Blacksburg – The fourth quarter of the Region 3D Championship game was the non-stop action across the entire eight minutes and it was fitting that it ended in 21-21 draw. Fortunately for the Abingdon Falcons the led by seven points heading into the frame, allowing them to capture the Region Championship 64-57 over Carroll County.
Thursday afternoons victory over Magna Vista placed CCHS into the Championship game, right after the fourth seeded AHS dispatched top seeded Lord Botetourt. Both teams entered Saturday having played one game at Cassell Coliseum but the second time around was played with a high energy buzz throughout the building.
Alyssa Ervin entered the fourth quarter with 18 points on the night and proceeded to score 19 more in the final frame in an attempt to bring the Cavaliers back from a double digit deficit in the third quarter. Abingdon countered with a similar type effort from Annsley Trivette, keeping the hard charging Cavaliers at arms length.
The 6’1 Trivette didn’t score in the opening quarter and was held to just six points at halftime. Over the final sixteen minutes she netted 23, including 15 in the final frame.
Carroll County trailed 29-21 heading into the final minute of the second quarter when Sarah Alderman connected on a 3-pointer to take the team into the lockeroom with a bit of momentum.
The Cavaliers defense on the perimeter did a great job in the opening half, especially when it came to the 3-point line. AHS ran an offense that was designed to create quick triggered attempts from distance and only four of those attempts found the bottom of the net before the break.
Carroll County struggled momentarily coming out of the break, committing five turnovers in the opening minutes of the third quarter. The Cavaliers would eventually settle down but they were trailing 37-27 when they did.
Katie Lam (8 points) and Ervin both connected once from deep in the third quarter and when the team connected on four straight free throws to open the fourth quarter they had the Falcons within their sights at 44-40.
The game changing play took place right afterwards. While Ervin was the lone Cavalier in double figures, Coach Marc Motley received a tremendous defensive effort from his seven player rotation. There were five times that CCHS forced off balance jumpers that created air balls but each time Trivette was standing in just the right spot.
The fifth time led to a three point play that broke the momentum and on the next possession Peyton Carter found a hard charging Trivette on a back door cut to push the lead back to nine.
For the remainder of the contest Abingdon was willing to take time off the clock on every offensive possession but Ervin was quickly creating offense on the other end of the floor.
Ervin twice cut the lead down to just three points with the final time being at the 1:32 mark. The Region 3D Player of the Year sank all three of her free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt.
Shortly after that the Falcons missed two free throws but Trivette corralled the rebound and layed the ball in the basket for the deciding points.
Carroll County now travels over to Lynchburg for a 6pm clash on Tuesday with an undefeated Liberty Christian Academy team. Abingdon heads back down I-81 to host Turner Ashby at the same time.
The best of both Worlds would be a rematch with Abingdon with the winner advancing to the State Finals.
From here I will add some notes 📝 to Allen Worrell in hopes of him adding the official box 📦 score. I don’t have one as of yet.
Also – Allen, both photo 📷 credits go to Carlie Beamer.
Final note – 📝 I am still hoping to add a couple of thoughts from Coach Motley to the story as well.
Abingdon 11 18 14 21 – 64
Carroll County 13 11 12 21 – 57
A.S.P.N on The Hill 