James River High School will be the host site for four basketball games on Thursday night as the Knights take on Carroll County opponents. Two varsity games will be played in the main gym along with two junior varsity games in the old gym.
At 5:30 p.m. the varsity girls will play Carroll in the main gym while the junior varsity boys play in the old gym. Then, at approximately 7 p.m., the varsity boys are in the big gym and the jayvee girls play in the old gym. These will be key Three Rivers District games against Class 3 Carroll County.
The River boys are accustomed to playing strong competition as they play a challenging non-district schedule. River is 3-8 so far but 1-1 in the district with a win over Glenvar in their last game of 2019.
The Knights opened 2020 with Class 3 Staunton River on Thursday of last week and took a 60-49 win over the Class 3 Eagles. The Knights led 35-26 at the half but visiting Staunton River cut the lead to three at the end of the third quarter, 43-40, before the host team finished strong. Everett Bowman had 16 to lead River while Ryan Steger had 13, Patrick Clevenger had 11 and Heath Andrews was a fourth Knight in double figures with 10.
“We did what we had to do to get to the basket,” said coach Mike Goad.
On Friday River participated in the Chance Harman Classic at Floyd County High School and dropped a 59-48 decision to the Hawks. River was up 24-19 early in the game but playing two games in less than 24 hours took a toll.
“It was our third game of the week and their legs were gone,” said Goad.
Steger had 16 to lead the Knights while Clevenger had 12 and Bowman had 10.
The girls come into Thursday’s game with Carroll with a 4-7 overall record after dropping their first three games of the New Year. Things started off on a sour note with a 62-31 loss to Alleghany last Thursday as Lacey Lucado and Madison Brogan had eight points each.
On Friday the girls were home to Eastern Montgomery and lost a heartbreaker, 43-41 in double overtime. River had the lead in closing minute of regulation but the Mustangs were able to tie the game and send it to OT, then outdueled the Knights over two periods. Brogan had 18 and Lucado had eight.
On Monday at Radford the Knights dropped a Three Rivers District game to a strong Bobcats team, 59-27. Brogan had 13 in that one.
The girls will continue a tough district schedule this week as a home game with Floyd on Friday follows the Thursday game with Carroll. The boys are scheduled to host Floyd on Monday.
