The James River girls saw their season come to an end with a 47-37 loss to Alleghany in the quarterfinal round of the Region 2C basketball tournament Monday. Alleghany was the host team as the top seed in one of two eight-team brackets.
“The score does not dictate how the game went,” said River coach Ryan Firebaugh. “It was actually a closer game. We had to foul late to stop the clock and Alleghany made just about every foul shot. When you look at the scorebook for each quarter Alleghany did not score a field goal in the fourth quarter. You are playing pretty good defense if that happens. They won the game from the foul line.”
River stayed right with the Mountaineers through the middle of the second quarter before Alleghany went on a 12-2 run to end the half, going up 23-13. River cut the lead to six late in the game but the Mountaineers were able to hold on with good foul shooting.
Photos by Jim & Regina Devinney
Caitlin Canada led River with 12 points and four rebounds. Kelsi Maydian had six points and three girls had five each, Lexi McCullough, Keira Crawford and Audrey Benson. Honesty Liming had seven rebounds.
The girls opened the region at home last Friday and took a 56-36 win over Nelson County to advance to the quarterfinal round. The Knights ended the season with an 11-13 overall record in Firebaugh’s second year as head coach. It was another step in the right direction after going winless in 2021 and winning seven games last season.
“My girls played so hard,” said Firebaugh after the loss to Alleghany. “They could have very easily given up and moved on, but they didn’t. These girls have fight in them and they proved that time and time again all year long. We are heading in the right direction and we plan on building off this success we have had this year moving forward.”