AHS Boys & Girls Regional Quarterfinal Previews

Alleghany entered the Class 3, Region C boys and girls basketball tournament as the No. 7 seeds and both came away with first-round victories.

 

Next up is the regional quarterfinals on Monday.

 

 

For the Alleghany boys’ team, they will be facing the Valley District outright champions and No. 2 seed Spotswood in Penn Laird at 6:00 p.m. 

 

You know about your Cougars boys’ team, let’s give you a little bit of information and insight about the Trailblazers.

 

SHS enters the tournament with a 20-3 overall record and are riding a 15-game win streak following a 5-3 start to their season.

 

The last time Spotswood lost a game was on December 30th to E.C. Glass, who owns two wins over the Blazers this season. The only other team to beat SHS was Meridian. 

 

Spotswood entered the season having lost 9 players from last season’s roster.

 

However, the Blazers still have the reigning regional player of the year in Cam Pacheco who is averaging over 24 points per game. 

 

Pacheco is a part of the 1-2 punch with fellow classmate Tyler Sprague who is also around 20 points per game.

 

The rest of the Blazers roster are players who had no prior varsity basketball experience coming into the season. Yet this SHS team has still been one of the toughest teams not only in the region, but in the state.

 

But this is a whole new game now. The regional tournament is far from what a team does in the regular season. That’s why with what Alleghany brings to the table, a seasoned team with a bunch of seniors and a ton of experience in this type of environment would favor the Cougars.

 

AHS is averaging around 58 points per game, while SHS is scoring just over 70 points a game. If the Cougars are to advance, they will have to do what E.C. Glass and Meridian both did and that was containing the Blazers offense to under 50 points. 

 

Alleghany has a very talented group of players with youth and experience with their senior core which is what could come down to be the deciding factor in who advances to Wednesday’s regional semifinals. Not to mention the Cougars are one of the best transition teams on the fast break.

 

The winner of this game will play the winner of the No. 3 Staunton/No. 6 Heritage matchup in Wednesday’s regional semifinals.

 

 

The outright Three Rivers District champion Alleghany is matched up with the Jefferson District champion, Western Albemarle, for a 6:00 p.m. regional quarterfinal in Crozet. 

 

Let’s provide you with some insight to Western Albemarle. The Warriors enter the tournament having won 10 in a row and 15 of their last 16 games after a slow start to their season where they started 2-3. 

 

During their 10-game win streak WA has only given up 40 points or more only three times and eight times total in 21 games.

 

That’s what their 1-2 punch of senior Taylor Florin and Kate Voelmle take pride in is having a strong defensive team. 

 

The duo has played together all four years in high school, much to the likes of Alleghany’s 1-2 punch of Bryce Leitch and Kelsey Nicely. 

 

The Warriors have a strong frontcourt that is mixed with a ton of experience and young talent, including now junior Emma Schmitz who was the Jefferson District Player of the Year as a sophomore.

 

It’s been over a month since WA was last contested in a game which came in a 46-43 win over Salem on January 18th. That win began the start of their current win streak. 

 

Alleghany was able to get past a streaking Rockbridge County team in the first round after the Wildcats had entered the regional tournament winners of four of their last six in the regular season. 

 

The Cougars who forced 17 turnovers in their first-round win over the Wildcats are going to need another strong defensive effort to get past the Warriors.

 

The two teams are not far apart from one another. WA is scoring right at 55 points per game, while Alleghany is averaging 47. 

 

If Western allows Leitch to get open from 3-point range, the Warriors could be in for a long night. The same goes with inside the paint, Nicely is averaging nearly a double-double this season and they allow her any room for offensive rebounds then it will be an early exit for the No. 2 seeded Warriors.

 

The winner of this game will play the winner of No. 3 East Rocking/No. 6 Liberty Christian Academy matchup on Wednesday in the semifinals.