By Sports Editor Brian Hoffman
Both the William Byrd boys and girls won basketball games over Hidden Valley opponents at the Roy Stanley Memorial Shootout Saturday. The Roanoke College Cregger Center was the site of the four game event sponsored by the Salem Kiwanis Club.
The Byrd boys opened the day with a 58-44 win over the Titans, picking up their first win of the season. Byrd jumped off to a 24-11 lead after the first quarter and never trailed, upping the lead to 16 points by the half and 20 after three quarters before the Titans cut into the lead when coach Brad Greenway cleared the bench.
Seven different Terriers scored in the decisive first quarter and Trevor Ruble was high for the game with a dozen points. Garrett Hendrick and Ethan Hairston had eight points each while Israel Hairston and Jaiden Childress had seven each in a balanced Terrier attack.
“Hidden Valley opened the game with a really odd minute long possession after several rebounds and bounces of the ball, but once we got it back we got it rolling and didn’t look back,” said Greenway. “We had a huge first quarter where we got everyone going. I thought our energy tailed off a little bit at the end and we need to address that, but all things considered we will take that game every day of the week. It was good to get our first win and hopefully we can build some momentum off it.”
The Byrd girls played Hidden Valley in the second game of the day and took a 58-28 win. Like the boys, the girls led all the way, winning the first quarter 16-11 and opening a 34-16 lead by the half.
“I was very happy with how we played on both ends of the floor,” said coach Randy Bush. “Offensively we moved the ball well and played team basketball. Defensively we made some good plays with deflections that led to steals, which led to transition baskets.”
Emilie McCaskill led the Byrd girls with 19 points. Sophia Chrisley had 13 and Riley Firebaugh hit three three-pointers and finished with 11.
The win evened the girls’ record at 2-2, but the Terriers lost to Carroll County in Hillsville Tuesday, 71-22. Chrisley and Sarah Fuchs led Byrd with seven points each.
“We ran into a very good team that I did a poor job of preparing our team for,” said Bush. “We will learn from this and, moving forward, will use this game as a measure for our future progress.”
The boys are now 1-4, having lost at Christiansburg last week, 69-66, despite 26 points by Camden Richardson. Byrd fell behind early but rallied to lead 54-51 after three quarters, then let it slip away.
“There was a stretch of game from about five minutes to go down to three minutes to go where we had several turnovers, gave up some crucial rebounds and fouled shooters on second shots that was the difference in the game,” said Greenway. “It was a tough loss to swallow after fighting back from a double digit deficit.”
The boys were scheduled to play at Liberty High in Bedford Wednesday, and both teams will open their Blue Ridge District schedule on Friday with games against Lord Botetourt. The boys will be home and the girls will be in Daleville.
Next Monday both teams play Glenvar. This time the girls are home and the boys are at Glenvar.