Cave Spring outscored the Lord Botetourt girls by eight points in the second half to take a six-point win in the Region 3D girls basketball semifinals last week. The Knights took a 53-47 win to end Botetourt’s season.
The Cavaliers were right in the game coming down the stretch, but poor free throw shooting proved to be the difference late in the game. Botetourt made just 10 of 22 free throws in the contest.
“We got ourselves into a free throw contest at the end and unfortunately that has been one of our biggest weaknesses all season,” said LB coach Renee Favaro. “We also missed some layups down the stretch that we should not have. We were in a position to win, but were unable to execute. We desperately will need to improve our free throwing shooting and rebounding before next season.”
Seniors Grace Taylor and Briana Myers led LB. Taylor had 20 points and Myers contributed nine assists to go with eight rebounds.
The girls made the semifinal with a 57-43 win over Abingdon in the quarterfinal round of the regional at Abingdon. Botetourt outscored the host team 18-6 in the second quarter to take control.
“The girls played hard and we made a great run at the end of the second quarter to pull away and never look back,” said Favaro. “Thankfully, our transition game was good and we made layups because we went nine for 23 from the free throw line.
Jada Morgan led the scoring with 15 points, Taylor had 14 and Ally Spangler had 10. Myers had 13 assist and eight boards.
Botetourt finished the season at 6-4 in an abbreviated season that saw the girls miss time due to COVID-19 concerns.
“The best part of the season was just getting to spend time with this group of girls and allowing for them to have an escape from the crazy year it has been,” said Favaro. “I think they had a lot of fun just getting to be around one and another and I love to see that.
“The hardest part about the short season, with a lot of new team members, was the limited amount of practice and games. It never really allowed for some kids to get used to how we want to play and find their footing. We played 10 games and the last three seasons prior we played 30, 29 and 28, so it felt like we had barely gotten started and it was over.”
