By Sara Page, Midlothian Exchange
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It took a little time for the Cosby girls’ basketball team to readjust to the size of the Siegel Center floor during Thursday night’s semifinal game, but once they did, there was no doubt they were back where they belonged.

The Lady Titans poured in 12 points in three minutes to start the second quarter and never trailed again as they earned a bid to the Central Region final and the VHSL Group AAA quarterfinal games with a 76-44 decision over Highland Springs.

“I feel like we had a slow start. We weren’t playing the best defense in the first quarter and we were just kind of sluggish,” Cosby guard Andrea Bertrand said. “We haven’t played on a big court like this [this year]. It was a shock, I know, to me.

“Second quarter I think we really stepped it up, and we knew if we don’t play better, this is going to be a lot harder than it needs to be,” Bertrand continued.

The second quarter run proved to be a total team effort. Kelsey Conyers started things rolling with a defensive rebound that put the Titans on a fast break. She dished to Becca Wann under the hoop for a short jumper. Wann added another two to her totals off a fastbreak with Jazmin Pitts and picked up two assists on a pass from the top of the key to Pitts in the paint and a beautiful bounce pass to Pitts 30 seconds later. Pitts picked up six points and a blocked shot.

“At the beginning we were giving them a lot of second-chance shots, and when we came in at the end of [the first] quarter, coach [Rachel Mead] lit a fire under our butts and said, ‘You better box out,’. I think when we ended their second chance shots, that helped us on our fast break and that’s when we got the majority of our points,” Wann said.

Wann ended the evening with a triple-double. She scored 23 points, handed out 10 assists and hauled in 17 rebounds. Bertrand added 28 points, and Pitts ended with 15 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.

Jazzmin Dabney led Highland Springs with 13 points and Kyra Coleman put up 12.

The win sets up a showdown in the Central Region final between two teams that are undefeated in the state of Virginia. Cosby will take on Thomas Dale, which was a 75-49 winner over Huguenot in Thursday’s first semifinal matchup, Monday night at 6 p.m. at the Siegel Center.

The Knights are 25-0 entering the game while Cosby is 25-2 having lost two games at a winter break tournament in Tennessee.

“It’ll be a lot of fun. It’ll be a war,” Mead said. “I think it’ll be the last man standing. It’ll be a lot of fun.”

“Their shooters – Alyssa Frye, Andrea Hobbs, and of course, you have Ka’lia Johnson, who you can’t really stop her from scoring, but you can definitely slow her down – those are probably going to be our main focuses right now,” Bertrand said.

The Central Region representatives will face the Eastern Region representatives in the first round of the state tournament. Dates and times will be determined by the outcomes of the regional finals.