Friday, January 27, 2012
Floyd County, Group A's top girls team, stays strong
Floyd County clinches at least a tie for the Three Rivers District title with a victory over Glenvar and stays unbeaten in district play this season.
Photos by Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times
Floyd County's Haley Bolt (left) and Glenvar's Jessi Strom (right) fight for a rebound during Thursday's game.
Glenvar's Kelsey Meador (left) gets a hand on a shot by Amanda Hollandsworth of Floyd County. Hollandsworth scored 22 points in the Buffaloes' home win Thursday night.
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FLOYD - A rather imposing stuffed buffalo head rests high above the entrance to the gymnasium at Floyd County High School.
Fitting, since Floyd's girls basketball team scalped another victim Thursday night.
It was not the usual stampede for the top-ranked team in The Associated Press Group A rankings as Floyd County rallied in the second half for a 76-67 victory over Glenvar that clinched at least a tie for the Three Rivers District championship.
Floyd (19-1, 8-0) got all it wanted from the Highlanders as the visitors jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter and had the score tied at 64 with less than three minutes to play.
"I think they wanted it a little bit more in the first half and it showed," Floyd County center Amanda Hollandsworth said. "We were really worried at first. We went in the locker room at halftime and we all started talking. We wanted to play our hearts out and that's what we did in the second half."
Hollandsworth summoned a career-high 22 points and came up with three key steals down the stretch. She was backed by super freshman Emily Boothe, whose 20-point night included a jump shot that wiped out Glenvar's final lead of the game with 3:39 to play.
"We hung right with them for 29 minutes and 30 seconds," Glenvar coach Nick Stewart said. "Hats off to Floyd. They went for 32 minutes and got it done. It's a tough place to play, a great environment. I think our kids like playing in an environment like this."
Glenvar (17-4, 7-2) looked right at home from the opening tip as the Highlanders came out with a new strategy after a 68-45 thrashing by the Buffaloes on Jan. 11 in Roanoke County.
Using long inbounds passes from the baseline, Glenvar went over Floyd's vaunted fullcourt press for early layups as senior guard Jessi Strom scored 21 of her career-high 28 points in the first half.
Glenvar led 36-31 at halftime and increased the lead to 43-35 in the third quarter on a layup by guard Kanisha Wiley.
Even after the Buffaloes grabbed a four-point lead later in the period, the Highlanders answered and went up 61-57 on another bucket by Wiley with 5:01 remaining.
Freshman forward Maggie Wilbourne finished with 13 points for Glenvar. Wiley added 12.
"They came to play," Floyd coach Alan Cantrell said of the visitors. "I told the kids after the game a challenge like that will show what kind of team we are. Hopefully, it will pay off down the line for us somewhere."
Floyd hit 13 3-pointers in its first win over Glenvar including five early treys by guard Krista Cox.
This time Cox saved her heroics for the stretch run, bagging a 3-pointer with 2:49 left that put the Buffaloes ahead to stay at 67-64.
Maria Kuchenbuch added a stickback, then Hollandsworth scored on a post move for a 71-64 lead with two minutes to play.
The run was fueled by the defensive work of Hollandsworth, who ran down two of Glenvar's long inbounds passes and added a third steal by denying an entry pass to the high post.
"I just read the passes," Hollandsworth said. "I knew it was coming eventually so I just read it and it really paid off."
Glenvar made just 4 of 16 free throws in its first loss to Floyd and poor foul shooting hurt the Highlanders again as they finished 14 of 27 and were just 6 of 14 in the fourth quarter.
"They're deeper than we are," Stewart said. "It could have been legs. It could have been nerves in a big game.
"It could have gone either way. Our senior class has beaten Floyd a few teams, but it gives our young kids notice that we can hang with just about anybody if we show up to play."
GLENVAR (17-4, 7-2)
DeHart 1 2-2 4, Meador 3 0-2 6, McKee 2 0-2 4, Strom 11 4-6 28, Wiley 4 4-10 12, Wilbourne 4 4-5 13, Wright 0 0-0 0, Bixby 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 14-27 67.
FLOYD COUNTY (19-1, 8-0)
Kuchenbuch 2 0-0 4, Nolan 1 0-0 2, Hollandsworth 8 6-8 22, Cox 3 1-2 9, Bolt 2 2-4 7, Phillips 2 1-5 5, Lytton 0 0-0 0, Royal 0 0-0 0, Britt 1 0-0 3, Ingram 0 0-0 0, Belshan 0 2-2 2, Coartney 0 2-2 2. Totals 26 17-26 76.
Glenvar 18 18 15 16-67
Floyd County 14 17 22 23-76
3-point-goals - Glenvar 3 (Strom 2, Wilbourne), Floyd County 7 (Boothe 3, Cox 2, Bolt, Britt). Total fouls - Glenvar 24, Floyd County 24. Fouled out - Meador.
JV - Floyd County won 38-14.
