The Shadow
After splitting their regular season meetings 1-1 in Three Rivers District play, it was the Radford Bobcats (15-6) girls basketball team that won the rubber match as the Bobcats held the Alleghany Mountaineers Lady Mounties (17-7) to 34 points as they won the Class 2 Region C championship game, 47-34, at the Cregger Center at Roanoke College Friday evening.
In a game that was evenly matched between the two schools, it was an early second-quarter run that proved to be the deciding factor and turning point of the championship game.
Following a first quarter in which both teams went back and forth scoring, with neither team building a lead no more than four points, the two teams ended the quarter tied at 12-12. The Bobcats would start the second quarter on an 8-0 scoring run to take a 20-12 lead.
It was a lead that the Bobcats would build on for the rest of the game and would never allow for the Lady Mounties to get back into.
The Bobcats put together a tough defense in the second quarter that held the Lady Mounties scoreless through the first three and a half minutes while they were building their unanswered scoring run. The Bobcats defense held the Lady Mounties to just five second quarter points and took a 24-17 by the end of the first half.
The first half deficit for the Lady Mounties grew in the third quarter up to double digits as the Bobcats maintained the lead they built in the first half by taking a 12 point lead (35-23) into the final quarter of the championship game.
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Mounties were able to cut the lead back down to single digits. Trailing 39-27, Bryce Leitch, blocked a shot, which led to a Kendell Keene three-pointer that cut the lead down to nine points with just over three minutes left in the game. On the ensuing possession on offense for the Bobcats, Macyn Cash, stripped the ball away and drove the length of the court and barely missed making a floating runner (a shot she’s made all season long) as it was in and out. It would of cut the lead down to seven points. Ultimately, the Bobcats would close out the final three minutes outscoring the Lady Mounties 8-4 to seal the victory.
The Bobcats made 12-of-15 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Mounties did all they could and more to stay in the game, even while down double digits as the team would show signs of spurts to get back in the game, but never were able to close the gap enough at the end to make it a one or two possession game.
Three-point shooting was ultimately the Lady Mounties kryptonite as the team shot 3-for-23 from behind the arc. The team struggled to get the shot to drop, while also having to credit the Bobcats defense for helping that cause for the shots not dropping.
After a 12-point first quarter, the Lady Mounties were held to just 22 points across the final three quarters.
The region champions were led by Laney Cline’s team-high (and tied for game-high) 13 points, while Jada Dean, scored 12 points.
Macyn Cash, led the team with a team-high 13 points (tied with Cline for game-high). Cash, also brought down a team-high eight rebounds. Meanwhile, Erin Harden recorded 10 points for the Lady Mounties, while Kendell Keene chipped in with nine points.
While the bench/role players for the Lady Mounties did not score, the in-game presence of Kelsey Nicely, Zamera Hayslett, and Leitch, was a huge lift for the team as they helped keep the Mountaineers in the game with their defense, physicalness, and their all-around play. Their presence alone was enough to help lift the rest of the team.
The 34 points from the Lady Mounties was the teams third lowest output this season. Back on February 1st, the team recorded their lowest scoring game with 26 points in a loss at Carroll County. On January 12th, the team scored 29 in a loss at Glenvar.
The Lady Mounties clinched a spot in the State Tournament last Monday following their region semifinals victory Nelson County. The Lady Mounties will will travel on Friday to play the Region D Champions, Central-Wise Warriors (23-5) of the Mountain Region, in the state tournament. The Warriors are currently riding a 13-game winning streak heading into the state tournament.
Central-Wise defeated Gate City 47-44 on Saturday to win the Region D tournament.
Meanwhile, for the Class 2 Region C champions, they will host Gate City in the Class 2 state quarterfinal. Had the Mountaineers won the region championship, they would have been the ones hosting the state quarterfinals.
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Ttl
AHS 12 5 6 11 34
RHS 12 12 11 12 47
Mountaineers scorers: Cash 13, Harden 10, Keene 9, Phillips 2
Bobcats scorers: L. Cline 13, Dean 12, Conner 6, H. Cline 2, Hal. Whitt 9, Han. Whitt 3, Phillips 2
