Brian Woodson Bristol Herald Courier
BRISTOL, Va. – It wasn’t pretty, but it was good enough for Virginia High School.
“That’s the Bearcat way. We like to play tough and we like to be physical,” Virginia High School head coach Kevin Timmons said. “We played defense. We want to raise our competitive level every time we play. We want to compete when we play. That’s just Virginia Highway.”
Virginia High School defeated Graham 12-6 in the final period and won a hard-fought 44-33 game against the G-Girls on Saturday night at the Bearcat Den, adding the Southwest Regional Tournament championship to its regular-season crown. Ta.
“It feels really good,” Virginia High School senior guard Mary Katherine Wilson said. She said, “That’s amazing, it feels really good.”
That wasn’t the case for most of the game for both teams, but there were five technicals in this game, including a close one with 1:17 left, when Wilson and Graham players dove for a loose ball in front of Virginia High School. There was a delay as no one could sit on the bench and peace was restored by coaches and officials.
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“She kind of pushed me a little bit,” Wilson said. “I was just rolling over trying to get her off and that was really it, and my teammates supported me.”
“I think it made a little bit more noise because there was a lot of noise in front of the bench,” Timmons added. “Both teams competed and played hard and I thought that’s what you want in a championship game.”
Emotions were already tense minutes earlier when Graham’s Ella Dales received a technical call for seemingly throwing a Virginia high school player to the ground during a scramble for the ball.
“The goal is to compete at a high level and play tough, but be smart,” Timmons said. “I thought the girls played very hard and were smart enough that when the whistle blew we were able to stop and stay calm after everything that happened. Credit to them and , credit to my assistant coaches for being there to iron things out right away.” Similarly. ”
Graham head coach Devonte Royal was pleased with the way the game was called, even though the G-girls were called for a first-quarter technical when Cadance Bowman showed up to celebrate a basket. It wasn’t.
“It was a terrible host. Let me tell you, it was a terrible host,” Royal said. “They didn’t have control of that game. This is what happens when you don’t have control of a game.”
Virginia High took an early lead, building a 23-12 lead by the halftime break, but Dales, who paced Graham with 10 points, led the G-girls, and Graham led the Bears 15-9 in the third quarter. They outscored the Cats, closing in on a 32-point lead. A basket by Sophie Scarberry started the final period at -29.
“I think we stayed calm and understood that basketball is a run game,” Timmons said. “They ran away, and now it was our turn to run away.”
That happened, and the G-Girls were unable to score again until Dales made a basket with 2:23 left. By then, the Bearcats were on an 11-0 run, with Charlie Carpenter making six free throws following a Dales technical. Carpenter went 11-of-17 from the charity stripe in the game.
“We can’t do that, we can’t go into a drought like that,” Royal said. “If you go into a drought like that, you lose. They won because we went into a drought. I haven’t received anything from them, but we just went into a drought. Only.”
Wilson, who had 13 points and seven rebounds, enjoys playing physical basketball.
“It got a little rough, but I know we have to stay calm and play the game together. I know we got each other back,” she said. “It’s a little bit of fun and it gets very competitive.”
Carpenter had a game-high 15 points, Hutton had nine points, including the Bearcats’ only 3-point shot, and Parris Martin had seven points and 11 boards, as the Bearcats swept the SWD championship.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been able to do that. Thanks to the assistant coaches, they were able to push me and make me better and make the kids better,” Timmons said. “They’ve steered us in the right direction. I really think a lot of this is because of our great staff. My staff has done a really good job this year.”
“And our girls, they’ve been through so much and they’ve competed so much. It’s tough for me to play. I’ll be the first to say, they were able to accept that challenge this year. , is growing every day. Thanks to their hard work, they have the opportunity to expand into this region and keep two trophies in their trophy case for a long time.”
Virginia High School, which scored 44 points from four different players, will host Union in Wednesday’s Region 2D opener. These clubs have split two meetings this season.
“Wes [Slagle] “They’re doing a great job over there,” Timmons said. “It’s going to be another great game. It’s nice to have a chance to try to get to state and play in the first round in the region.”
“We’re just taking it one step at a time,” Wilson added. “But I think we accomplished that.”
Graham, who has struggled the past few seasons, got nine points from Bowman and seven points from Scarberry as the G-Girls defeated Marion in Thursday’s semifinals to advance to the memorable SWD title game.
“Communication and belief,” Royal said. “Believing they can win, believing they can play with anyone, and I feel like that’s how we got here.”
Next up is a rare Region 2D home game on Wednesday against Gate City for the G Girls, but against the Bearcats they only made 7 of 21 from the free throw line and didn’t make any 3-pointers.
“It’s exciting just to play in a regional game, especially a winnable game,” Royal said. “I’m really looking forward to it. It’s been a while. I hope I can finish my errands.”
Dales 3 4-8 10, Spurgeon 0 0-0 0, Scarberry 3 1-3 7, Potter 1 0-2 2, Bowman 4 1-4 9, Hart 0 0-0 0, Spalding 1 0-2 2, du 1 1-2 3, server 0 0-0 0. Total 13 7-21 33.
Wilson 6 1-2 13, Martin 2 3-6 7, Hatton 3 2-2 9, Carpenter 2 11-17 15, McLeod 0 0-0 0, Davis 0 0-0 0, Alvarado 0 0-0 0, Barres 0 0-0 0, Page 0 0-0 0, Jarvis 0 0-0 0, Hartley 0 0-0 0, Belcher 0 0-0 0. Total 13 17-27 44.
Virginia High School 13 10 9 12 – 44
3-point goals: GR 0; VH 1 (Hatton). Total fouls: GR 21; VH 17 Foulouts: None. Technical: Dales, Scarberry, Alvarado, Wilson, Graham Bench.
Marion 67, Richlands 51
Aubrey Yarber made 5 of Marion’s 11 3-pointers and scored 29 points to lead the Scarlet Hurricanes to a repechage victory over the Blue Tornadoes.
Ella Moss added 18 points and 13 rebounds for Marion, which led 48-35 entering the final period. Macy Osborne led the Scarlet Hurricanes with eight points, seven steals and seven assists, forcing Richlands into 21 turnovers.
Allyn Reiff had a double-double with 18 points and 18 boards for Richlands. Addison Moore had 10 points, three assists and three steals, and Jaylin Altizer had eight points and five assists.
Marion will travel to Ridgeview for Wednesday’s Region 2D first round game, while Richlands will travel to play Wise County Central the same night.
Moore 4 0-0 10, Addison 2 1-1 6, Altizer 3 1-2 8, Hale 1 2-4 4, Life 6 6-10 18, Compton 0 0-0 0, Barnett 2 1-2 5. 18 11-19 51.
Osborn 2 2-2 8, Moss 6 4-4 18, Preston 2 0-0 5, Yarber 12 0-0 29, Burchett 1 2-2 4, Russell 0 0-0 0, Reynolds 0 0-0 0, Widener 1 0-0 3, Amos 0 0-0 0. Total 24 8-8 67.
Richlands 12 14 9 16 – 51
Marion 20 15 13 19 – 67
3-Point Goals: RL 4 (Moore 2, Addison, Altizer); MR 11 (Yarber 5, Osborne 2, Moss 2, Preston, Widener). Total fouls: RL 13; MR 14. Fouled out: None. Technical aspects: None.
