The Cave Spring girls basketball team may have been suffering from the holiday holdover.
Saturday night’s headliner in the 3-day Knights’ Winter Classic girls basketball tournament saw the Lady Knights plagued by turnovers and cold shooting on their way to falling 49-35 to the visiting Brookville Bees.
“We were something like 12-for-37 from the field,” Cave Spring head coach Jessica Ficarro noted after the fourth and final game of the night. “And, we didn’t finish inside. That makes it tough.”
After trailing 20-15 at the halftime break, Cave Spring closed to within 23-21 with 3:46 left in the third quarter before Brookville finished with a 8-2 run that sent the Bees to the final 8 minutes with a 31-23 advantage.
Brookville took control in the final quarter, leading by as many as 17 before coasting to the final margin.
“We changed our defense at halftime and we were able to get stops in the second half,” Bees head coach Warner Dyke noted of his team’s turnaround. “In the first half we had too many turnovers. When we got some pressure defense going and got to the paint on our end, it changed things. We played hard tonight.”
Cave Spring was led in scoring by freshman Reagan Delp’s 16 points, including a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Senior Cassi Parulis followed with 11 points for the Knights.
Freshman Hannah Young paced the Bees with a game-high 17 points, while junior Kiala Marshall netted 12.
Earlier in the evening in an All-“Big-11” matchup, Lord Botetourt held off Patrick Henry 66-60 in a win that gave Botetourt head coach Chuck Pound his 300th career victory. The Cavaliers led 30-27 at the break and maintained that advantage until the final seconds before sealing the victory at the free throw line.
Botetourt had four players in double figures, with senior Kellen Spradlin leading the way with 15 points. Junior Molly Hassell followed with 14, while junior Katie Kimczak netted 12 and senior Kate Spradlin poured in 10 for the Lady Cavs.
Junior Micah Cobbs led Patrick Henry with 14 points, with freshman Alexis Conley scoring 12 for the Patriots.
In afternoon action, the Broadway Gobblers jumped out to a 31-19 halftime lead and never looked back in defeating Northside 72-39. The Vikings were led by soph Lexi Hueston’s 14 points, while soph Bailey Grubb added 10 for Northside. Sophomore Faith Funkhoussr led the Gobblers with 19 points, with fellow-soph Kelsey Landis chipping in 12 points for Broadway.
Action continues Monday when Northside opens day-2 with a 2:00 pm tipoff against Mills Godwin. Cave Spring tackles Patrick Henry at 4:00 and Lord Botetourt goes up against Brookville in the 8:00 nightcap that follows a 6:00 contest between Broadway and the Abingdon Falcons. The tournament concludes with a four-game slate on Tuesday.
The Winter Classic has made the Cave Spring gym the top destination for girls holiday basketball action in the Roanoke Valley.
“We came here three years ago and the competition is great,” Dyke said of Brookville’s participation. “Most of the time you’d be off for two weeks during the holidays, so this type of tournament keeps you sharp.”
– Bill Turner
