Hanover wins third meeting with Patrick Henry, this one in the playoffs

They know just one speed, and that speed is very, very fast.

Not out-of-control fast, mind you, not reckless-abandon fast, not throw-up-the-first-shot-you-see-and-hope-for-the-best fast, but fast with a definite purpose.

Monday night in the quarterfinal round of the Class 4B playoffs, the Hanover Hawks used their up tempo yet intentional style of play to defeat visiting Patrick Henry 68-52 and earn a home date in the semifinals Wednesday with Powhatan, which prevailed 58-50 over Chancellor. 

The Patriots (10-9) jumped out to a 19-12 lead after a quarter and held a slim 33-30 advantage at the half, then fell victim to the Hawks’ full-court, third-quarter blitz that sent them into the fourth ahead 52-38 and with no thought of slowing the pace until the final minutes when the outcome was a fait accompli.

“Patrick Henry’s a great team,” said Hanover coach Annie Hawthorne, whose squad split with PH in the regular season. “We know they’re going to give us their 100% all. 

“Playing a county team a third time is challenging, and we got in our heads a little bit, got a little bit nervous, and let them control the temp at the beginning. Luckily, we turned it around.”

In the first half, Hawthorne’s crew shot 11-for-29 against the visitors’ man-to-man and the Patriots 14-for-26 against Hanover’s 2-1-2 zone designed to neutralize post play and keep the ball on the perimeter.

Although the Hawks outrebounded Patrick Henry 20-16 and forced 12 turnovers while surrendering just seven in the first two quarters, they struggled to find the defensive consistency that created offensive opportunities and enabled them to achieve max speed and settle into their rhythm.

All that changed during the halftime hiatus.

“We made a couple of X’s and O’s adjustments,” Hawthorne said. “Mostly, it was trying to get them fired up and saying, ‘This could be it. This could be your last game. You have 16 more minutes left in your season. Whoever has more passion, more aggression, and more heart is going to win.’

“Luckily, (point guard) Marvah (Webster) had a heck of a game. Her heart and effort inspired everybody else.”

With Webster, a 5-5 junior, running the show, the Hawks (14-4) blew the game open with a 14-0 run in the first 4:30 of the third quarter.

Maddy McCarthy (17 points) began the barrage with a 3-pointer from the left corner at 7:10. C-Jay Bournes followed at 6:33 with a transition layup off a defensive rebound.

McCarthy struck again from behind the arc, this time from the left wing off a kick-out pass from Hanna Grace Daniel (11 points) at 5:54, which prompted the first PH timeout.

At 5:39, Webster, the linchpin in the Hawks’ 2-2-1 zone press, converted a steal at midcourt into a layup for a 40-33 lead.

At 5:15, Claire Rosenfeldt (13 points) converted another steal into a layup, drew a foul, and hit the and-one.

At 5:09, Webster (16 points) connected on 1-of-2 from the foul line, which prompted a second PH timeout at 4:12, after which McCarthy drained her third trey of the quarter at 3:30 for a 47-33 lead.

“They were putting good ball pressure on me,” said Webster. “I had to figure out how to get open and use my teammates as screens and find a way to put the ball into the basket.

“Against other teams, we experiment and see what works best for us. We just build off that. We see what works well, and we keep running it. If they stop that, we try something new.”

Cayleigh Perkins’ 3-pointer at 3:22 ended the Patriots’ scoring drought and gave them hope, but the Hawks had firm control of the momentum and had no thoughts of relinquishing it or reliving the disappointment of their loss to PH on January 23.

“We did a couple of quick looks to Maddy McCarthy at the beginning of the half,” Hawthorne said. “She didn’t have that many in the first half. Once we saw every single player get going, we just kept fighting.”

McCarthy opened the fourth quarter with yet another 3-pointer, this one from the left wing, for a 55-38 lead.

Payton Piercy (13 points) scored twice from close range to cut Patrick Henry’s deficit to 55-42 with six minutes remaining. McCarthy hit two free throws at 4:36, and Hailey Doolen (16 points) scored from the paint at 4:30 enabling the Patriots to close to 57-44, but they could get no closer.

The Hawks shot 21-for 45 (including 10-for-16 in the second half), limited the Patriots to 22-for-52, forced 20 turnovers and committed 15. Each team collected 27 rebounds. Hanover hit 19-of-30 free throws and Patrick Henry 3-of-4.

“We came together as a team and stopped worrying about everything else and just played Hanover basketball,” said Bournes, a 5-7 junior. “We’d put too much pressure on ourselves. When we let go of all that and play free, we play so much better.”