By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
RICHMOND, Va. — Twin Valley ran through a whole range of emotions in its first state semifinal game in seven years.
In the end the only one that mattered was elation.
The Panthers overcame 27 turnovers to survive and advance to its first state final with a 67-61 win over Colonial Beach Monday afternoon at VCU’s Siegel Center.
The win sets up a rematch with area rival Clintwood for the VHSL 1A girls state title Wednesday morning.
Lexy Vance scored a game-high 24 points and Hannah O’Quinn claimed a game-best 18 rebounds as Twin Valley made it from joy to frustration to excitement, and then fear and downright panic before celebrating its biggest-ever win.
The Panthers (22-8) nearly squandered double-digit leads twice in the fourth quarter, when it turned the ball over 13 times, with most of them coming in bunches.
“It got kind of scary,” Vance said. “(Coach) told us don’t freak out, everybody stay behind the ball and that’s what we did.”
Colonial Beach (24-4) stole the ball six times, four of them coming from Deniya Newman, in a span of 91 seconds and trimmed a 50-38 deficit to 51-48 after an Amber Jones free throw with 5:11 remaining.
That’s when Twin Valley took one of the three timeouts it utilized in the fourth quarter.
“In good terms we said ‘we had to do better’,” said Twin Valley coach Tommy Crigger, when asked what was said during those timeouts. “We couldn’t panic, (we said) we’re good ballhandlers, we’re good basketball players, we’ve got to calm down.
“We still had the lead. Once we broke the press a couple of times they got tired and broke down, then they got some more steals and we broke down (again), it was a game of emotions.”
The Panthers beat the press for a layup from Vance and a 3-pointer from Kara Goodman and led 60-50 after a free throw by O’Quinn with 3:20 remaining when Colonial Beach started pressing feverishly again.
Newman got two more of her six steals and led an 11-4 run that got the Drifters within 64-61 after a layin by Sydni Carey with 1:13 left on the clock.
After one final Panther turnover Newman missed a 3 out of the right corner with 44 seconds left that would have tied the score. Vance then hit one free throw with 41 seconds remaining and O’Quinn hit two at the 19 second mark.
Colonial Beach missed its last six shots from the field and shot just 32.4 percent (22-of-68) overall.
“(The) fourth quarter I told them that was the best four minutes that we played and if we had done that for 32 we would have been on the other side,” said Colonial Beach coach Keith Dickerson, who said his club tried to out-think itself much of the night. “I don’t think we were tired (at the end).”
Newman scored 16 points, while Carey and Emily Parks each added 14 for the Drifters.
Katelyn Jackson scored 11 points and O’Quinn added 11 to finish with a double-double for the Panthers.
Two key sequences helped save the day for Twin Valley, including a 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer by freshman Kim Lester that gave the Lady Panthers their first 10-point lead.
“I have to say I’m just a freshman and I’m happy to be on the varsity and I just don’t to do anything to hurt them in any way,” Lester said. “I look up to every single one of them, especially Kara. She’s probably my main role model. I always look to her.”
The other major factor was the return to the floor of Goodman, who missed the first big second-half run by the Drifters when she aggravated an ankle injury she suffered in last week’s region semifinals.
“Kara a four-year starter, 1,000-point scorer, probably has 1,000 rebounds or close to it, when she came out of the game I think our girls panicked,” Crigger said. “She’s our senior leader. As soon as she goes back in the game she makes the crosscourt pass and we get it up the court.
“She makes our offense go. She did all the scoring her first three years, now she’s come in this year and probably leads us in assists, because she can make the crosscourt pass and the pass down for a layup.”
Goodman said she just uses her height and experience to beat opposing defenses.
“I can’t handle the ball that good, but I try to get it to (the guards) so they can handle the ball,” said Goodman, whose father, brother and sister have all competed in state tournaments. Her dad Rick, who is currently the Twin Valley High School principal, coached the Council boys to a state title in 2001.
“I just try to look for things people normally wouldn’t see that the defense isn’t used to guarding. I just try to find something with the crosscourt passes. I just try to help contribute to the cause.”
There were four ties and nine lead changes in the first half. O’Quinn’s lay-in off a feed from Vance gave Twin Valley the lead for good, 39-37 with 3:19 remaining in the third period.
But this was the kind of game where no lead felt safe.
“When we got the lead to 12 I didn’t feel comfortable,” admitted Crigger who also acknowledged he made a note to himself about the Drifters’ pressure. “I knew the pressure was coming. ... Let me check my notes here.
“I wrote down ‘when Colonial Beach goes on a 6-0 run call timeout no matter what no matter when in the game it is.’
“Sometimes we just lobbed a pass and they just outran us to it and we can’t do that, but all in all we handled the pressure enough to get the victory and move on the finals. I’m very blessed to get to play for a state championship.”

At the Siegel Center
TWIN VALLEY (22-8)
Vance 9-17 5-11 24, Keene 2-5 2-2, Jackson 3-8 6-8 14, Goodman 2-8 0-1 6, O’Quinn 4-7 3-4 11, Lester 2-2 0-0 5, Meadows 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-48 16-26 67.
COLONIAL BEACH (24-4)
Newman 5-14 3-3 16, Parks 5-15 2-4 14, Carey 5-15 4-8 14, Jones 1-3 1-2 3, Henry 0-3 0-0 0, Cox 1-4 0-0 2, Wilson 3-11 0-0 7, Conway 1-2 0-0 3, Ruczynski 1-1 0-0 2, Lane 0-0 0-0 0, Lewis 0-0 0-0 0, Beverly 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-68 10-17 61.
Twin Valley..............15 19 14 19 -- 67
Colonial Beach...........15 15 8 23 -- 61
3-point goals-TV 7-17 (Jackson 2-6, Goodman 2-6, Vance 1-1, Lester 1-1, Keene 1-3), CB 7-25 (Newman 3-7, Parks 2-9, Conway 1-1, Wilson 1-3, Carey 0-3, Cox 0-2). Rebounds-TV 49 (O’Quinn 18), CB 29 (Jones 7). Assists-TV 14 (Vance 5), CB 12 (Carey 5, Wilson 5). Total fouls-TV 10, CB 20. Fouled out-Jones. Technicals-none.