Chesapeake Takes Advantage of Zane Trace Turnovers For D-3 District Semi Win

Presented By Atomic Speedway

The Zane Trace Pioneers blitzed out to an 11-3 start in their Division 3 District Semi with the Chesapeake Panthers Saturday, only to see the Panthers go on a 14-0 run to turn the tide in what became a 64-54 Peake win at the Waverly’s Downtown Gym.

Zane Trace was plagued with turnovers that loomed large in their loss, committing 22 compared to 7 for Chesapeake.

The Pioneers dominated the inside game in their 11-3 lead to start the game, but the smaller but quicker Panthers evened the score at 11-11 at the end of the first quarter and built a 17-11 lead early in the second period before ZT would end their 14-0 drought. Peake led by as many as 28-21 and 30-23 in the second quarter, before the Pioneers made it 30-25 at halftime.

The Pioneers caught fire in the third quarter, drawing even at 45-45 at the end of the quarter. But the fourth quarter saw Zane Trace continue to struggle with turnovers as the Panthers took advantage- especially at the foul line, where they put the game away as they broke free from a slim 55-51 lead with under 3 minutes remaining in the game and built as much as a 62-51 advantage before settling for the 64-54 victory.

Chesapeake had five players in double figures, led by Levi Blankenship and Ben Bragg with 16 points each. Dannie Maynard and J.D. Daniels each scored 11 and Caleb Cox had 10 points.

Zane Trace was led by Kyle Stonerock with 21 points, scoring 9 of ZT’s first 11 points to start the game. Xzander Ream added 14 and Nalin Robinson had 9 points.

The stats show another big factor, other than ZT’s turnovers, was foul shots. Chesapeake was 16/23 at the foul line, while the Pioneers were 5/9. ZT won the rebounding battle 33-18.

From the field, Zane Trace was 23/51 for 45%- including 4/9 from the arc, where Chesapeake was 22/48 from the field- including 4/14 from the arc.

The SVC champion Pioneers see their season close at (17-6) while Chesapeake improves to (15-8) and will face Wheelersburg for the D-3 District Championship at 6:30pm on Friday, March 4th at Waverly’s Downtown Gym.