Looking back at the latest Paladins victory in our Saved by the Bell πŸ””:The Cavalier College Years

Separation in the SoCon standings

Carroll County High School graduate πŸŽ“ Alyssa Ervin is having fun on the basketball court again with the latest proof being Furman University defeating homestanding Samford 70 – 62 on Saturday afternoon.

Most SoCon experts believed that the chase for the Women’s championship would be a three team race 🏁 and as the teams near the halfway point ( one game away), it would appear that is the case.

.They just missed out on the part where Furman University would be one of the three teams !

This weeks game with Wofford will decide second place and should be must see TV πŸ“Ί.

We are going to borrow from David Letterman by describing why yesterday was a fun watch with a Top Ten List…

Reason #10 – The sheer size of the Bulldogs logo in the middle of the court. Easy on the eyes πŸ‘€ and a constant reminder that the Paladins were on the road once again. Winning a league game is always nice but when they happen away from home they are sweeter!

Reason #9 – The duo calling the game added something to the telecast, start to finish. One never knows what to expect from the folks calling the ESPN+ games and this pair had game.

Reason #8 – Our Lady Cavalier had to sit down for all but two minutes of the second quarter after picking up her second personal foul. The four point lead quickly became an eight point deficit at Halftime. Ervin understands that you cannot make a difference in the game if you are not in the game. Total fouls at the end of the game for Christy’s Girl? That would be 2.

Reason #7 – Pierre Curtis showed everyone watching the absolute best use of a Technical foul. Feeling that Samford was regaining control from lack of offensive fouls being called, Curtis was whistled for a “T”. It fired up his team, got his point across and in the end it only cost him 1 point. In the final minutes, Samford lost two starters to personal fouls.

Reason #6 – The opening minutes of the second half. Furman went on a 7-0 run πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ in the first two minutes and Ervin scored five of the points after having only 3 at the break. Hitting the Floor running…

Reason #5 – The answer here is also FIVE as each of the ‘Dins starters finished up in double figures.

Perfect example of balanced scoring !

Reason # 4 – Basketball πŸ€ IQ – Late in the game, Alyssa brought the ball down the floor and could have easily fired up a shot. Instead, she pulled the ball back out to dribble off more clock ⏰ and then took the same shot to make it 64-60

Reason # 3 – In the next possession, Kiddo found Coyle open under the basket 🧺 for the game clinching score! One of four assists on the game.

Reason #2 – The latest victory (5th straight overall ) allows the team to go into the game with Wofford on a high note πŸ“. Playing a long way from home, this Senior less team has found a bit of a Grove and this keeps its moving.

Reason # 1 – I see a great deal of myself in this impressive young Lady. DRIVEN is the word and if you look it up in the dictionary you might see a πŸ“· of her.

Just like that….

Sunday, January 25th was supposed to be the Day for the Special Olympics Basketball πŸ€ Classic but Mother πŸ‘© Nature said ” Not so Fast “

Morning πŸŒ„ Brew
Mother Nature
School 🏫 Calender is Blank
Travis Osborne with his Bible Verse πŸ™ of the Day :

Psalm 25:1 Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

Have yourself a Blessed Day πŸ™Œ and stay safe !

Thoughts and Prayers for our VDOT workers….

Game 5 of 5 was simply WAC / wack ! Great way to end the Day long Hoopfest by watching πŸ‘€ Utah Tech versus Southern Utah University in the Burns Center…

80% capacity = Great atmosphere !

193 points scored added to enjoyment

Opening Jump Ball

Saturday highlights :

Write ✍ about both the Carroll County High School Varsity Basketball πŸ€ teams.

Watch Lin cheer on her Blue Devils on TV πŸ“ΊπŸ’™

Cedar City Trifecta : Watching the Women’s version of SUU and UT in person βž• the Duke Women and Furman Women on-line.

Snuck in a nice hike πŸšΆβ€β™‚οΈ and weather updates from back on The Hill.

Fun Western Athletic Conference tilt was the perfect flavor of icing on the Basketball πŸ€ cake πŸŽ‚….

Welcome to Cedar City ! The host of our Let’s watch 3 Party πŸ₯³…. and we go 3 of 3 as Furman earns a ” Gritty Win “

Festival capital of America
Welcome to America First Credit Union Arena.

2pm Tip – SUU Women

2pm Tip – Duke University Women

3pm Tip – Alyssa Ervin and Furman Tip

Lin captured the SUU jump ball and four seconds later caught the Duke – Pitt tip
That was the TV πŸ“Ί camera angle
Equal opportunity Homer today as my red SUU shirt πŸ‘• covers my red UT one. Get to pull for the home team twice today.

At the Half here in Cedar City, the Thunderbirds lead 25 -23 in a back and forth tilt. Up in Pittsburgh, Duke hit 50 right before the half.

Our friend, Allen Worrell has offered up the first weather update from The Hill :

Winter weather has commenced here in Hillsville. Seems to be a light snow/rain mix. It is 20 degrees

15 minutes and we add Miss Ervin to the mix !

Furman University is underway !!

πŸ‘»Ghostbusters moment with the jump ball…

Go SUU, Go Duke and Go Furman !!!

Media TO in the 3rd, Duke 66, Pitt 20 & SUU 32-27.

Media TO in the 1st – Furman tied 7-7 @

End of the 3rd quarter – SUU trying to pull away, 44-35 βž• Duke 76-30.

End of 1st….Furman University 19 -15 as our Lady Cav has 10 minutes and 3 points

Alyssa picked up her second foul early in the 2nd quarter and will need to sit for a bit.

Kinda wild that two games that started seconds apart also ended that way !

Duke & SUU win and now the focus is 100% on Furman University.

Alyssa only played 2 minutes in the second quarter and if the winning streak for the ‘Dins is to continue we need a second half rally…

70 – 62 victory for Ervin and Friends after they outscored the Bulldogs 22-11 in the final quarter !!! Five straight in the Win column….

Stand alone story later but we have to get back down the Mountain β›° now for the Mens game…

All 5 starters in double figures !

Meteorologist Allen Worrell of Channel 276 checks βœ” on from The Hill

Coming down good now. Roads are white

We snuck in a fast paced Hike πŸšΆβ€β™‚οΈ and are now getting ready to enter Burns Arena for the second half of the Utah Tech – SUU split doubleheader !

Remember growing up when you couldn’t go play until you finished your Homework ? Now that Anthony Barnes and I finished up his/ our story…..

College Basketball πŸ€ x 5, if you count my wife and her Love πŸ’˜ for the Mens version of the Duke University Blue Devils. Her enthusiasm for the game made it harder to write ✍ an already tough story to write.

The difference between the Carroll County High School Boys Basketball team and all of the 10 teams shown above is the work Coach Barnes us personal for both him and I. I would have given him a pass on participating in the story but was overjoyed he found some positive comments about a game that didn’t look quite right.

In order , when Lin’s game is over (6:08) we will head up the Mountain β›° to Cedar City for a makeshift triple header at Southern Utah University.

SUU will host our other neighborhood school, Utah Tech in a Women’s game at 2pm local time. The Duke Lady Blue Devils tip at 2pm here as well and then at 3pm we add Alyssa Ervin and Furman University to the mix. 3 Lady Basketball games at once !!!

After the Furman game goes final, we head back down the Mountain β›° to close out the evening with the Men’s version of the SUU – UT rivalry at 7pm.

So, to the Mothers πŸ‘© of our Varsity Cavaliers, tell them to keep their heads up and stay warm during the storm. We will live to play another day !

Duke University is leading Wake by 3 touchdowns now but is Lin going to want to leave early……I think not.

If anyone wonders why I don’t write about the Duke Men, its because while the World is short on many things, people  writing about or talking about that corner of the Duke universe simply isn’t one of them…

UNC and Virginia Men have a good one going on right now, just not on our TV…

Final minute……we got places to go….

Duke 90 – 66 (0:46.1)(0:18.8) Timeout, why????? 90-69 (F)

Next Stop βœ‹Cedar City !!!