The Craig County girls were hoping to advance to the Pioneer District semifinals and qualify for the Region 1C basketball tournament when they traveled to Covington on Monday.
Results were too late for publication, but Monday’s winner advances to the Pioneer semifinals and will play the winner of Monday’s game between Eastern Montgomery and Parry McCluer. Those two tied for first place in the regular season so they met Monday at James River to break the tie.
Craig finished fifth during the regular season, pitting them against fourth seeded Covington on Monday. The top four teams in both the Pioneer and Mountain Empire will play in the Region 1C tournament, so Monday’s game was also big because the winner would qualify for the region as one of the top four Pioneer teams. If Craig makes the region they would open with George Wythe, the top team in the Mountain Empire, next week.
The Craig varsity didn’t play last week but the junior varsity wrapped up their season with a 10-6 overall record despite playing with just five girls for most of the games.
Kailyn Jones, an eighth grader, finished the jayvee season with 204 total points for a 13.6 points per game average of 15 games. She averaged nine rebounds per game along with four blocks.
Hayleigh Flowers was second in scoring with 48 total points while Brooklyn Cayton finished with 40 points in 12 games before moving up to the varsity. Maddie Kendall finished with 22 points in 16 games, Jenna Boitnette finished with 37 points in 16 games and Kammie Fisher played seven games and scored 29 points before moving up for varsity.
Madison Underwood played four games when she wasn’t playing for the varsity. Daileigh Donithan played three games with 22 points and Kallie Fisher played four games for 22 points, averaging 5.5 points per game.
“I was pleased with the jayvee squad this year, with five players on the team mainly through the year and finishing with a winning record,” said Jones. “If the other freshmen would have played jayvee all season (Kallie and Kammie, Brooklyn, Madison and Daileigh) I felt that we may not have lost a game. The future will be bright for this class.
Jones is already looking toward next year and has plans for a busy summer for the girls.
“We plan to attend Liberty Team camp in June, and hoping for High Point camp, Roanoke, and East Carolina,” he said. “It will be a busy off season as we will be lifting and doing speed and agility drills two days a week as soon as the season ends.”