Late in the first quarter CCHS led the Three Rivers District second best team 16-11. Was this going to be the night that a District foe would have a chance at the half ? Floyd County was 8-1 in league play coming in and they were playing at home in front of a rowdy crowd that was extra amped for two reasons – their opponent and Senior Day for the Boys.

Running out the clock at the end of the first quarter, Kalee Easter offered up a 3-pointer just before the horn that bounced on the rim three or four times before it finally dropped.

That basket was the start of what I would have to label 🏷 a basketball 🏀 clinic. When the dust settled six Cavaliers scored a combined 32 points while holding a good team to just nine.

Two things jumped out during the 32-9 run 🏃‍♂️- the first being the purcision that Coach Mark Motley”s team operated on the Buffaloes and the second one being the incredible play of Bella Crotts. The 5’10 Senior is usually the first player in off the bench and the confidence that she appears to be playing with as of late just gives any upcoming opponents of the Cavaliers one more match-up problem.

Once again the question would have to be which was the better team ? Was it the Carroll County offense or the Cavaliers defense ?

Let’s start with the defense, after allowing 11 points over the first eight minutes the unit surrendered just 20 points over the remaining 24 minutes. At some point I would like to research the average points scored by the opponent in our 10 District games.

Team defense is a term that I use a great deal when describing the Lady Cavaliers and its because its not like one or two players are playing ball hawking D, its five players all playing it at the same time.

Offensively eight of the 10 Cavs scored with a trio finishing in double figures. Alyssa Ervin poured in 18 points while Easter added 13 and Lauren Alley dropped in 12 points. Jaelyn Hagee added eight more and all four of them never saw the floor in the fourth quarter.

It would be easy enough to pick any of the four out but the most encouraging one would be the way that Alley cut to the basket on offense and controlled the boards on defense.

Ashton Richardson played the four quarter and guided the non-starters to a 7-7 draw with the Buffaloes over the final 8:00 minutes. Crotts and Katie Lam both added five points while Richardson scored three and Curdy Gardner finished with two points.

The Lady Cavaliers close out their regular season with a matinee performance at Salem High School.

Nobody knows what the path awaits this team in the post season as they look to defend their State Championship but this know…. the conversation that will take place in the Coaching rooms of the teams that will cross paths with this team.

Best of luck trying to find a weakness on either end of the floor !

The game later today vs LCA should be a nice test for our Lady Cavaliers 👩.

It’s not uncommon for a newspaper create a game story off of nothing else then looking at a score book but I try to stay away from doing that but its hard to know what actually happened just off the numbers.

I was clearly reporting on the Girls JV contest in the smaller Gym and walked into the Main Gym at the exact second that the game ended which allowed me to capture the photos above.

Linda was in the Gym and was able to walk me through the contest. Over the opening 7:00 minutes the Cavaliers played solid defense and five players scored points during the quarter which ended with CCHS leading 17-12.

Isaiah Easter scored seven points in that seven minutes but also picked up two fouls. Easter had plenty of assistance as Hayden Jackson connected on a 3-pointer and Dane Leonard also finished the frame with 3 points.

The second quarter proved to be the downfall for the Cavaliers on both ends of the court. The team committed seven fouls which helped FCHS take the period by a 23-12 margin. Easter was limited by the fouls and the team went into the locker room trailing 35-29.

Easter and Leonard each added five points in the third quarter and Paul Marshall added a 3-pointer to help the Cavs win the frame 13-12. Down five to start the final quarter gave CCHS a shot to win heading down the stretch and that’s what all Coaches ask of their team – a chance to win at the end.

FCHS started to pull away but Carroll County trimmed the lead down to just three at the 3:30 mark and then again with 0:05.8 on the clock but just get over the hump.

Both of the JV contests went well for the Cavaliers with one exception. For the Girls in was a few minutes in the first and for the Boys a few minutes in the second quarter.

CCHS Boys return to the court Monday night at Home versus Blacksburg. They will play again on Thursday night at Galax while awaiting word on whether or not they finish in the Top Four which will allow the team to compete in the District tournament.

Scoring – Dane Leonard 14, Hayden Jackson 13, Isaiah Easter 12, Paul Marshall 8, Landon Puckett 2, Jay Burnette 2. (51).

In a preview of next week’s Girls JV District Championship game Floyd County raced out to an early lead (14-2) and held on for a 41-28 victory over the visiting Carroll County Cavaliers.

CCHS could have shared the regular season District title with the Buffaloes if they could have avenged a narrow loss to FCHS last month. But the first five minutesof action put the Cavs in too deep of a hole to climb out of.

While the 12 point disadvantage was overwhelming it did not keep Head Coach Kayla Nester’s squad from trimming the margin down to four points early in the second half.

Trailing by 10 (23-13) at the break Carroll County went on an 8-2 run 🏃‍♂️ to cut ✂️ the lead down to 25-21. Laiken Burnett and Carrie Delp took turns leading the offense during the opening minutes of the third quarter but FCHS righted the ship, much to the joy of a highly supported home crowd.

CCHS had an energetic crowd as well and they moaned everytime a layup would hang on the rim before falling harmlessly to the floor. The Cavaliers ran the floor well throughout the game but just couldn’t finish on a number of drives to the basket.

Burnett led the team in scoring with 14 points and Delp joined in her in double figures with 10. Both Jocie Dalton and Faith Clontz added a basket for the Cavaliers to round out the scoring.

It’s my understanding that the JV Girls 👧are going to be hosting Galax on Thursday night for a final regular season contest.

Next Saturday they will return to Floyd County to play for the Post Season Championship against the same Buffaloes squad.

Everyone knows that the Third time is a Charm!