On Thursday evening during a Northern Neck battle of wills, seventh grader Emily Parks delivered 24 of the Drifters’ final 36 points during their win over Northumberland. Parks also contributed six steals, two rebounds, while going 8-8 (100 percent) from the foul line.

On defense, both teams were nearly equal with 21 rebounds apiece. The Drifters edged the Indians out in steals, 13-11. Throughout the game, the Drifters never lost their

poise.
“I teach real hard discipline in my basketball program,” Colonial Beach Middle School head basketball coach Jenna Wilson said. “They have to learn to work as a team, or they can’t play together on the floor.”
While the Indians threw everything at the Drifters, including an athletic forward in the form of Rajaa Shabazz, they could never recover from a third quarter 8-5 run by the Drifters. Shabazz finished the game with 25 points, 13 rebounds and three steals.
As the old saying goes, big performance sometimes comes in small packages. The same can be said about less than 4-foot tall Northumberland point guard Kayla Harding. The speedy player zipped in and out of Drifter coverage throughout the evening. She finished the game with five steals, three rebounds and one assist.
As for the Drifters, Heather Parsons finished the game with six rebounds, four steals and a number of deflections.
In the first half, the game proved to be defensive stalemate, with a low scoring 6-6-tie going into the third quarter. In the first three minutes of the third quarter, the Drifters controlled the tempo of the game with an explosive 8-5 run. Parks dominated the lanes with 12 points to give her team a 26-15 lead at the end of the third quarter.
During the final quarter, Parks contributed eight points from the foul line and a lay-up to cap the win.
With one game left on the schedule against Rappahannock (Oct. 21, home), before the start of the Northern Neck, on Oct. 26, it’s relatively safe to say that the defending champions are eager to finish the season on an historic high note.
“I definitely believe that it is in them to repeat as champions again,” Wilson said. “The two losses that we had were very close — I think if we have good games during the tournament, we can take it.”