The Lord Botetourt girls ran into a buzz saw last Thursday when they traveled to Hillsville to take on once-beaten Carroll County in basketball. The host team took a 58-20 win over LB in a battle of Cavaliers.
The loss ended Botetourt’s season just one win shy of making the state tournament. Carroll County went on to win a strong Region 3D tournament by beating Staunton River Saturday night, sending the Eagles to their first loss of the season. Both teams advance to state quarterfinal play this week with Carroll County at 22-1 and Staunton River at 25-1.
Botetourt opened the region with a 59-38 win over William Byrd on Tuesday of last week in Daleville. Senior Ally Spangler led the Cavs with 19 points, Gracie Huffard had a dozen and Ainsley Anderson had nine points and eight assists.
That win set up Thursday’s game at Carroll County and LB, already a decided underdog, played without two of their best players, Taylor Orange and Brianna Wissemann, due to knee injuries. Spangler sucked it up and played with a black and blue ankle.
“We were just too short-handed on some core pieces to give a team of their caliber the fight that was needed,” said LB coach Renee Favaro.
Botetourt hung in for a quarter, trailing just 14-10 after the first period, but Carroll outscored the visitors 18-4 in the second quarter to open an 18-point halftime lead. The second half was all Carroll as they held LB to six second half points. Spangler and Huffard had six points each to lead the Cavaliers and Gracie also had 13 rebounds.
“We had a team with limited varsity experience, and I am very proud that we were able to win 19 games this year,” said Favaro. “Our seniors served as leaders both on and off the floor. All five are just fantastic human beings and I know they will be successful far beyond sports.
“Our five underclassmen on varsity this year have a ton we can build around moving forward. I saw all five of them make great strides this year and look forward to their future in this program.”
