Photo Credits : Beth Bouldin

Upper – Briley McGhee launches a jumper

Lower – Bryce Jackson Battling for a rebound.

The Hill – Carroll County Middle School Basketball returned home Wednesday night to host Fort Chiswell as the Cavaliers experience an incredibly busy week where six games will be played four dates.

Darian Brown and his Boys team opened the evening with a 27-21 victory over the Pioneers. Kris Richardson and his Lady Cavaliers dropped a 36-25 decision in the nightcap.

Grant Reed and Bryce Jackson led the Cavaliers with 8 points each on a night where six players dented the score sheet. The key 🔑 moment of the victory took place in a four minute run where CCMS outscored their guests 14-2 in the second quarter.

Reed found Caleb Hill  for a jumper to start the run and just 16 seconds later Hill returned the favor, leading to the first of two 3-pointers in the frame for Reed. Fort scored its lone basket before the Cavaliers closed out the quarter on a 9-0 run. Reed’s second jumper from deep was followed by Jackson scoring three straight trips down the court.

The 33 seconds started with an offensive rebound and put back basket 🧺. The next two were both fast break buckets that ended with Reed finding Jackson on his way to the hoop.

Jackson completed his personal 8-0 run by scoring on the opening possession of the third quarter to push the lead out to 21-9. The offense was limited to just six points over the final 11 minutes but the defense made sure the lead stood up for the teams second victory of the season.

Remington Millaway added two baskets down the stretch and led the defensive side for Coach Brown. Fort Chiswell closed out the contest with a 5-0 run but it was too little, too late.

Brown was pleased with the victory and the effort his team put forth.

” We played last week on Thursday and got the big win. Took Friday off for Halloween and I guess my guys had too much candy because we did not show up ready to play Christiansburg Monday, ” said Brown. ” I was most upset with our effort in the Christiansburg game Monday so coach Reitzel and I suited up on Tuesday and practiced with the guys. We just wanted to lead by example and show them the passion we expect every game. I knew our next two games would be physical so we made them push us around in practice.

Im very proud of the intensity we brought on the defensive side of the floor tonight. I believe our defense led us to easy transition buckets. I look forward to an even harder matchup tomorrow against galax. They are well coached and It will test our guys physicality!”

Fort Chiswell     4.  5.  7.  5   – 21

Carroll County  5  14  6   2   – 27

CCMS – Reed 8, Jackson 8, Millaway 4. Johnson 3, Hill 2, Barr 2.

In the Girls contest, Richardson received one of the things that he needed from his team – energy ! Facing a Pioneer team with a distinct height and experience advantage, the Lady Cavaliers would need to counter with a scrappy effort to stay in the contest.

Briley McGhee opened the scoring for Carroll County and would finish up with a team high eight points. Zari Cushman was next with seven points and Kierra Robinson added her six points during a late push in the fourth quarter. Maddie Carico and Maggie Branch rounded out the scoring with two points each.

With the Middle School season getting started significantly earlier than the Junior Varsity one, its not uncommon for a school with talented eighth graders to have them start out getting experience with the Middle School team. That was the case Wednesday night as a trio of Pioneers led their team to victory.

Carroll County survived two early 3-pointers from Fort in the first quarter and when Branch scored on a feed from McGhee the frame ended in an 8-8 tie. McGhee scored the final first half basket 🧺 on a pass from Carico and then Cushman added a free throw to allow the Lady Cavaliers to close out the first half down just 13-11.

The second set of 3-pointers were the knock out punch and they took place to start the second half. The score went from 13-11 to 19-11 in a flash and while the Lady Cavaliers played with intensity the rest of the way, the margin was too large to overcome.

The play of the game for Carroll County came late in the third quarter when Cushman led Carico who then hit a streaking Robinson for a text book fast break. The basket allowed CCMS to cut ✂️ the deficit to just 25-21 but Fort took control from there, outscoring the home team 15-4.

” The thing i enjoy most about our team is that we play hard,” said Richardson. ”    Teams know that they’ve been in a fight after playing us. Tonight was our highest scoring game of the year. There is improvement, but sometimes it’s overshadowed by the little things we do wrong. With that being said, I can’t be happier with our effort level. We have 6 games in 6 days this week, so there isn’t a lot of time to make corrections. These young ladies keep working hard, and they show up with a smile on their faces. They fight and claw until the end. We will keep improving.”

The hectic schedule continues on Thursday when Galax comes to The Hill and then both teams travel to Wytheville for a Saturday tournament.

Fort Chiswell … 8   5.  9.  14 – 36

Carroll County..8.  3.  4   10 – 25

CCMS – McGhee 8, Cushman 7, Robinson 6, Carico 2, Branch 2.

Fun Note – Fort made just as many 3-pointers (5) as they did 2-pointers.