By Halle Parker

Special to The Farmville Herald

Despite a 24-point effort by freshman point guard Da’mya Harris, the Prince Edward County High School Eagles lost 52-38 to the Bluestone High School Barons on Tuesday.

A scoreless first quarter from the Eagles placed them in a hole and the deficit continued to grow. The Barons ended the first half with an 18 point lead.

“We’re a young team,” said PECHS girls varsity basketball head coach Carlton Redd, who is in his eighth year of coaching within the Prince Edward school system. “We didn’t score any in the first quarter. Imagine if we had scored 10 and still had all those shots falling in the last few minutes. The game would’ve been even closer.”

Bluestone senior forward Alexis Walton, last year’s District Player of the Year, led the Barons in scoring for the first half with 14 points. Walton ended with 19 points, seeing the court less in the third and fourth quarters.

“Nottoway, Amelia and Bluestone are the top teams in the district,” said Redd. “I’m not trying to take any credit from Bluestone.”

The Barons led by approximately 20 points the majority of play until Harris, listening to Redd’s encouraging calls to shoot, sank three-pointer from beyond-the-arc in the fourth quarter. In response, free throws for Bluestone gave the team many opportunities to maintain their lead.

According to Redd, Harris has looked impressive on every team she’s been on.

“She’s a baller,” said Redd. “She has great instincts. I’m not going to pretend I taught her everything.”

At the same time, he realizes she’s still developing and tries not to place pressure on her to “carry the team.”

Redd viewed the loss as not only an improvement from the previous game, but from last season. Last year, PECHS lost by around 40-45 points, according to Redd. “Each week last year would be a 40-, 50-point loss and we’re improving,” said Redd. “We want to get where Bluestone, Nottoway and Amelia are.”

The coach said he wasn’t placing as much emphasis on winning as he was moving “in the right direction.” Instead of giving the team the goal to win all games, he aims to have more wins than last year and wants to continue to build on it.

For their next game, the Eagles will travel to Goochland High School on Friday for a 7 p.m. James River District matchup against the Bulldogs.