Six IWA basketball players named to All-Metro teams

Published 3:29 pm Monday, February 25, 2019

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James J. Lidington

ISLE OF WIGHT

Six Isle of Wight Academy basketball players were named to their respective All-Metro teams at the conclusion of conference tournament play on Saturday.

IWA players Lauren Jones, Madison Rountree, Lily Williams and Mackenzie Wooten were named to the girls all-conference team; boys players William Fricke and Grant Worthy also made all-conference.

The Lady Chargers will host Fredericksburg Christian on Tuesday in their Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division II Tournament opener.

The winner will play No. 1-seeded Highland School in Warrenton on Wednesday. Game times will be announced later. Admission in the first and quarterfinal rounds is $5, $10 for subsequent rounds.

IWA lost to Atlantic Shores 47-28 on Saturday in the championship of the Metro Conference Varsity girls basketball tournament.

The division’s top 12 schools qualify for the tournament. The top four schools earn a bye in the first round; the bottom four schools travel to the middle four teams for first-round matchups.

After first round games on Thursday at IWA, IWA overcame Denbigh Baptist 49-37 to advance to the Metro Conference tournament final.

Top-seeded Shores didn’t even need to take the court to advance; its opponent, Broadwater Academy, was decimated by injury and illness in their tournament opener and could not field a team.

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The IWA boys varsity squad wrapped up its season on Thursday with a 63-50 loss to Hampton Christian in a tournament quarterfinal at Atlantic Shores.

IWA (14-12, 9-5 Metro) was led by Worthy’s 15 points; Tre Powell and Fricke each added 12.

IWA held an 18-11 advantage in the second quarter after reeling off 10 consecutive points. They also led 26-22 just before halftime. But on both occasions, the Warriors had an answer.

Hampton finally surged ahead for good with 7 straight points in just under 90 seconds in the third quarter, seizing a 42-33 lead with 40 seconds left in the period.

The Warriors put together another run in the fourth quarter, a 9-2 affair that game the 5th-seeded club a 51-38 lead over the fourth-seeded Chargers.

Worthy finished the season among the conference’s leading scorers. In 23 games this season, he scored 347 points — including the 1,000th of his career — averaging 15.1 points per game.

The Chargers’ Russ Wells was the team’s second-leading scorer with 10.2 points per game.

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The IWA JV boys squad concluded a 15-8 campaign with a 41-29 loss to Atlantic Shores on Feb. 19, in the Metro tournament championship at host site Williamsburg Christian.

All seven Chargers’ players who scored finished in double figures.

IWA moved into the tournament final with a 65-62 win over Broadwater in their semifinal meeting.

Eighth-grader Payton Shipman finished that game with 16 points. Trent Holland had 13 and Hunter Wooten had 10.

JAMES J. LIDINGTON is a teacher at Isle of Wight Academy. He can be reached at 357-3866.