The Lord Botetourt basketball teams, both boys and girls, drew Abingdon for first round games of the Region 3D basketball tournament this week. The boys were scheduled to play at Abingdon on Tuesday and the girls were set to host Abingdon in Daleville.
The tournament continues with semifinal games on Thursday and the region championship game is Saturday. The winner of the LB boys game on Tuesday would play the Northside-William Byrd winner on Thursday, while the girls will get the winner of a Tuesday game between Northside and Cave Spring. The top two teams in the regional will advance to state tournament play.
Both the boys and girls participated in the Blue Ridge District tournament last week and were eliminated by William Fleming, the boys in the semifinals and the girls in the championship game. Both LB teams had players named BRD Player of the Year, Jackson Crawford for the boys and Madilyn Winterton for the girls.
Crawford is a senior guard who is headed to Emory & Henry to play his college ball next year. Senior guard Tyler Meade was also named to the first team and junior forward Evan Bannwart was a second team selection. The boys came into the week at 14-10.
Winterton, the girls’ Player of the Year, is just a sophomore. She was joined on the All-BRD first team by junior guards Taylor Orange and Ainsley Anderson. Gracie Huffard, a junior forward, was named to the second team.
Photos by Brian Hoffman
The girls were the second seed in the Blue Ridge District tournament and they played top-seeded William Fleming in the final in Roanoke last Wednesday. The Cavaliers fell behind early but rallied and held at 21-17 lead at the half. However, things went downhill in the second half and the Colonels outscored LB 38-13 in the second half and raced to a 55-34 win.
“They were able to run nine deep and depth is our biggest problem,” said LB coach Renee Favaro. “Their pressure and pace got to us. We gave up 20 offensive rebounds, 18 of those in the second half, and we also had 29 turnovers.”
Winterton led the way with 17 points for LB while Orange had nine an only four Cavaliers scored. The Cavs fell to 17-7 with the loss.
“We will learn from it and move forward into regional play,” said Favaro. “I believe we are in a good position to make the state tournament, but we have to do all the little things on the floor.”