The James River girls will look to snap a six game losing streak when they take on two Three Rivers District opponents in basketball this week. The Knights were scheduled to host Radford on Tuesday, then play at Alleghany on Thursday night.
River has dipped below .500 for the first time this season after dropping three games last week to fall to 9-10. A tough week started with a 51-39 loss to Glenvar in Springwood despite 19 points and five rebounds by Caitlin Canada. Rhyan Harris had 23 for Glenvar.
“We just couldn’t get anything to fall in the first quarter,” said River coach Ryan Firebaugh. “We used a big second quarter to get us back in the game but we came out flat after the break and had a couple of costly turnovers which Glenvar capitalized on to build back the lead that they lost. We can’t have mistakes after we play so hard to get back in the game.”
On Friday the Knights hosted Carroll County, likely the best team they’ll play all year. Carroll jumped on top early and coasted to an 81-19 win to improve to 17-1 on the season. Carroll led 39-3 after the first quarter.
Photos by Regina Devinney
“Carroll could not miss,” said Firebaugh. “They hit eight threes for the game. They were shooting from Charlotte. They’re a great shooting team and just an overall great team. They will be competing for another state title in March.”
On Saturday River played Parry McCluer in the “Rock the Ribbon” event at Rockbridge County High and dropped a 40-33 decision to the Blues. Canada had 19 points and six boards and Lexi McCullough had seven points. Honesty Liming had seven rebounds.
“Parry McCluer took advantage of some turnovers we had, and they got some looks at the basket early in the game and they capitalized on them,” said Firebaugh. “I thought we were the better team, shots just didn’t fall for us. You have games like that where you can’t make shots.”
The Knights will get another shot at Parry McCluer next Friday, February 10, when they play them in Springwood in the final game of the regular season.