A credit due to Cyndi Lauper and her 1983 classic as it just seemed like the perfect tag line for the two hour Celebration wrapped around District Basketball Game.

Everyone in the Gym knew it was Senior Night for the Basketball team and both the Boys and Girls Swim Teams but I’m guessing that the announcement about the post game festivities might have came as an added bonus to a few people in the crowd.

For a little over a year now the trophy 🏆 case at Carroll County High School has contained a very special Volleyball 🏐 from the night that Head Coach Cindy Edwards earned her 400th victory as the leader of the Volleyball program.

Make room for another milestone ball as Marc Motley earned his 400th victory at CCHS when his Cavaliers rolled past visiting Radford by a comfortable margin.

The picture posted at the top of the story came late in the contest and while the team riding out the balance of the game on the bench they offered up a priceless pose for anyone interested in capturing their moment.

That group hug and smile wasn’t the only time that this group of 10 hard working Ladies were able to slow down long enough to have a little fun.

An earlier post captured most of the pre-game festivities and this one will center around the activities after the games concluded.

As always, if you see a photo you like they are always free for the taking.

Not a great deal of a need for a game story here as the outcome was never in doubt after CCHS defeated the Bobcats by 50 earlier in the season but there were two items that caught my attention to the point that I wanted to write ✍ about them both.

Hopefully both of them will be up on the site by tomorrow midday and provide a fun read.

For tonight here’s what you need to know – the Lady Cavaliers won a basketball game that was a Milestone Victory for their Coach and just as important they had a Great Deal of Fun getting that accomplished.

Radford came down to the Hill sitting atop the Three Rivers District standings with some room to spare. The Bobcats have only dropped one contest all season and are led by a 6’7 Division One player in waiting.

If there was ever a night where Coach Barnes and his troops were destined to end up in a game they couldn’t hang around in it would have been Monday night.

But as I have typed out many a night over the past two months, this team just refuses to give up for a moment, any moment.

Bryce Smoot carried the offensive load early with eight in the first quarter and 11 at the half. Every time the Cavaliers needed a basket #3 was there and equally impressive was Davis Reitzel on the defensive end while surrendering a few inches to his opponent.

Leading after one quarter (17-13) the Cavaliers were down 10 points at the break. Watching the Bobcats run their offense I kept thinking that it looked very familiar and I finally figured out the style was similar to the Lady Cavaliers. Yes, there was one player that stood out a bit but this team could score from four if not five spots on the floor.

Radford kept the pressure on but it came just as much from the offensive end where most teams apply pressure through a Pressing defense.

By the end of the third quarter the Cavaliers were down 15 points and four starters were approaching if not already in foul trouble. Certainly this would be the time the Cavs would accept defeat and look for another game down the road.

Not so much, Reitzel joined Bryce in the scoring zone, connecting on triplet 3-pointers in the fourth quarter but Radford answered every run the Cavaliers made. Radford’s Coach called a timeout to replace his starters and CCHS quickly scored five points, forcing the Bobcats to put the starters back on the court.

Every sportscaster calling a game that is on the verge of becoming one sided talks about getting the lead into single digits to have a chance. Next thing you know the lead is down to 9 and the Cavilers had the basketball 🏀.

Reitzel let go of a 3-pointer that did everything but drop that would have made it a two possession game. The final margin was nine at 64-55 and that brings us full circle to the original question – is there such a thing as a Moral victory ?

Down big to the best team on your schedule and fighting your way into the contest before eventually falling just short – if they do exist, then the Cavaliers earned one tonight.

Scoring : (55)

Bryce Smoot 23

Davis Reitzel 20

Ethan Richardson 5

Elijah Cox 4

Brayden Smoot 3