The Craig County girls improved to 3-1 on the basketball season with two big wins last week. The girls defeated Meadow Bridge of West Virginia and Roanoke Valley Christian on back-to-back nights.
At Meadow Bridge the girls prevailed by a 42-33 score. Kailyn Jones had another big game with 29 points, 16 rebounds and three steals. Daileigh Donithan had six points and Kallie Fisher had four points, five assists and four steals.
“Tough Environment for sure to play in,” said Craig coach Brock Jones. “It’s always tough playing out of state, but we were able to clamp down and played some great defense to seal the win.”
Craig led the whole game, racing to a 16-8 advantage after one quarter and a 22-14 lead at the half.
“We fought through adversity and were able to come away with a tough win,” said Jones. “I was pleased with our youth. We start one freshman and four sophomores, so being able to play through that and show mental toughness was outstanding from the girls. I was pleased with them not getting emotional and just playing hard.”
A night later the girls were back on the road to play Roanoke Valley Christian and they came up big again, winning 46-28.
“Back to back games and long trip to West Virginia the night before,” said Jones. “We didn’t show up ready to play at all. We weren’t focused at all and were just running through the motions of being present. At halftime we got focused and fired up and came out to play Lady Rocket Basketball.”
The Craig girls only allowed seven points in the second half and RVC didn’t score at all in the fourth quarter. The Rockets turned on the full court pressure and played great man defense. Maddie Hurt of RVC had 20 points, but only six after intermission.
“I made the switch for Kammie Fisher to guard her halfway through the third,” said Jones. “Kammie knows and plays her role well. She was a pest on defense and Maddie didn’t score the rest of the game once Kammie locked her down.
“I’m constantly pushing the emphasis to Kammie about shooting the ball. She’s a pass-first, look for everyone else type of person, but defensively she sets in and you only have to tell her once what her role and job is. Outstanding job for us to get our heads right and come out the second half and ready to play.
Craig trailed 21-16 at the half but opened a one point lead, 29-28, after three quarters. Then the Rockets turned it on in the fourth quarter, outscoring RVC 17-0 to finish with a flurry.
Kailyn Jones led Craig with 17 points, 14 rebounds, five steals, four blocks and an assist. After four games she’s averaging 25.7 points and 19 boards per game.
Donithan had 11 points, four rebounds and two steals. Kallie Fisher had seven points, four steals, five assists, and three rebounds and sister Kammie had four assits, three steals and six rebounds. Jenna Boitnotte had five points, three steals, three assists and three rebounds.
This week the Rockets play the first game of a home girls-boys doubleheader with Highland on Tuesday and a home game with Narrows on Friday. They play at undefeated Bland on Saturday and wrap up the pre-holiday schedule with a home game against William Byrd next Monday, December 18.
