coast-to-coast for a layup but drew a foul instead. She split the pair, and her team went up, 5-4.

Oak Hall’s Lunden Warmack decided to jump in, nailing a 3-pointer to put her team up 8-4 to end the first quarter. 

Minutemen cannot stop Eagles #23 

In the second quarter, the Eagles’ Mary Pizzurro nailed her own 3-pointer to get things started and extend the lead to 11-4.

Oak Hall was on a tear; after being down 4-0, they went on an 11-0 run, but Watson ended that and finally scored to stop it. The Minutemen’s Gabby Colon was able to score and put them closer at 13-8, but they had no answer for Richardson as she dazzled the crowd with her defense and offense prowess. 

Richardson pulled off a nice euro step layup, and just after that, she got another steal and scored again to extend the lead to 20-9. She also displayed her post moves, getting a nice hook shot in. Richardson scored 11 points in the second quarter. 

At the end of the second, Oak Hall was up, 24-11, and they held Countryside to only seven points in the quarter. 

Pushing until the end 

In the third quarter, Keith started things off by knocking down a shot and later drew contact to hit her free throws and slowly chip away at the lead.

Oak Hall’s Bella Dyrkolbotn responded by drawing fouls and punishing them down low; she scored all seven points for Oak Hall in the third. 

The game began to pick up again in the fourth as Countryside crashed on the boards and continued to draw fouls to get closer, but the lead was too much, and Oak Hall secured the win. 

Words from Head Coach Barry Hutchinson 

The last time these two teams played, it was for the district title, and Countryside got the win. For Head Coach Barry Hutchinson, the difference between this game and the last one was the energy.

“I think the loss against Countryside last week was like a wake-up call for them. They knew that they didn’t play their best, so they were really good at practice the last few days,” Hutchinson said. “They were ready to play, the fan support, the atmosphere was really big and good for them.”  

Sri Lanka Richardson led the way with 21 points in this game, and in Coach Hutchinson’s eyes, that started from her defense. 

“She’s been smart on defense–she got a lot of transition points that came from the defense. She took advantage of those opportunities,” Hutchinson said. 

The team now moves on to the regional semifinals, and Coach Hutchinson is confident this team can make a deep run. 

“We’re a stay-positive team, we galvanize together as a team, and we play for one another.”  

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