The Lord Botetourt are out of the gate quickly in high school basketball, winning their first three games of the season. The Cavs were scheduled to play at Blacksburg Tuesday but results were too late for publication.
The Cavs will be challenged this week as they take on traditionally strong Floyd County on Friday in Daleville as part of a girls-boys doubleheader. The girls will play at 6:15 p.m. followed by the boys at approximately 7:30 p.m. The jayvees for both boys and girls will play at 4:30 p.m. utilizing both gyms at Lord Botetourt High School.
Botetourt opened the season at home against Blacksburg last week and took a 62-46 win over the Bruins. All nine Cavaliers scored, led by sophomore guard Madilyn Winterton with 13 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals. Taylor Orange had 14 points, Ainsley Anderson had 10 points and six assists and Abby Kingery was three-for-five from three-point range for nine points.
“This was a great team win where everyone contributed,” said LB coach Renee Favaro.
Photos by Jim & Regina Devinney
A night later the girls played in Forest and defeated Class 4 Jefferson Forest, 53-47. LB trailed 21-13 after the first quarter but battled back with defense and rebounding.
“In the fourth quarter we brought the pressure and were able to rattle them while staying poised ourselves,” said Favaro. “We only had nine team turnovers for the whole game, which shows our poise under pressure.”
Winterton lit it up with 27 points and 10 rebounds while Orange had a dozen points. Gracie Huffard had eight points and 12 rebounds and Anderson dished out 10 assists.
After a day off to rest on Thursday the Cavaliers were at Cave Spring Friday, where they improved to 3-0 with a 52-45 win. Winterton had 20 points, 11 boards and five steals while going six-for-six from the foul lie.
“Madilyn has been spectacular through the first three games, as you can see by the numbers,” said Favaro. “She is shooting a high percentage from the floor and the line while also doing a lot of the dirty work, and is our defensive stopper.”
Orange had 16 points and nine rebounds while Kingery grabbed 10 caroms and played strong defense. Huffard had five blocks.
“We did not play well on the end of having three games in four days, but we made some big defensive plays and hit some big free throws down the stretch of the game to hang onto the lead,” said Favaro.
“Overall, I am glad to have started off the week 3-0, but we have a lot of work still to do, particularly knocking down shots in the halfcourt and finishing through contact. I would also like to see us increase our pressure and force more turnovers so that we can play more in transition. We will look to improve both of these things this week.