“It got pretty ugly,” said Stewart. “We dominated the third quarter and made some substitutions. At one point we were up 21, but they cut it to 15 by the end of the quarter and then got as close as eight before we made some free throws to put it away.”

Kayla DeHart catches her breath before shooting a foul shot for the Highlanders.

Kayla DeHart led Glenvar with 12 points and Jessi Strom and Tanisha Wiley had 11 each.

“We beat them pretty good at our place, and sometimes when that happens the kids get a little lackadaisical when you play them the second time,” said Stewart. “And we always seem to struggle at Radford.”

The win gave Glenvar an 18-4 overall record to finish the regular season and an 8-2 record in Three Rivers District games. Both district losses were to Floyd County, the state’s top-ranked Group A team, but last Thursday in Floyd the Highlanders gave the Lady Buffaloes a scare. Glenvar led for most of the game before falling, 76-67.

Glenvar jumped out to a 12-0 lead at the outset and had the Buffaloes on the run. Floyd whittled the lead to 18-14 by the end of the quarter but Glenvar still led 36-31 at the half. Then Floyd roared back in the second half and it was tight down the stretch, unlike the first meeting when the Buffaloes pulled away.

“They made some shots, but they didn’t shoot like they did in the first game,” said Stewart.

Glenvar’s poor foul-shooting hurt the Highlanders down the stretch, making just 14 of 27 for the game and six of 14 in the fourth quarter.

“You can’t do that against a quality opponent,” said Stewart. “It was that kind of game. If we had gotten one or two more rebounds or one or two fewer turnovers, we could have won the game. It was a great atmosphere. Our girls like playing in that environment.”

Strom led the Highlanders with 26 points, just one off her career high. Wiley played a great floor game against the tough Floyd press and Morgan McKee played tough defense in the middle.

“She doesn’t get a lot of credit because she doesn’t score much, but she does what we need her to do and does a great job,” said Stewart of McKee.

With the win Floyd needed just one more victory to clinch the district, and that was expected to come Tuesday against Auburn. Glenvar will go into the tournament as the second seed, but that won’t start until the week of February 13.

“We’ll give them a couple days off, and coach (Billy) Wells is going to get a team together to play us a couple times to keep us sharp,” said Stewart. “I hate to go two weeks without a game. I was hoping we’d get a couple snowed out so we could play some makeup games next week.”

The Highlanders thrilled a packed house with an 83-74 upset of Floyd County last Friday. Floyd came in as a top 10 team in the state Group A rankings and having beaten Glenvar in the first meeting by 14 points.

Glenvar's Tyler Crockett rides a Buffalo on his way to the hoop in Friday's win over Floyd County.

Floyd jumped to a 36-27 lead by halftime of Friday’s game, but the Highlanders came storming back with 56 points in the second half to race to the win, including 31 in the fourth quarter.

“We’re a second half team,” said Glenvar coach David Redding. “I can’t say enough about our kids responded in the second half. It was a heck of game. It was a shame someone had to lose.”

If someone had to lose, Redding was happy that it was Floyd. The win moved the Highlanders ahead of the Buffaloes into second place in the Three Rivers District standings. Coming into the week Radford was on top at 7-0, Glenvar was 7-2, and Floyd County was in third place at 6-2.

The Highlanders were home to Radford on Wednesday night and an equally rowdy crowd was expected. It was “Senior Night” and “Glenvar goes Green Night,” with special green shirts and discounts for bringing recyclable items to the game. Last Friday’s game with Floyd also had a festive atmosphere.

“Give Martha Hooker some credit,” said Redding. “She did a great job getting everyone excited.”

Still, most of the excitement came from the play on the floor. Tyler Crockett had 24 points for the Highlanders while Jeremy Williams had 22. Karlyn East had 19, Shaq Bonds had 10, and Chris Hodges had six and did his usual yeoman job on the boards.

Caleb Tanner lit up the gym with 36 points for Floyd, including five three pointers. He had 19 points in the fourth quarter as the two teams combined for 55 points in that quarter alone.

“We did everything but tackle him,” said Redding.

Yesterday’s game ended the regular season for the Highlanders, and they’ll have almost two weeks off before the Three Rivers Tournament. The win over Floyd lifted Glenvar to 15-6 just two years removed from a winless season, and that seems like almost ancient history.

“It was so much fun,” said Redding. “A lot of the alumni came up to congratulate us after the game, and that’s special. They said, ‘coach, you got Glenvar basketball back’.”

On Tuesday the Byrdmen played another nail-biter, coming out a few points short. Byrd dropped a an 83-78 game at Northside after coming from way behind, going ahead, and then falling shy at the end.

Byrd's Zach Doss scores over Northside's Todd Dunbar in Tuesday night action.

“Been there before,” said Byrd coach Kevin Tuck. “We’ve had a lot of games just like that.”

Byrd trailed 22-8 after one period and it appeared the Vikings might be on the way to a blowout. However, the Terriers cut four points off the lead in the second quarter, outscoring Northside 24-17, and trailed just 39-32 at the half.

The Byrdmen really started finding the range in the third quarter, outscoring Northside 30-20 to take a three point lead. They were dialing long distance as Zach Doss hit two threes and Jaylen Board, Joe Barton and Tyler Goodman had one each. Byrd was also seven-for-seven from the line.

“When you get 15 points on threes and seven points at the line you should do okay,” said Tuck.

The fourth quarter was nip-and-tuck, no pun intended, as the game wound down to another exciting Byrd finish. The Terriers had the ball down two with inside a minute to go but couldn’t get one to drop and Northside’s Todd Dunbar was intentionally fouled. He made one of two, leaving the door open for Byrd as Tuck called timeout with 13 seconds on the clock and three behind.

Byrd’s Barton got the ball with the option to shoot or pass, and he decided to shoot. Barton hit a last-second shot to stun Lord Botetourt last week, but this time the ball didn’t find the mark and Northside made two foul shots for the five point differential at game’s end.

“We knew the defense would come to him,” said Tuck. “He had the option and he took the shot. We had a chance.”

Barton finished with 27 points for game-high, one more than Dunbar. Doss had a season-high 17 and Board had 11. The Terriers hit eight three-pointers from five different players.

The loss dropped Byrd to 2-5 in the district and 5-15 overall, but they’re still in a great position to advance to the Region III, Division 4 tournament. The top three teams in the district, Rockbridge, Northside, and Alleghany, are all in Division 3. Two of three Division 4 teams advance so Byrd has to only beat out 7-12 Lord Botetourt or 2-18 Staunton River to make the regional.

Byrd is home this Friday for a “big” game with Staunton River, and being a border rival makes this an interesting game none the less. Next Tuesday the Terriers wrap up the regular season with a trip to Rockbridge.

Last Friday at Alleghany the Terriers got hammered by the Mountaineers, 78-56. Zac Hill led the team with 14 points, but the Terriers don’t match well with Alleghany.

“They go 6’8”, 6’6” and 6’5” and we’re guarding them with 6’3”, 5’8” and 5’7”,” said Tuck. “At one point Joe(Barton) was guarding a guy a foot taller and 125 pounds heavier than he is. And Joe is one of our heavier guys.”

The Byrd girls scored 182 points to easily outdistance second place Rockbridge, who was 101 points beind with 81. Lord Botetourt was third with 77, followed by Alleghany with 62 and Northside with 26.

The William Byrd girls won the Blue Ridge District swim championship at the Gator Center last week. Top row, left to right: Coach Martin, Paige Crocker, Courtney Heck, Annie Lane, Emily Heck, Mackenzie Lingle, Kali Edsall, Coach Terrell. Middle row, left to right: Brittany Ritter, Jess McGuire, Sarah Vipperman, Kacy Edsall. Bottom row, left to right: Amee Creamer, Hailey Mills. Girls not pictured are: Spencer Biggs, Lauren James, Megan Liptak, Morgan Liptak, Briea Miller and Taylor Zimmerman.

“It was such a great night… the culmination of lots of hard work and dedication for these athletes,” said Martin.  “We had tons of best times.  It’s really rewarding to look back at where some of these swimmers started this year and then see where they end up.  I was also really proud of their team spirit on deck. The girls’ win was a real team effort and Coach (assistant Kyndal) Terrell and I are so proud of them.”

Girls champions included Kacy Edsall in the 200 Free and 100 Free and Kali Edsall in the 500 and 50 Free, breaking Erin Tudor’s school record. Kali swam a time of 25.05 to beat Tudor’s mark by .07 seconds.

Annie Lane won the 200 IM and 100 Breast while Mackenzie Lingle won the 100 Fly and 100 Back. The girls also won three relays with Lane, Lingle and the two Edsall girls sweeping to wins in the 200 Medley Relay and 200 Free Relay. In the 400 Free Relay the foursome of Courtney Heck, Paige Crocker, Emily Heck, and Brittany Ritter was first.

In the boys meet Lord Botetourt was the team winner for the ninth straight year and coach Ashley Stoneham was the district boy’s Coach of the Year. Zac Dehli from Staunton River was the boys’ Swimmer of the Year.

This one was closer, as LB had 108 points to 84 for Staunton River and 76 for Byrd. Rockbridge was next with 65, followed by Alleghany with 54 and Northside with 40 points.

Byrd had two boys’ champions over three events. Drew Vipperman won the 200 IM and 500 Free and Luke Gerig was 100 Breast champ.

This weekend the Region III tournament will be hosted by James Madison University. Competition begins at 3 pm Saturday, February 4. Byrd swimmers in the regional include Sarah Vipperman, Shane McGuire, Kacy Edsall, Drew Vipperman, Annie Lane, Paige Crocker, Corben West, Kali Edsall, Courtney Heck, Emily Heck, Luke Gerig, Mackenzie Lingle, Brittany Ritter, Andrew Crocker, Cole Inman, and Michael Reid.

This is such an exciting time of year with all the championship meets,” said Martin.  “Districts was a great kick off for Regionals and States.”

Botetourt scored 108 points to win the boys’ championship, outdistancing second place Staunton River by 24 points. William Byrd was third with 76, followed by Rockbridge with 65, Alleghany with 54, and Northside with 40.

Tyler Bailey and the LB boys won the Blue Ridge District swim championship last week.

Tyler Bailey won a district championship for the boys with a first place finish in the 100 Fly, finishing with a time of 1:00.92. He also swam on the first place 400 Free Relay team. The boys 200 Medley Relay team also finished first with a time of 1:57.85.

Other events where LB boys qualified for regionals included the following: Boys 200 Free-6th Brandon Pierson 2:29.69; Boys 200 IM–2nd Ben Brinkley 2:35.35, 5th Ben Miller 2:54.24; Boys 100 Free-5th Robert Switzer 1:03.39, 6th Austin Smith 1:03.86; Boys 100 Back-2nd Devon Jackson 1:09.08, 6th Hal Bailey 1:28.67; Boys 100 Breast-3rd Matt Simpson 1:19.37; Boys 500 Free-5th Brandon Pierson 6:54.39; and the Boys 200 Free Relay took second.

William Byrd cruised to the girls’ title with 182 points, and LB edged Rockbridge, 80-78, to grab second. Alleghany was fourth with 62 and Northside had 26 points.

The 200 Medley and 400 Free Relay teams were both second and other events where LB girls made the regionals were as follows: Girls 200 IM-2nd Cassidy Jackson 2:29.07, 4th Anne Chappell Barkett 2:49.49; Girls 100 Breast-2nd Cassidy Jackson 1:17.81, 3rd Kristen Blanchard 1:22.46; Girls 100 Back-3rd Rachel Wrotniewski 1:10.36; Girls 100 Fly-4th Rachel Wrotniewski 1:11.79, 6th Anne Chappell Barkett 1:20.72; Girls 500 Free-5th Marissa Schade 7:11.76; Girls 50 Free-6th Kristen Blanchard 28.41; and the Girls 200 Free-6th Julia Bailey 2:36.93.

The Region III meet is at James Madison University this Saturday.

Last Tuesday the Rockets hosted James River, at Craig, and dropped an 80-55 decision to the Knights. Andy McCarty had 14 points and a game high 15 rebounds in the loss, and he continues to lead the area in rebounding. Derek Persinger had 15 points for the Rockets.

Zach Towers goes to the hoop against Parkway Christian. Photo by Regina DeVinney.

On Thursday the boys played at Parry McCluer, which has proven to be a tough place for the Rockets in the past. It wasn’t any better this time as the Blues took a 75-52 victory. McCarty had 21 and Persinger had 11.

“It was one of our better games at Parry McCluer,” said coach CJ Crowder. “We always struggle up there.”

The Rockets also played Parkway Christian in Vinton last week and dropped a 68-51 decision. Parkway was hot from behind the three-point-line in the early going and built a 30 point lead at one point. Craig rallied, but the Rockets found themselves in too big a hole to catch up. Josh Looney had 18 points and Zach Towers had 10.

The Rockets were scheduled to play at home against Highland on Tuesday, but results were too late for publication. On Thursday the Rockets are at Bath County and next week they have Parkway at home on Tuesday and a trip to Bath on Wednesday.

Craig comes into the week at 2-14 and 1-6 in district play.

With the win the Spartans are now 4-0 in district play and 10-5 overall. Salem is the only team still undefeated in district games, as the Titans dropped to 4-1 with Tuesday’s loss.

Salem's Carlye Garst preps for a shot.

For the first half, it didn’t appear the Spartans were going to take the district lead. Salem scored just seven points in falling behind 16-7 at the half. Salem, who has a few girls battling illness, couldn’t use germs as an excuse for missing layups and open shots in a frustrating first half.

“I think they were just putting too much pressure on themselves,” said Salem coach DeWayne Harrell. “They were pressing instead of just going out there and having fun.”

Harrell didn’t light into them at halftime. In fact, he took quite the opposite approach.

“It told them it’s a simple game, just keep playing basketball and everything will be fine,” he said. “One good thing is that they weren’t blaming each other. Then they came out in the second half and played like a team.”

Tessa Foley scored on Salem’s first possession of the second half, then Maddie Price hit a three and Foley scored again. Tay Taylor tied the game with a running banker and then Amanda Dalton was fouled, sinking one of two as Salem scored the first 10 points of the second half to take a 17-16 lead.

From there it was nip-and-tuck, but Salem continued to play good defense and pulled it out. Kim Migliarese, who had an upset stomach, gave Titan shooting star Tyler Evans all she could handle. Evans finished with 13 but had to earn every point with Migliarese hounding her up and down the court.

Taylor led Salem with 14 points and five assists. Foley had 10 points and 10 rebounds and Carlye Garst also had 10 boards.

Salem also beat an improving Christiansburg in Christiansburg last Friday , 68-50. The Blue Demons hung tough for a quarter, trailing 13-12 after the first eight minutes, but Salem won the second period 24-15 to open a 10 point halftime lead. Taylor had 15 points, Price had 14, and Garst had 13 in a balanced Salem attack.

The Spartans will close out the first half of the district season with a Friday night home game against Pulaski. Next Tuesday they play at Cave Spring to start the second half.

“Now it’s in our hands,” said Harrell. “As long as we keep winning no one can catch us. This is about the time we got hot last year and I’d like to see it happen again.”

After starting the season 4-3 the Cavaliers have caught fire. They haven’t lost since falling to Floyd County, the top ranked team in Group A, nearly a month ago. LB won three straight in the Cave Spring Christmas round robin and was 5-0 in 2012 prior to Tuesday’s game.

Emily Wampler has been one of the top scorers for the LB girls.

Botetourt is getting balanced scoring in this run of success. Any of a number of girls are capable of leading the team in scoring, and opposing defense don’t know who to focus on.

“That’s when we’re at our best, when three or four of our girls are scoring,” said LB coach Chuck Pound. “We usually have four girls in double figures, and sometimes five.”

Last Tuesday at Rockbridge the girls took a 64-48 win over the Wildcats as Emily Wampler scored 18 points. Jade Lewis had 16, Meaghan Catron had 11, and Kendra Wood pulled down 13 rebounds.

On Wednesday LB beat a strong Brookville team, 53-48, as Lewis had 19 points and nine boards. Wampler had 18 points and Wood had a dozen as LB beat the Bees for the second time this year. Botetourt won a double overtime game against Brookville over Christmas.

On Friday the Cavs seized control of first place in the Blue Ridge District with a 61-56 overtime win at Staunton River. River led 26-14 at the half but the Eagles rallied down the stretch to tie it. The Cavs then hit nine of 11 free throws in the overtime period with Lewis and Wood both on the bench with five fouls. Ally Duvall and Miriah Martin picked up the slack underneath after LB’s best two post players fouled out.

“It was a strange game,” said Pound. “We probably should have won that game by 12 or 15 points.”

Catron had 19 points in this one, the third different leading scorer of the week. Wampler finished strong with 17 points, scoring 15 in the fourth quarter and overtime, and Lewis had 16 points and nine rebounds.

LB improved to 12-3 overall and 3-0 in the district with the win. Alleghany came into the week at 4-10 and Northside was 5-7 as the Cavs complete their first trip through the BRD.

Next Wednesday Botetourt will open the second half of the district season when they play William Byrd in Vinton.

William Byrd wrapped up the regular season this week with a home meet on Wednesday. Last week the Terriers lost to a strong Cave Spring team, as the Knights edged the Byrd girls, 92-78, and the Cave Spring boys beat Byrd 103-57.

Byrd's Kali Edsall catches her breath after a race for the Terrier swim team. The Blue Ridge District meet is next Wed.

First place finishes included the girls’ 200 Medley Relay team of Kali Edsall, Annie Lane, Kacy Edsall and Mackenzie Lingle. Drew Vipperman won the 200 IM and the 100 Fly, Mackenzie Lingle won the 50 Free, Kali Edsall won the 100 Free, and Annie Lane won the 100 Breast.

“It was a tough loss,” said Byrd coach Krista Martin.  “There were several really close races where first and second were separated by tenths of a second.  I was proud of our swimmers for really trying to get in there and race.”

Wildcats guard Andrew Rowsey is averaging almost 29 points per game and leading his team to the top of the BRD at the midway point of the district season. On Tuesday Rowsey had 26 points as Rockbridge defeated Northside, 63-50, to gain sole possession of first place in the Blue Ridge District.

Byrd's Joe Barton goes to the basket with authority in last Friday's home game against Northside.

Rockbridge is now 4-0 in the BRD and Friday’s game with Byrd will be their last in the first half of the season. Byrd coach Kevin Tuck scouted Tuesday’s game and came away impressed.

“He’s the real deal,” said Tuck. “He’s not physically impressive, he’s probably only 5’10” or 5’11”, but he’s quick, he’s a great ballhandler with both hands, and he’s a great shooter.”

The good news is, Byrd has a lot of players about the same size as Rowsey. How does Tuck plan to stop the district’s leading score.

“You really don’t stop him, you just try to contain him,” said Tuck. “You just try to keep in check. You don’t want him to go out and get 30 against you.”

Rowsey isn’t the only good player on the Wildcats, who are 12-1 overall. Rowsey’s backcourt mate, Javon Cress, had 19 points on Tuesday and is averaging 15 points a game.

“And they have a big kid inside who’s a pretty good player,” said Tuck. “It’s going to be a challenge for us.”

Byrd was scheduled to play at Staunton River on Wednesday night, but results were too late for publication. The Terriers took a 3-12 record into that game and were hoping to pick up their first district win. Byrd and River were both 0-3 in the district going in.

Last Friday in Vinton the Terriers gave Northside a scare before bowing, 59-55. As has been the case often this year, the Terriers fell behind, battled like mad to catch up, then lost a close one at the end of the game.

“That seems to be the recurring theme for this team,” said Tuck. “The kids never give up, but it’s hard when you have to come from behind all the time. You use up a lot of energy getting there, and then you have nothing left.”

Byrd trailed just 25-23 at the half but the Vikings came out smoking in the third period and opened an 18 point lead. The Terriers battled back and cut the lead to two points in the fourth but Northside held on to win. Byrd outscored Northside, 21-9, in the fourth quarter.

Joe Barton and Jaylen Board led Byrd with 13 points each, Zac Hill had 11 and Tyler Goodman had nine points. Barton also had six rebounds and six steals.

A night later the Terriers played in Martinsville and dropped a 66-55 game to the Bulldogs in a dogfight. This time Byrd took the early lead but Martinsville finished strong, outscoring Byrd 26-8 in the fourth quarter. Koty Collier led Byrd with a dozen points and Board, Hill, and Brandon Byrd had 10 points each. Collier also had 12 rebounds.

“We had the lead and then we just went cold,” said Tuck.

Despite the 3-12 record Tuck can see the team steadily improving. He feels playing in all these close games will pay off at the end of the season.

“It’s tough when you lose tight games, but we have a young team and they’re gaining valuable experience,” he said. “Luckily basketball is a tournament sport.”