Caitlin Canada scored 26 points for James River High School, leading the Knights to a 47-34 Three Rivers District victory over a depleted Carroll County squad Monday night. Head Coach Marc Motley was missing five of his twelve players, including two of his starters (Alyssa Ervin and Madison Lyons) but the group that was healthy enough to play made their Coach proud.
” Our effort tonight was tremendous,” Motley said. ” We played really, really hard from start to finish.”
The game began with the Knights scoring five quick points before Sarah Alderman settled the team down with back 2 back baskets. Alderman had been away from the team for the past week while trying to recover from the flu. The team settled down enough to only trail 10-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Canada warmed up in the second quarter as James River looked to speed up the game on every possession. Katie Lam drilled a pair of 3-pointers during the second quarter to account for six of her nine points, leaving the Cavaliers down 25-17 at halftime.
James River pushed its lead out to 38-19 after an 8-0 run but CCHS with consecutive 3-pointers from Madison Coleman and Callie Harris. Harris shined down the stretch, finishing the night with a team high 10 points. The team rallied around her play and finished up on a 15-9 spurt to leave the score at 47-34. Corrie Delp (6 points) closed out strong as well , having plenty of fuel left in the tank.
” We were just not able to make enough shots tonight to win,” added Motley. ” But give James River credit, the way they played tonight had a great deal to do with that. They’re a very good basketball team.”
The next 24-36 hours will prove to very interesting for Carroll County as the ones that are out fight to get healthy and the group that was able to play stay that way. The team is scheduled to play on The Hill Wednesday night, followed up by games at home on Friday and in Salem on Saturday.
Looking for one final thought from Motley before everyone started the long drive back home and Coach summed it up well.
” We played with a great deal of Heart tonight.”
The team played well enough to get by a number of teams on their schedule but they just couldn’t find a match up to slow down the lanky Canada.
The Junior Varsity Girls played a picture perfect opening quarter which ended with a 12-0 lead. Their defensive effort from start to finish produced a 46-13 victory. Kayla Young led the offense with 15 points and was joined in double figures by Raylee Goins (10 points). CC Mitchell played a strong fourth quarter again, finishing up with eight points.
That concludes the game story for the Carroll News.
On a personal note 📝 I want to add that I’m very proud of the effort put out by a group of young ladies that were dealt an unwinnable hand. If you see any of them around School today make sure to offer up some encouragement. That’s assuming that they’re healthy enough to make it to school 🏫.
A.S.P.N on The Hill 