Game 7/9 on Day 5/9 has us watching πŸ‘€ the Men of Eastern Mennonite University host the Greensboro College Pride…

Old Friend Steve Cox is doing the announcing for this one. Cox and I spent many a Moon πŸŒ™ working on things regarding the Valley Baseball ⚾️ League.

The definition of a True Fan in my eyes πŸ‘€ is someone that will watch any two teams play on any given day. College Basketball πŸ€ is the Sport that I consider myself a True Fan of, Men and Women – any level of the Sport, and I’m game for the watching.

When I realized that I would be spending nine days in the area around Massanutten I challenged myself to try and take in nine games. Obvious Math says that’s an average of 1.0 per day. As Barney would say on the sitcom ” How I Met Your Mother πŸ‘©”, challenged Accepted !

Challenging oneself is a tremendous πŸ‘ tool πŸ”§as it builds skills on so many levels. Once you have the initial setup in place the natural thing to do is up the degree of difficulty. First item – no duplicate Home Teams and second item – how many different levels of competition can be included ?

Let’s see how we are doing so far ?

  1. VMI Men (D1) hosting on Tuesday night.
  2. Bridgewater Women (D3) hosted the early game on Wednesday.
  3. University of Virginia Women Women (D1) hosted the night πŸŒ™ cap on Wednesday.
  4. Shepherd University Women (D2) hosted on Thursday.
  5. Shenandoah University Men (D3) hosted on Friday night πŸŒ™.
  6. Christendom College Women (USCAA-D2) hosted on Saturday afternoon in Front Royal.
  7. Eastern Mennonite University (D3) hosting Saturday afternoon.
  8. Bridgewater Men (D3) will host a game tonight.
  9. James Madison University Dukes (D1) will host Sunday afternoon at 2pm….

Ran the gauntlet for sure ! Ladies will prevail 5-4 and all three levels will have been covered. Fun stuff on its own but then add in the Guest List of 4/9 Grandkids βž• Coach Alan Knight up to this point = Bonus.

There are 10+ Schools 🏫 of Higher Education here in the Valley. Mary Baldwin down in Staunton hasn’t made the list yet but they are home on Tuesday night ???? πŸ’˜ the Squirrels.

This game has been very entertaining up to this point. Greensboro leads 33-28 with just over 3:00 left in the first half. Lots of 3 point shots have been launched and plenty of hustle on display πŸ‘.

4:40 pm – Half-time, Greensboro 35, EMU 33 – 15:00 on the Clock ⏰…

Steve Cox..

Other Schools 🏫 in the area include Southern Virginia University in Buena Vista and Washington & Lee in Lexington.

2nd Half underway now… EMU 39-38 at 15:47

10:00 Remains – EMU 44-43, setting up nicely for a great finish !

πŸ‘” at 51 – 6:16 remains….4:00 remains, still 51 All….3:38, EMU 2

TO – 3:14 (2), Greensboro down 53-51

2:26 – still 53-51, both D’s tightening

TO – 1:54…. score is 2-0 since 6:16

1:09 – same, 1:01 – EMU scores on another follow-up and calls πŸ“ž a quick TO, leading 55-51.

0:34 – Foul, FT’s – Yes + Yes, TO for EMU, now leading by 6. Greensboro hasn’t scored in a long, long time.

Another Pride turnover at 0:23, more FT’s coming….Yes βž• Yes, 59-51..

Great Game, despite the fact that Greensboro did not score over the final 6 plus minutes.

5:42 PM – Saturday….

Game #6 on Day #5 is about God and our Oldest of 9 Grandchildren…

Front Royal, Virginia – The Campus of Christendom College for a 1pm Tip…

Noah is now 13 years old and in the 8th grade. He has lived in Front Royal his entire life and plays Basketball πŸ€ for both his School 🏫 and in Rec league. Adventurous is the word for Noah and Thanks to spellchecker I was able to type it out !

The College is part of the USCAA, United States College Athletic Association. They have a banner hanging here in the Gym that reads USCAA Small College National Champions – Women’s Basketball DII 2024.

Today’s opponent is Bucks County Community College ofNewtown, Pennsylvania…

GameTime….

Noah is going to join the Jump Ball challenge today….

Here’s my effort…

Now, from Noah..

1st TO – Crusaders 11-4 (4:59)

Now 22-6, 11-2 run

1:25 pm – End of 1st, Crusaders up 25-11….

Christendom only has seven players, making it difficult to send in the second or third teams. Now, 37-17.

Down in Durham – Duke 69, Wofford 20.

Time Out – Crusaders up 45-17…

Half-time….

These young Ladies would make Kris Richardson proud !

71-24…

79-26, end of 3rd…

94-44, Final minute

96-44 is your Final at 2:36 pm

Game #5 on Night #4 is take 3 Granddaughters to the Arena Night !

It’s also Teddy 🧸Bear 🐻 toss night each of the trio will be ready at Half-time !

Winchester, VA – The campus of ODAC member Shenandoah University (Hornets) and they are hosting the Messiah Falcons.

It’s Date Night πŸŒ™ for Mom πŸ‘© and Dad πŸ‘¨πŸ’• so its a party πŸ₯³ of four Courtside…

Ana is 11 now and is in the 6th grade so she’s excited about attending Middle School 🏫 for the first time!

Melody is 10 years old and in the 5th Grade now. Both of the older two have their sights set on being teachers.

Madison is 7 now and in the second grade.

Tonight we root, root, root for the Hometown Hornets but its hard to pull against a School named Messiah…

Shenandoah 16-2 early on

We have nine Grandchildren all together, 6 Girls πŸ‘§ and 3 Boys πŸ‘¦, with their homes 🏑 being in Alaska (2), Georgia (2), Virginia (4) and Washington State (1).

Media TO – Hornets 21, Falcons 7 (11:46)….

Because we were all wondering….

2:47 (1), Hornets 36-16

Halftime…

Falcons are playing hard, just can’t get the shots to fall…

Media TO – 11:05 (2), Hornets 59-33

Media TO – 7:18 (2), 64-40… Falcons 7-5 in that segment !

6:52 – 2nd half tied at 24

3:05 – 73/48…Falcons playing much better in the 2nd half

1:58….77-48

FINAL 80 -48 @ 7:30 pm

Everyone still accounted 4 !!

Stop βœ‹ #4 on the Nine Games in 9 Days Loop takes us to the Village of Shepherdstown, West Virginia for some D2 Ladies Basketball πŸ€ !

6pm – Jump Ball here and it promises to be a fun evening ! I’m guessing that most people don’t know where you are in regards to Shepherdstown but here we are…

$5.00 tickets to see the Rams 🐏 host West Virginia Wesleyan πŸ‘€… The Men hosted Frostburg State last night πŸŒ™ and the Women take their turn on the court tonight…

WVWC is located just South of Morgantown so they had a 3+ hour Bus 🚌 ride over earlier today.

1972 was the first year that Women’s Basketball πŸ€ was played here. Fans are starting to file in out of the rain 🌧

Let’s Play ▢️ Hoops !!!

Players from Schools 🏫 that we have covered – Emma Witt (Staunton HS) for the Bobcats. Corin Edsel (John Handley – Winchester) and Makenna Painter (Central – Woodstock).

Shepherd is 0-2 and WVWC is 2-0.

The Gymnasium is an older looking version of Pulaski County High School 🏫 in Dublin, Virginia.

The Bobcats have one player from Egypt πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡¬, one from Canada πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦ and one from South Australia πŸ‡¦πŸ‡Ί in addition to 15 from the United States.

1st Media TO – πŸ‘” at 10-10

End of the 1st quarter has the Bobcats leading 16-14. Both teams are willing to push the ball up the court so the pace of play is enjoyable. Nice crowd in the Gym !

2nd Quarter Media TO doesn’t happen until 2:51. Bobcats 26, Rams 🐏 24…

Witt has scored the last four points on a bucket and two Free Throws. Bobcats are trying to pull away.

Halftime – Bobcats 33, 🐏🐏🐏🐏 24.

6:43 pm… Second quarter went 17-10 in favor of the visitors…

It turns out that Shepherd has an Alumni playing baseball ⚾️ for the Colorado Rockies…. kinda Cool 😎

7:00 – play has resumed….

3rd Quarter Media TO (3:32)….Bobcats still lead, 41-38. 🐏 14-8 over that 6+ minutes.

2:20 (3) πŸ‘” at 41 & 43…🐏 retake lead at 44-43. 20-10 run πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ

End of 3rd, 🐏 up 46-45, won the quarter 22-12. Table is set for excellent final 10:00 !

🐏 51-48 (7:47-4), πŸ‘” at 51, 7:00

Bobcats by 1, under 6

Thrilling contest…. 5:12, Bobcats 56-55

Media TO – 4:51….Bobcats 56-55

πŸ‘” 57, 59, 61…..Under 2:00

Bobcats score and call πŸ“ž TO, leading 63-61 @ 1:31..πŸ‘” 63, Final minute

0:18.4 – Foul called on Bobcats. FT- Yes & Yes…Jenna Liska (#0) has been huge down the stretch for the 🐏🐏🐏.

Bobcats miss a layup but get fouled at 0:05.4, down 2

2nd free throw bounces out, 🐏 rebound with 0:02.3, up 1

Foul at 2.5 left…. FT – Yes + Yes.

TO, Bobcats down 3 at 67-64

Great Look at a 3, bounces off the rim

Final Score – 7: 51…WOW πŸ‘

Congratulations πŸ‘ to Miss Future ❀ as she’s on her way to becoming Mrs. Future !

Adrienne Harris has been saddled with the nickname “Our Future ” since the day I met the oldest of Shelia and Marion’s oldest Daughter. The latest Big Ticket event in the Life of our “Adopted Daughter ” is to walk πŸšΆβ€β™‚οΈ down the isle with her longtime Boyfriend Brandon McGuire.

I am sure that Shelia will be plenty busy between now and the Big Day while Marion will be trying hard to keep the peace. We simply could not be Happier for the Young Couple to be!