The Lord Botetourt girls are off to a fast start under new head basketball coach Reneé Favaro. The Cavaliers won their opener at Brookville, then beat a scrappy team in Daleville last Thursday to come out victorious in their home opener.
“It wasn’t pretty, but we got it done,” said Favaro of the Salem win. “We are still knocking off some rust and getting used to new personnel and playing together. We are not where we were this time last year, but that is to be expected. There has been a lot of change in the lineup with losing three starters to graduation, two of which scored over 1,000 career points.”
Botetourt led 35-26 at the half and went on to a 67-41 win, outscoring Salem 19-4 in the fourth quarter to pull away. Miette Veldman had 24 points, 17 rebounds and nine steals to come up one steal short of a triple double. Meredith Wells had 15 points.
The Cavs opened the season in Brookville and took a 66-37 win in that one. LB led 29-23 at the half but came out firing after intermission and outscored the Bees 20-4 in the third quarter. Veldman had 34 points and a dozen boards, Taylor Robertson had 10 points and Wells had a career high 10 rebounds.
“Two kids who really are shining in their roles to me early are Briana Myers and Kenleigh Gunter,” said Favaro. “Briana has stepped into the starting point guard role and has been exceptional in handling pressure and being our energizer on defense and really sets the standard for how hard we want to play this season. Kenleigh returns as a three-year starter and continues to excel in her role as an all-around solid player for us on both ends of the floor by making excellent reads.
“What I love about this team is they are a great group of people. They so unselfish, sometimes to a fault, and celebrate one another’s success.”
The Cavs were scheduled to return to action at Patrick Henry on Tuesday. On Friday they’re at Abingdon and next Monday they play their third straight road game with a trip to Hidden Valley.
