The Lord Botetourt girls are red hot with the post-season upon us. The Cavaliers were on an 18 game winning streak heading into Tuesday’s Blue Ridge District championship game at Staunton River High School.
Results were too late for publication for that game, but all it meant was a trophy. Botetourt is the second seed, behind only Carroll County, for the Region 3D tournament, and that’s when the games become important. The Cavs swept Fleming twice during the regular season and Tuesday’s game was certainly one they wanted to win, but it wasn’t an elimination game. In fact, once the regional begins Fleming isn’t even in Botetourt’s VHSL classification.
“Beating Fleming for the BRD tournament title is a game we obviously want to win, but it will not have any bearing on our seeding for regionals,” said Botetourt coach Renee Favaro. “Those are set based on regular season play.”
The Cavaliers finished 19-2 in the regular season and will likely play the winner of William Byrd and Christiansburg in the quarterfinals at home on Tuesday, February 25th. If LB wins, the girls will play the winner of Magna Vista and Staunton River at home on February 27th in the semis. A win there would put Botetourt in the state tournament and advance the Cavs to the region finals on February 29th at the site of the highest remaining seed.
Botetourt came into the tournament on an 18 game winning streak. The streak continued last Friday with a 46-30 win over Staunton River in the BRD semifinals at Franklin County High. In that game senior Miette Veldman not only had a “double-double” but had 20 plus of each with 25 points and 20 rebounds. The 25 points passed Sarah Hicks’ career scoring record at LB. Sarah had 1,699 points to sit atop all scorers in LB history since 1996 and Miette now has passed that and currently had 1,705 heading into Tuesday’s game with Fleming. Veldman was already the career rebound leader, passing 1,000 this season.
“Miette is obviously an incredibly special athlete who is putting herself in the history books in two sports here at LB,” said Favaro, as Veldman also led LB to three state volleyball championships. “ I am very proud of her for such an unbelievable accomplishment and know the journey for her and this team is not over yet.”
The win over Staunton River didn’t come easy.
“We did not shoot the ball well against Staunton River, but we were able to grind out a win by holding them to 30 points,” said Favaro. “We also outrebounded them by 24 and that obviously gave us more opportunities. On nights where our offense is struggling, we always have the ability to rebound and defend. It was good to see us do those little things.”
With the win the Cavaliers improved to 20-2 overall.