FINCASTLE – The Lord Botetourt girls were hoping to make it nine wins in a row Tuesday when they played host to Alleghany in girls basketball. The Cavaliers are at Northside Friday to complete their first trip through the Blue Ridge District schedule.
After starting the season 4-3 the Cavaliers have caught fire. They haven’t lost since falling to Floyd County, the top ranked team in Group A, nearly a month ago. LB won three straight in the Cave Spring Christmas round robin and was 5-0 in 2012 prior to Tuesday’s game.
Botetourt is getting balanced scoring in this run of success. Any of a number of girls are capable of leading the team in scoring, and opposing defense don’t know who to focus on.
“That’s when we’re at our best, when three or four of our girls are scoring,” said LB coach Chuck Pound. “We usually have four girls in double figures, and sometimes five.”
Last Tuesday at Rockbridge the girls took a 64-48 win over the Wildcats as Emily Wampler scored 18 points. Jade Lewis had 16, Meaghan Catron had 11, and Kendra Wood pulled down 13 rebounds.
On Wednesday LB beat a strong Brookville team, 53-48, as Lewis had 19 points and nine boards. Wampler had 18 points and Wood had a dozen as LB beat the Bees for the second time this year. Botetourt won a double overtime game against Brookville over Christmas.
On Friday the Cavs seized control of first place in the Blue Ridge District with a 61-56 overtime win at Staunton River. River led 26-14 at the half but the Eagles rallied down the stretch to tie it. The Cavs then hit nine of 11 free throws in the overtime period with Lewis and Wood both on the bench with five fouls. Ally Duvall and Miriah Martin picked up the slack underneath after LB’s best two post players fouled out.
“It was a strange game,” said Pound. “We probably should have won that game by 12 or 15 points.”
Catron had 19 points in this one, the third different leading scorer of the week. Wampler finished strong with 17 points, scoring 15 in the fourth quarter and overtime, and Lewis had 16 points and nine rebounds.
LB improved to 12-3 overall and 3-0 in the district with the win. Alleghany came into the week at 4-10 and Northside was 5-7 as the Cavs complete their first trip through the BRD.
Next Wednesday Botetourt will open the second half of the district season when they play William Byrd in Vinton.
