Not a lot has gone wrong for Davis this season. The Darts sit as one of two teams in the state that remain undefeated and are beating teams by an average of 22 points a night.
However, Davis faced its biggest challenge so far this season as it defended home against Mountain Ridge in a narrow 56-53 home win.
Darts’ Kendra Kitchen has had a standout season, which comes as no surprise as Kitchen hit the 1000 career points mark last month and received 2022-23 6A first team recognition.
So, the Sentinels knew they had to limit Kitchen’s impact.
Mountain Ridge’s plan was to glue a defender to Kitchen and double team the guards on the perimeter. Davis struggled to navigate the defense and was held to 20 first half points and scored only four points in the second quarter.
“Mountain Ridge had a really good press so it was hard for us in the beginning, but then finally we found our groove,” said Darts’ sophomore T’maea Eteuati. Eteuati led in scoring with a season high of 21 points.
Davis was on fire out of the half. The Darts handled the ball better and had better passes to find open looks on the perimeter. At the end of the third quarter Davis had scored 23 points with five 3-pointers and led 43-31.
Eteuati provided a much-needed lift with 11 points in the quarter while sinking three 3-pointers.
“We found out how to break the press and how to get all our teammates involved,” said Eteuati. “Our teammates were hitting shots on the outside, so it made them have to pull out of the press and not just focus on one or two players.”
While the Mountain Ridge defense continued to limit Kitchen’s scoring, it gave her teammates the space make adjustments and hit shots.
“You know Kendra is just an awesome player and teams are going to try to stop her and they’re going to do anything they can defensively,” said Davis head coach Anne Jones. “I knew they were going to throw something at us, and I thought we handled it well. They were in and out of it, so we just had to make some adjustments and I thought they made some adjustments well.”
Davis never allowed Mountain Ridge to take back the lead in the second half, but a late surge from the Sentinels made things scary for the Darts.
Davis led 55-47 with 14 seconds left, but a 3-pointer from Kallee Olson and a layup with the foul from Kya Newton brought things within 56-53.
A heave at the buzzer for Mountain Ridge was wide and Davis held onto its unbeaten 11-0 record.
The Darts are only a season removed from their first state semifinal appearance since 2007 and hope to win its first girls basketball state championship since 1976, a 47-year drought.
“I know me and all of the girls, we want it so bad,” said Eteuati. “We want it this year. We’re trying to work hard, and I feel like we work very well under pressure and we’re all here for each other. We’re all pieces of the puzzle and we all fit together.