CUMBERLAND – Playing as the No. 4 seed in the James River District Girls Basketball Tournament, the Cumberland High School Lady Dukes had little trouble with No. 5 seed Central of Lunenburg in a 56-25 victory over the Chargers.

“Once again we came out and played basketball like we knew we were capable of playing,” said CHS head coach Omar Liggins. “We got out and ran, and caused a number of early turnovers that gave us a big lead. That's how I envision Cumberland High School girls basketball when I picture it in my mind.”

Cumberland did most of its damage in the first quarter. The Dukes outscored Central 25-6 over the first eight minute period.

Up 9-4 midway through the first quarter, Ajah Smith sparked a 16-2 run over the second half of the quarter that more or less put the game out of reach.

Akira Davenport scored seven of her 12 points in the stretch on a pair of steals that led to transition layups and a three-pointer with 1:53 left in the quarter that gave CHS a 25-4 lead.

Cumberland extended the run well into the second. A runner by Davenport gave CHS a 34-6 advantage with 3:15 left in the half.

The Dukes held a 39-11 lead at the break, and slowed things down considerably in the second half.

CHS led 48-17 at the end of the third and took its biggest lead of the game with 1:36 remaining at 56-19.

“We played four quarters of good basketball,” said Liggins. “I slowed them up a little in the second half. It was one of those nights where we were hitting on everything. Central is clearly a better team than the scoreboard showed tonight. We just got hot and got that big lead.”

Smith led the Dukes with 14 points, while Davenport added 12. Kamren Gilliam tallied ten points and MacKenzie Parker added seven.

“This helps us in our standing in the region. The good thing is that we can only improve our ranking from here on out. We're probably a No. 6 seed right now.”

But Liggins hopes there are a few more games still to be played before the Region B, Division 1 Tournament begins. The Dukes were scheduled to play at regular-season champion Amelia County on Thursday night. The JRD Tournament title game will be played on Saturday night at the highest remaining seed.

Amelia just squeaked by No. 8 seed Buckingham 53-50 in Tuesday's quarterfinal game.

“That's proof that anything can happen in these tournaments,” said Liggins. “I imagine that Amelia got a big wake-up call, so we're going to have to be prepared and play with the same kind of intensity that we played with tonight.”