Chesapeake JV Girls Beat Northeast, Eye County Final Berth

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Chesapeake’s JV girls basketball team improved to 7-3 overall with a 35-30 win over Northeast at Chesapeake High School on January 17.

Sam Larkin led the Cougars with 10 points, Sydney Reeves had 8, AJ Duprey had 6 and Kaitlyn Young scored 5.

Natalie Forman, Maeya Devin-Tremble and Emma Habercorn contributed baskets for the Cougars, who were able to stave off a Northeast rally in the second half to close the victory.

Alyssa Kreuger, Reggan Shoemaker, Taylor Bartz, Luray Ciril and Emilee Leonee contributed to Chesapeake’s winning effort.

View high-resolution prints and downloads of photos in this gallery. Photos by Colin Murphy

The Cougars built a double-digit lead in the first half. In one sequence, Duprey used a behind-the-back crossover at the top of the key to lose her defender. She passed to Kreuger on the left wing, and Kreuger made a dribble-attack move on the catch. With two defenders rotating to stop her, Kreuger threaded a perfect sidearm bounce pass through the defense to Young, cutting backdoor, for an easy layup.

Dee Colbert led Northeast with 10 points, while Kenzie Daniels and Megan Meek scored 6 apiece for the Eagles. Caitlyn Cornwell, Megan Heptner and Tremain Green added points for the Eagles. Northeast took advantage of turnovers and missed free throws to make a run in the second half before ultimately coming up short.

Young said the Cougars encouraged each other to maintain intensity when Northeast made its comeback attempt.

“We all know that our entire team is going to pick it up and play their hardest with the effort level,” Young said. “Especially when it comes to Northeast, we’re not losing. So we’re going to pick it up and do everything we can to bring the lead back.”

Reeves scored 6 of her 8 points in the first quarter when Chesapeake’s offense was flowing smoothly.

“It’s all about my teammates,” said Reeves. “For me to score, I have to be open, and that means somebody else did something for me. So as long as I can lean on them, I can do what I need to do and they can do what they need to do. We all work together to score.”

The stakes were high for the Cougars. The victory moved Chesapeake (7-3) up to third place in the county standings at 5-2 in county play, behind Glen Burnie (7-0) and Broadneck (6-1). If Chesapeake can beat Broadneck on January 22, the Cougars will leapfrog the Bruins to get into position for a berth in the county championship game.

Head coach Shane Smythe and assistant coach Tracy Yeager said the Cougars didn’t play their best game against Northeast, but they’ve got a strong squad that can confidently compete, whoever the opponent.

“We’ve been in every single game this year. We’ve had a tough run our last three, but then tonight it wasn’t the way we envisioned it. We’ll regroup and pick each other up. We’re a little family down here. We’ll march forward,” said Smythe. “We’ve been saying all season, we have a great group of girls. As long as we execute, we can run with anybody.”

View high-resolution prints and downloads of photos in this gallery. Photos by Colin Murphy

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