Photo by Regina Devinney
The James River girls basketball team will host Parry McCluer Friday night in the final regular season game and it will be “Senior Night.” It will also be the last game of the regular season.
“Friday’s game is a very important game for us,” said River coach Ryan Firebaugh. “We do not have a district tournament and as of right now we are in third place in our pod (for the Region 2C tournament).”
River split two games last week, beginning with a 65-24 win over Radford. Caitlin Canada had nine steals to go with 15 points and seven rebounds while Honesty Liming had nine points and seven boards and Audrey Benson had eight points.
The Lady Knights jumped out to a 19-3 lead after one quarter and continued to add on, leading 33-12 at the half and then outscoring the Bobcats 32-12 in the second half.
“We came out fast from the start of the game and we never looked back,” said Firebaugh. “We played well overall. I thought it was one of the best games we played all season long.”
On Thursday the girls dropped a 56-41 game to Alleghany in Low Moor despite 24 points by Canada. Lexi McCullough had six points and five assists. River had a four-point lead in the third quarter before the Mountaineers finished strong.
“We came right out of the break and we set the tone for the second half, we just could not pull away,” said Firebaugh. “We extended our lead to four points and got a couple of stops right after but we couldn’t capitalize on Alleghany’s mistakes.”
With the loss River fell to 10-11 overall and 2-8 in the Three Rivers District. The girls are off this week prior to Friday’s home game with Parry McCluer, but it was a big week for coach Firebaugh nonetheless as he and his wife welcomed a new baby boy. Cooper Michael Firebaugh weighed in at six pounds, 15 ounces and 20 inches long.
“Momma and baby are doing great,” said Firebaugh.