Basketball

I had the opportunity to shoot a Saturday night Sun Belt matchup basketball game in Norfolk between the Old Dominion Monarchs and the Georgia State Panthers. The Monarchs came out strong in front of their home crowd at Chartway Arena, playing with energy and intensity on both ends of the court. Georgia State made a push in the second half, but ODU held firm down the stretch to secure a 73–66 victory.

A Southeastern district game took place at Hickory on Tuesday night as the Hickory girls took the floor against Western Branch.

I used my Nikon Z9 body and Nikkor Z 70-200 f/2.8 S lens to shoot the action.

It was a hard fought game by both teams but Western Branch was able to come away with a close victory in the end.

You can purchase images from the game on MaxPreps or my website.

The Indian River gym was packed as the Braves hosted district rivals King’s Fork on Friday night. King’s Fork came into the game ranked #4 in the area while Indian River was ranked in the top 15.

I used my Nikon Z9 body and Nikkor Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena lens to shoot the action.

King’s Fork proved to be to much for the Braves and won the game easily. Even with the loss, Indian River is destined for the playoffs.

Rivalry game at Hickory on Tuesday night as the Hickory girls took the floor against their rival Great Bridge.

I used my Nikon Z9 body and Nikkor Z 85mm f/1.8 lens to shoot the action.

Hickory jumped out to an early lead, but Great Bridge started chipping away in the 3rd quarter. Great Bridge took over in the 4th quarter to grab the victory.

You can purchase images from the game on MaxPreps or my website.

It was a packed house at Hickory on Friday night as they took the floor against their rival Great Bridge. It was the first time that I’ve been shooting games at Hickory that they pulled out the bleachers on the other side of the court.

I used my Nikon Z9 body and Nikkor Z 135mm f/1.8 S Plena lens to shoot the action.

Hickory jumped out to a commanding lead, but Great Bridge started chipping away in the 3rd quarter. They cut the lead to 3 points with less than two minutes to play but they were unable to get any closer.

It was doubleheader night at Greenbrier Christian Academy as both the girls and boys took on Hickory High School. It was my first time in their gym and while it was a decent size gym with a food court upstairs that overlooked the floor, there was about six feet of space between the ends of the court and the walls. The good news with that is I could rest my back against the wall.

It was doubleheader night at Hickory High School as both the girls and boys hosted Norfolk Academy. The girls game was a very competitive game that Hickory looked like they had control of going into the fourth quarter. But Norfolk Academy got the momentum and dominated the fourth quarter to win.

The Hickory boys took a 20 point lead to halftime and looked to be in complete control of their game. But Norfolk Academy fought back in the second half and even took a 1 point lead with a couple of minutes to go before Hickory finally got control of the game and won.

It was doubleheader night at Currituck County High School as both the girls and boys took on Hickory High School. The gym lighting had not been updated to LEDs so it was a bit of a throwback to the past. Both games were very competitive, which makes for better opportunities for shooting.

I brought my new telescopic stool but noticed that some of the pegs on it were already broke. It still worked mostly so my back was thankful. I brought my Nikon Z9 body and Nikkor Z 70-200 f/2.8 S lens. I hadn’t used this lens for basketball in a while, so I wanted to use it here. It’s the standard go to lens for basketball, but I think I still prefer a prime lens.

I started my high school basketball season off with a game between Southeastern District rivals Grassfield High and Deep Creek High. Sadly, I was going to have to shoot this game sitting on the floor since my telescoping stool got messed up from baseball season.

Grassfield controlled nearly all of the first half of this game but Deep Creek went on a row in the last minute to actually take the lead at halftime. Deep Creek then went on to dominate the second half.