A 757 state title trifecta
Princess Anne girls, Woodside boys join Hampton girls as state champs
Cavaliers quiet doubters, rally past L.C. Bird for 13th state crown
RICHMOND — The queens of Virginia high school basketball are back on the throne, and it didn’t take them long.
Denied the state title a year ago after winning a state-record eight consecutive crowns, Princess Anne made it nine in 10 seasons — and 13 overall — with a 53-45 victory over L.C. Bird on Saturday in the Class 5 state championship game at the VCU Siegel Center.
“That’s an unlucky number, so guess what I’m going to have to do now?” said Darnell Dozier, the Cavaliers’ coach for all 13 titles. “I’m going to have to go and get [number] 14 and that’s going to be pretty hard.”
This one was far from easy. The Cavaliers (26-1) reached the final via last-second victories over Norview and Menchville in the state quarterfinals and semifinals, then trailed the Skyhawks from Chesterfield County 42-41 with less than three minutes remaining.
They clinched it by turning to their one constant, other than University of Mississippi recruit Zakiya Stephenson, who scored a game-high 24 points on Saturday: Defense.
“In the fourth quarter, we scrambled all over the floor defensively,” Dozier said. “That was old-school [Princess Anne].”
Trailing by a point, the Cavaliers turned the Skyhawks over three consecutive possessions. Following a walk by the Skyhawks, freshman Jizelle James buried a 3-pointer on an assist from Stephenson to give the Cavaliers a 44-42 lead with with 2:55 left.
“Jizelle, when she shoots, you never know what’s going to happen,” Dozier said. “But she comes up with big shots when we need them.”
Bird coach Chevette Waller said. “That [3-pointer] kind of deflated us. We hoped we could rebound and get those stops,
but that didn’t happen.”
In large part because the Cavaliers pounced defensively. Following James’ shot, Stephenson stole the ball, drove into the lane, spun and dropped in a 5-footer to make it 46-42 with 2:30 to play.
“We work hard on defense and constantly talk to each other about ‘you need to get back on defense or you need to box out,’ ” said Stephenson, who had five steals.
The Cougars (23-5) turned the ball over three more times down the stretch, making it 20 for the game, and the Cavaliers pulled away by finishing with a 15-3 run that included five free throws and a James layup in the final two minutes.
Dozier noted that his team’s nine turnovers were a positive and perhaps the fewest by a Princess Anne team in his 16 trips to the final.
The Cavaliers’ stellar finish contrasted with the physical grind of the first 37 minutes, when the game was tied five times, the lead changed hands 13 times and the teams were never separated by more than five points. Both teams were physical defensively and the tightly officiated game produced 41 fouls.
Bird led 30-26 at halftime, paced by Justice Hicks (13 points), largely because of 7-of-9 freethrow shooting in the second quarter. The grind continued into the second half, and the teams were tied at 38 after three quarters.
Play was rarely pretty, but it was exciting. Stephenson showed panache on a couple of baskets late in the third quarter.
First, she traded 3s with L.C. Bird’s Trinity Dale (12 points), then she stole the ball, drove downcourt and scored following a behind-the-back dribble to make it 38-38. Her theft foreshadowed the fourth-quarter defense that would clinch the state title No. 13 for Princess Anne.
“It means a lot because a lot of people doubted us,” said Stephenson, who surpassed 1,000 career points in the game.
Indeed, many in Hampton Roads believed 2022 Class 5 state champion Menchville and Norview — which beat the Cavaliers in the state quarterfinals a year ago — had surpassed Princess Anne. Dozier disagreed and all but guaranteed his team would win in the weeks before the tournament.
“They call me the old man,” he said. “I just do what I do — I coach, we win and I get my kids to play hard.
“It’s not a problem getting them to play hard.”
Then he looked at Stephenson, a virtual shoo-in for Class 5 Player of the Year after Saturday’s performance, and said, “I am really happy and I’m happy for you as well.”
“Amen,” Stephenson said.