The James River girls defeated Glenvar for the first time in recent memory Friday night, then took a non-district win over Craig County on Monday to run their record to 6-2 on the season.
“These girls work hard day in and day out in practice and in games,” said coach Ryan Firebaugh. “They accept every challenge that is placed on them and they accomplish it. I am so proud of this team.”
Last Friday in Springwood the girls took a 43-32 win over Glenvar in a key Three Rivers District game. The Knights led 24-16 at the half, but Glenvar cut the lead to four after the third quarter, only to have River dominate down the stretch for a big win.
“We started the game sloppy but fixed it real quick,” said Firebaugh. “Our girls wanted it. We outrebounded Glenvar 51-39 and outscored them in every quarter but the third.”
River had three girls in double figures, Caitlin Canada with 16, Honesty Liming with 13 and Lexi McCullough with a dozen. McCullough and Reagan Hester had 11 rebounds each and Lexi also had five assists and three steals.
“We came up big down the stretch of the game,” said Firebaugh. “We went to the line 13 times in the fourth quarter and connected on nine of them. We won this game at the foul line. Those were big shots, that we needed down the stretch, and we answered.”
On Monday night the girls played Craig County in New Castle and took a 44-31 win. McCullough had 15 points, six boards and nine steals. Canada had a dozen points and Liming had 13 rebounds.
Again, free throws were River’s friend.
“It was a physical game and we were shooting two shots with 2:50 left in the first quarter,” said Firebaugh. “I told the girls to take the ball to the basket and expect contact and finish this game at the charity stripe. The girls did just that. As scrappy and physical as the game was, the girls answered every time Craig would score.”
The Knights were scheduled to play Carroll County on Tuesday and a Friday game with Radford was postponed. River will play in the “Rock the Ribbon” event at Rockbridge County High School on Saturday. The Knights are matched up with Parry McCluer in the 8:30 p.m. game.
