The William Byrd girls have a terrific 16-4 record in basketball but, with the district tournament coming up next week, that’s only good enough for third place in the BRD.

The Terriers lost to William Fleming for the second time this season Tuesday night, falling to 3-3 in the district. Fleming and Lord Botetourt are tied for the top spot at 4-1 each, having split with each other.  Byrd lost to LB in Daleville but will get the Cavaliers again in the regular season finale next Tuesday in Vinton. That game could decide the top seed for the BRD tournament, which begins with a play-in game a week from tonight, on February 8.

One good thing about the post-season is that Byrd won’t have to worry about either Botetourt or Fleming in the regional. Lord Botetourt is a Class 3 team and Fleming is Class 5, while the Terriers are right in the middle at Class 4.

“The toughest team in our region is Carroll County, as they are just about every year,” said Byrd coach Brad Greenway.

On Tuesday at Fleming the Terriers once again struggled with the Colonels’ pressure defense in a 51-34 loss. Fleming won every quarter.

“We didn’t handle their pressure and turned the ball over entirely too much,” said Greenway. “We just couldn’t get into our offense often enough and they killed us on the boards. When you turn it over 25 times and get out rebounded two to one you’re not going to be in the game.”

Megan Grant had nine points to lead the Terriers.

Byrd went 3-0 last week. After winning at Salem on Monday they played host to Pulaski County on Wednesday and took a 46-38 win. Sydney Burton had 24 points.

“Pulaski played us physically just like they did the first time,” said Greenway. “We handled that just well enough to get the win.  We have struggled with teams that have length and play us physically.”

Friday was “Senior Night” in Vinton and Byrd took a 46-40 win over a scrappy Bassett team.

“Bassett came in and basically said ‘we’re going to take the paint away and give you whatever you want outside’,” said Greenway. “We were unable to make shots for the majority of the game and they outsized us big time inside without B(Briona Hurt) available to play. We were able to hang on long enough to find a rhythm in the fourth quarter and we started hitting shots, just enough and just in time.”

Burton had 13 and Jacy Marvin had 11 points for the Terriers.

The Terriers are at Staunton River for a girls-boys varsity doubleheader on Friday, then Byrd will open BRD tournament play next Friday as the third seed. The district tournament means nothing as far as post-season advancement, as the teams are basically just playing for a trophy.

“We hope to have Briona back,” said Greenway. “But I’m going to play a lot of people in the district tournament.”