The Narrows girls lost to J.I. Burton 49-33 in the state quarterfinals held at Virginia High last Saturday.

While the team held the undefeated J.I. Burton team in check the first half, ultimately it was Narrows’ lack of offense that did them in.

"We just weren’t in attack mode, we played on our heels a little bit," assistant coach Bryan Pruett said. "You do that against a bad team your going to get hurt, you do that against a good team you are constantly climbing up a hill."

The first quarter was slow offensively for both teams, J.I. Burton scored six of their eight points from three pointers, and Narrows scored four points with Alicia Weatherly scoring two and Savanna Burton and Katasha Davis each adding a free throw shot.

Burton committed two fouls in the first quarter, which prompted head coach Wayne Gautier to sit her on the bench the rest of the half.

Though they had lost the inside presence of Burton, Narrows began the second quarter with two scores by Katasha Davis and Spencer Lindsey to tie the game at eight.

Then several fouls were committed by Narrows players which allowed J.I. Burton to pull ahead six more points to make the score 14-8.

Andi Guynn then added a bucket to give the Green Wave girls ten points. J.I. Burton then added four more to their total to make the halftime score 18-10.

This was a positive for the Green Wave team, as they were only down eight against the unbeaten 26-0 team entering the third quarter. They had also shutdown the inside presence for J.I. Burton, Ra’Shelle Miller.

"We were kind of hoping to make them beat us from the outside and not just let them dump it to her all night," Pruett said.

Though their defensive strategy worked, their offense was a different story. One of the core themes of their offense this year was their ability to run the court which allowed them to go on scoring streaks that would quickly put their opponent down in the game.

J.I. Burton apparently read a page from that book and began the third quarter with an 8-2 start, giving them the 26-12 lead with only 2:10 played in the quarter.

Narrows fought back with their own scoring streak at the end of the quarter to close the lead to 30-22.

Cameron Snidow, who has been a consistent high scorer for the Lady Waves, scored her first points in that quarter, while Weatherly, Guynn, and Burton added two points each to their totals.

Pruett’s earlier statement about the uphill about was more evident in the fourth quarter, as every time Narrows would close in on the Raiders they would pull away.

Weatherly scored a two that closed the gap to seven late in the quarter, but J.I. Burton kept just out of reach.

"We knew we was going to have to box out and knew they were real aggressive on the offensive boards," Pruett said. "We just got outworked."

For head coach Wayne Gautier, the game came down to offense.

"I thought overall we played as hard as we could play them, but we couldn’t get the ball in the basket," he said.

Gautier also said that they underestimated the team’s guard play and that their defense played an intense game.

The loss took a toll on the seniors, who have been an integral part of Narrows’ success the past few years.

Giles Varsity at Pulaski (scrimmage) 4:30

Giles JV hosts Pulaski (scrimmage) 4:30

Giles Varsity baseball hosts James Monroe (scrimmage) 4:30

James Monroe JV hosts Giles (scrimmage) 4:30

Giles Varsity hosts Blacksburg (scrimmage) 4:30

Giles JV hosts Blacksburg (scrimmage) 12:00

Giles girls hosts Blacksburg (scrimmage) 5:30

Giles Varsity hosts Christiansburg 4:30

Giles JV at Christiansburg 4:30

Giles JV hosts Christiansburg 5:30

Giles Varsity boys host Christiansburg 7:00

Giles Varsity girls at Christiansburg 5:30

Giles Varsity at Christiansburg 4:30

Giles JV hosts Christiansburg 4:30

Giles girls host Christiansburg 4:30

Giles boys at Christiansburg 4:30

Giles Varsity at Pulaski 4:30