NARROWS, Va. — Thus far, Narrows’ second trip to the state girls basketball tournament is shaping up a lot like the first, a second seed from Region C traveling to Bristol to face one of the state’s top teams gifted with some of the game’s best players.

But this is different. Instead of Council, the Green Wave will battle the state’s top team, J.I. Burton, with the winner punching a ticket to Richmond.

“I watched them play Bland last year in the state quarterfinals and they were very young last year. They’ve got everybody back,” said Narrows head coach Wayne Gautier.

“They’ve got a post player that’s very strong. She plays like a guard. They’ve got a guard that’ll get after you full-court all over the floor. They scrap. They play pressure defense. They play a lot like us and hopefully that’s something that’s going to help us.”

The post player Gautier was making reference to is Ra’shelle Miller, a player who has made her reputation as the focal point of J.I. Burton’s offense and one of the best players in the state.

“I think probably the majority of their offense goes around her,” Gautier said. “I think it’s pretty much like us. She goes how she goes and we’re kind-of the same thing with Cameron (Snidow). If her game’s on then we’re looking pretty good. It’s going to be who’s got their game on Saturday.”

Senior Andi Guynn will draw the task of guarding Miller. The senior has grown into the role of the Green Wave’s defensive stopper despite difficult assignments and injuries.

“She twisted her knee last year and she wouldn’t come off the floor,” Gautier said. “She did it two weeks ago and refused to miss any time. She’s not 100 percent but she’s not going to tell you that. She’s going to give everything she’s got. The only way she’ll come off that floor is if she fouls out.”

Guynn is eager for the challenge.

“We’re definitely going to have to shut her down for sure,” Guynn said. “She’s strong. She’s fast. She gets after it. And that’s our first role to get in her head and shut her down and get her out of the ball game as quick as possible.”

Offensively, Narrows will rely on their own inside game to counter J.I. Burton’s strength. Special emphasis will be placed on sophomore Savanna Burton and junior Cameron Snidow to produce.

“We can go four deep on our post game,” Gautier said. “Looking at them, we’re going to make them play defense and hopefully get her in foul trouble and get her out of there. We’d be a lot more comfortable if she wasn’t in there.”

Gautier is not going to make any major changes to his team’s attack plan going into this afternoon’s contest. But Narrows will have some small surprises in store.

“We’ve got a couple little things up our sleeve,” Gautier said. “We ran a triangle-and-two on Council last year. They weren’t expecting that. We’ve got a little game plan here, hopefully that will work for us.

“When you get to this time of the year, you’ve got to play with what got you there. And then you’ve got to be able to tweak it a little bit just to show something different because people scout you just as you scout people. And people are asking questions about us just as we ask about them.”

The thing that Narrows has had problems with in games that have counted most is foul shooting. It is the factor Gautier believes will decide this game as well.

“It’s probably going to come down to foul shots again,” he said. “The last game Miller played in, she had two points in the first half. The second half she made 15 out of 17 foul shots. We don’t want to get into a foul shooting contest with them.”

But even if Narrows gets into a foul shooting contest with J.I. Burton, Gautier thinks they may be able to keep up.

“We shoot 60 a day each,” he said. “The technique’s there. The form’s there. It’s just mental right now.

“I can’t shoot it for them. You can only do so much as a coach. It’s in their hands. As far as preparedness, we’ve done all that we can do. If we don’t make it, we don’t deserve to win.”

— Contact Jed Lockett at jlockett@bdtonline.com