Coach Vickey Ritchie reports that a good number of athletes from Carroll County Special Olympics were privileged to participate in Night to Shine at The Rock, a local church in Galax, VA, along with many other members of the special-needs community. Volunteers from the community turned out to cheer as each king or queen came through the door, and then it was on to a fun night of dancing, karaoke, and food.
The church and many helpers work hard to make this an event that honors each attendee. Chief Mike Ayers and several members of the Galax Fire Department form an honor guard to escort Kings and Queens from the limo to the red carpet to go inside. The music plays from six till nine, and the dance floor is always full.
Proud to list Tim Tebow as my inspirational 🙌 guide, Proud to know Coach Vickey 💙
Greg Talley and Bill Gallimore captured the opening tip !
The Hill – The 1990 National Championship game in Men’s Basketball had a final score of UNLV 103, Duke 73. The thirty point beat down still ranks as one of the most lopsided ever.
Flash back to January 20th of this year and Carroll County High School traveled over to Martinsville and the Bulldogs plowed our Cavaliers 73 – 43. Thirty point loss with the number 73 in the score.
Back to tonight, where my only hope was PLEASE let us stay on the floor with these guys this time. The exact same thing I was praying 🙏 to the Basketball Powers to be when Duke had to face an undefeated UNLV team in the Semi-finals the following year. Somehow Duke not only managed to not get run off the court but Grant Hill and Christian Laetner won the game that night.
When Marion Harris mentioned that the new Martinsville coach had Grant Hill playing for him up in Reston 40 years ago, it started me thinking about MAGIC.
When Blake Reed came out of the gates by scoring the games first eight points it caused another flash back. Back when Cody Reece personally outscored eventual State Champion Spotswood 9-2.
Yes, 90 seconds into the game the score was Blake Reed 8, State #1 team 0 !!!
Senior Isaiah Easter tapped Reed on the shoulder and said, little fella, catch your breath and then he scored 8 straight points. Carroll County led 16 – 6 after the opening quarter and even Coach Barnes was thinking about MAGIC.
” I really thought we were going to steal it, pregame talk you could see the look in their eyes! I’m proud, disappointed, emotional roller coaster . 🎢”
The Cavaliers were once again playing without injured Hayden Jackson and Landon Kinder (6 points ) did a tremendous job as the sixth man.
Easter finished up with a game high 18 points but the question was, could this really happen ? Martinsville has only dropped three games this season and all three took place in a Christmas 🎄 tournament in Tidewater right after the point guard suffered a hand injury. All three teams that did get the best of them were from larger classifications.
The Cavaliers suffered two gut punches early in the second quarter. One was Barnes getting drilled by a wayward pass that got on top of them in a heartbeat and the other was a 9-0 run 🏃♂️ to make it 16-15. Reed stopped the streak with an old school And One. Two more moments in the second quarter stood out for CCHS, one involving Trace Reavis (7 points ) and the other one with Colton Gravley.
Right after Kinder finished a fast break on the other end, Reavis sacrificed his body in taking a charge. No flinching for the Senior as he immediately jumped to his feet and celebrated his accomplishment.
The ” Jump Ball ” call involving Gravley was simply scary, at least to me from my point of view. Barnes had Nathan Jones check him out after the game and we have an all clear but there’s no way our Junior won’t be sore tomorrow when the Cavaliers play Floyd County. The elbow that caught his head was absolutely unintentional but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.
Easter closed out a non-stop first half with a lay-up just before the buzzer as Carroll County took a 27 – 22 lead into the break.
Martinsville opened the third quarter with a 7-0 run and appeared to be in position for the dreaded blow out. Freshman Will Motley ( 4 points) slowed the roll with a lay-up to not it at 29-29. Later in the quarter, Gravley took another shot and I felt this one through the computer 🖥 screen but our Cavs kept a coming.
Reavis scored on a third attempt and Kinder finished another fast break as Carroll County was only down two heading into the final quarter ( 35-37).
Easter tied it up one last time with two free throws but Martinsville switched from a run and gun barrage of 3-point attempts to a more physical game. Give them credit for the adjustment as it led them to a 22 – 13 fourth quarter advantage.
Carroll County did have one final push late as in a span of 22 seconds Reavis scored an And One and Easter drilled an NBA 3-pointer to close it to 55-48. But that was as close as the team would get the rest of the way.
The five games in six days circus 🎪 wraps up tomorrow when the Cavaliers square off with the Buffalo 🐃es.
Martinsville won the Junior Varsity game 62 – 21, showing that the Bulldogs will not be a one year flash in the pan.
There is a lot that can be said about the game but my take is this – darn proud 👏 of our Cavaliers and I am glad that Colton is alright !
Mr DeHaven reports that the Boys 👦 trail at home 43 – 15 and the Girls trail ( seen above), 20-13.
The Girls side has been an exchange of runs 🏃♂️ as M’Ville raced out to an 12-4 lead before the Lady 👩 Cavaliers tied it at 13-13. Hayden Heflin scored four points during the stretch. The home team closed out the half on a 7-0 run to get us to 20-13.
Four games between the two schools 🏫 tonight and we will do our best to keep an eye 👁 on them for you!
Both Kevin DeHaven and Greg Talley share the JV Boys final. CCHS falls to a talented bunch of Bulldogs, 62 -21
Three of these four pics come from Mrs Velvet Leonard 💖 and 1 from my computer 🖥. Pretty easy, right ?
JV Girls 👧 Basketball falls short over in the Dawg Pound 💷. 47 – 29
Greg Talley captured the jump ball !
Yes, that is Marion Harris on the call…
Carroll County 16 -6 after 1st quarter !!!
Blake Reed scored the first eight and then Isaiah Easter matched his eight.
Martinsville 37, Cavaliers 35 Boys end 3rd
Martinsville 30, Cavaliers 23 , Girls end of 3rd.
Boys, 1:51 (4), trailing 48 – 42
At 1:35, Boys 👦 down 9, 51 – 42
Wow, Anthony Barnes received a 🚢load of effort tonight.
Here are some fun thoughts about the Thursday night victory over to Western Carolina University Catamounts…
Yes, Miss Ervin led the way in scoring as she once again reached the land of Crooked Numbers with 20 points! It’s the fifth time this season that our Sophomore has reached that platue in Purple.
The surprising loss for East Tennessee State University gave the Buccaneers a fourth league loss and creates some space as the Paladins look to head to Ashville for the SoCon tournament here in a few weeks. Both Mercer and ETSU sit at 5-4 now.
It was great to see Miss Kyraha Parnell back on the floor last night ! It was only five quiet minutes but its been a while since the injury and having her back can prove to be HUGE.
One of the most exciting things about keeping up with Alyssa through the efforts of ESPN+ is listening to the rotation of announcers as they describe the play of our All-Time scoring leader.
Last night was a new one as the term scrappy was used and that one made me smile. Kiddo certainly plays with an edge and I agree that it has a carryover effect on the team ! Emotion is certainly a part of the player from The Hill.
The team will have today as a practice day and then continue their tour of North Carolina on Saturday with a stop ✋ at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro.
Final reason for smiling took place at the start of the third quarter. Scrappy outscored the Catamounts 9-2 in the opening minutes of the second half to turn a 30-19 lead into 39-21.
Victory #15 guarantees the team will finish up with a minimum of a .500 season but Pierre Curtis and his group of overactivers have lofty goals for the next three weeks !
Morning 🌄 BrewHoward Mayo and his Motovational Nugget for the Day :Amen 🙏!Travis Osborne and his Bible Verse of the Day :
Colossians 1:10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Travis also tells us that our Travel Volleyball 🏐 will be heading out of town again this weekend…
Our Rampage Ladies are set to travel to Rocky Mount NC for some Volleyball action this weekend!!🏐🏐
Day 75/90 will be an exciting one for us as for the third time we will be heading out to the Airport to pick up a visitor !
Have yourself a Blessed Day 🙌!
Golden Bears 🐻 Baseball ⚾️ is back in action 🎬 tonight down in Marion, North Carolina !
Tonight is a special Night around the Globe 🌎 as Tim Tebow and his foundation Celebrate A Night to Shine ! We know that Vickey Ritchie will be busy today and having worked the event myself in the past, I know what it means to the participants 💘.
A.S.P.N on The Hill 