The Lord Botetourt girls will open the Class 3A, Region C basketball tournament at home next week when the Cavaliers host Cave Spring. That game will be on Tuesday, Feb. 20, beginning at 6 p.m.

The semifinals and finals in the regional will move to Magna Vista on February 22 and 23. If two local teams play the tournament final could be moved to a site in the Roanoke Valley.

At press time the Cavaliers were getting ready to play William Fleming in the finals of the Blue Ridge District tournament. That game was scheduled for Tuesday night and it was the rubber match of what has been an entertaining series with the Colonels. Fleming won the first game on a last-second shot and LB won the second in triple overtime. Tuesday’s game was the last of the season between the two, as Fleming is a Class 5A school and would not compete against the Cavaliers in the region or state.

Botetourt went into that game with a 19-4 record and Fleming was 19-1, having lost only to LB. The Cavaliers reached the finals with a win over William Byrd last Friday in Vinton, 62-50. That avenged an upset loss to the Terriers just two days prior in the regular season finale.

“On Tuesday William Byrd did a nice job of taking us out of any rhythm on offense,” said LB coach Chuck Pound. “They played a lot of triangle and two on Brooklyn (Shelton) and Miette (Veldman) and sometimes Jenna (Alam). This helped to make the pace much slower than what is usual for us.

“On Thursday Byrd employed the same strategy that they did on Tuesday. They were very efficient offensively, particularly in the second quarter.”

Byrd led 36-25 at the half, but LB came out on a mission after intermission. Alam got red hot, hitting five threes and scoring 19 points in the third quarter.

“They left her open by playing the triangle and two on Miette and Brooklyn,” said Pound. “Scottie Cook and Kenleigh Gunter also stepped up big.”

LB outscored the Terriers 28-4 in the third quarter as Alam finished with a career high 24 points and also added four assists. Cook had 13 points and nine rebounds and Gunter hit two threes, played solid defense and got some big rebounds.

That win set up Tuesday’s district final as Fleming beat Northside in the other semifinal, 73-48.