Henry, Norman help Hawks right ship against Fauquier

View larger image Taylor Henry View larger image Jenny Norman

By Robert Edmonds - sports@nvdaily.com

FRONT ROYAL -- On the heels of a three-game losing streak, Skyline returned to its winning ways Wednesday night when the Hawks hosted Fauquier in non-district girls basketball action.

After beginning the season strong, the Hawks lost two of their most prolific players and then went on the three-game skid. Looking to bolster its confidence, Skyline hoped to right the ship against the visiting Falcons.

Led by Taylor Henry and Jenny Norman, the Hawks did just that by leaving little doubt that the team is more than capable of remaining a threat to their opponents as they dominated nearly the entire game for a 69-42 victory.

"Coming off three straight losses, the biggest thing we wanted to do as a team was to re-establish our confidence," Hawks coach Jim Kenney said. "That is something that you can only truly do in a game. We've talked about it and worked hard during practice, but to do it in a game was very important for us."

Within the first minute of the game, Henry scored seven points to quickly give the Hawks the advantage and set the pace for the evening. After slicing through the lane for a score, Henry hit a 3-point basket and then scored again on a drive through the lane after a Falcons turnover.

Implementing a full-court pressure attack on defense, it appeared that the Hawks surprised Fauquier early as the Falcons struggled to maintain offensive possession. The forced turnovers led to easy baskets for Skyline, which built a 14-3 lead before the Falcons pulled to within five points at the end of the first period.

The two teams traded points until midway through the second period, when Skyline went on an 11-point run to seemingly deflate the Falcons while reassuring their own confidence.

"The transition game was very important for us in building the lead at the end of the quarter," Henry said. "We don't trap a lot as a team, but tonight showed that when we do we can cause a lot of pressure, and the steals we made helped us to get some easy baskets on offense."

Amanda Fox began the run on a basket in the paint. Norman then converted on a three-point play after being fouled, and Henry added four points. The Hawks capped the run when Henry recorded one of her seven assists on the night when she found Quinn Breeden for a score.

Skyline dominated the second half, particularly the third period when Henry and Norman combined for 17 of the team's 19 points during the frame. Norman scored eight consecutive points during the stretch, while Henry contributed nine of her game-high 30 points on the evening.

"This win helps our confidence a lot," Norman said. "When we lost Oshene [Kelly], we were struggling to come together. Finally after losing the three games, we put it all together. It took us a little time, but we were able to get the win tonight and hopefully we can keep this up going forward."

Snapping the team's run of losses, Skyline will take a renewed confidence into Friday night's matchup against Handley when the Hawks look to record their first district win on the season.

"We're hoping that we can carry this over into our game on Friday night," Kenney said. "We've got Handley and we played well against them the first time we met this season. We still need to get that first win in the district and hopefully tonight is going to give us some more confidence moving forward."