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A remarkable season came to an end for the Parry McCluer High School girls basketball team with a 54-50 loss to Fort Chiswell in the Region 1C semifinals on Friday night at Pulaski County High School.
The game was a back-and-forth battle, but Fort Chiswell, the second seed from the Mountain Empire District, went 5-of-6 from the free throw line in the final stretch to secure the win and a berth in the Class 1 state tournament. The Pioneers snapped the Blues’ 14-game winning streak.
On Saturday at Virginia Tech, the Pioneers (20-8) outlasted Eastern Montgomery 52-50 in the Region 1C championship game. Both Fort and EM advanced to the Class 1 state tournament. EM had suffered a 55-51 double- overtime loss to the Blues in the Pioneer District finals on Feb. 17 in Buena Vista.
Blair Jackson led the Pioneers with 26 points, scoring 15 points in the second half. Sadie Robinson added 15 points on five 3-pointers in the first half, and Kara King chipped in 12 points.
Senior Anna Claytor led the Blues (22-3), the top seed from the Pioneer District, with 18 points. Victoria Hamilton added 14 points for PM. Chipping in five points each for the Blues were Natalie Mohler, Addisen Roberts and Payton Emore, while Tatyana Turner had three points.
The Pioneers shot well early in the game, hitting five 3-pointers, with Robinson sinking four triples. The Blues weathered the storm and knocked down some shots to cut Fort’s lead to 19-16 by the end of the first quarter. PM continued to attack the basket and took a 30-27 lead into halftime.
The Blues carried the momentum into the second half, going up by seven points midway through the third quarter, but Fort battled back and took a 41-38 lead into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, PM cut Fort’s lead to 49-48 with a little over a minute to play. PM then had a one-and-one free throw attempt and missed the shot, but the Blues got the offensive rebound and had a great look at the basket but couldn’t get the shot to fall. The Blues then had to resort to fouling the Pioneers, as Fort sealed the win at the free throw line.
It was an impressive year for the Blues, especially after they graduated seven seniors from last year’s team, which went 26-2 and won the Region 1C title before falling in the Class 1 state semifinals t o Honaker, which went on to win its third consecutive state championship.
In the Pioneer District, PM went 8-1 and won the regular-season and tournament titles for the third consecutive year. Outside of
, the district, the Blues won a pair of games against their county rival, Class 3 school Rockbridge County, and also beat Class 2 school James River twice.
Reviewing the year, PM head coach Adam Gilbert said, “For us to graduate a successful group of seven seniors from a season ago and to have the season that we ended up having, I couldn’t be prouder of a group. This group was a really fun group to show up and come to work every day with.”
“I don’t think many folks on the outside gave this group much credit going into the season, but they worked hard and improved throughout the season,” added Gilbert. “They were essentially one half away from getting this program back to the state tournament for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. They have a lot to be proud of. They accomplished much more than many folks thought they could.”
The Blues will graduate just one senior, Claytor, who ended her career with 1,174 points and more than 500 rebounds.
Addressing Claytor’s impact on the Blues, Gilbert said, “Anna Claytor was a very good player for us over the last four years. … We will miss her leadership skills on and off the floor. Other folks are going to have to step up in that department. She was a key contributor to three regular season Pioneer District titles, three Pioneer District tournament championships, one Region 1C runner-up finish, one Region 1C Championship, and one final four [state semifinal] appearance.”
Gilbert added that he is “very thankful for all of her hard work and dedication to our program.. I’m going to miss being around her on a daily basis next season, and I will miss writing #11 with Anna Claytor beside that number in the scorebook next season.”
The PM coach looks for the younger players to step up next year. This year, the Blues had five juniors and four sophomores.
“We will have to get back to work this offseason,” said Gilbert. “We have a lot of work to do between now and November.”
Hamilton scored 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds as PM earned a 48-34 home win over Galax in the Region 1C quarterfinals on Tuesday of last week in Buena Vista.
Claytor added 12 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks for the Fighting Blues, and Mohler chipped in 11 points and six boards. Jayden Leonard scored 11 points to pace the Maroon Tide (14-12), the No. 4 seed from the Mountain Empire District, while Carly Sturgill finished with seven points and eight rebounds.
Hamilton scored 13 of PM’s 15 points in the first half, matching Galax’s team total as the Blues recovered from an early 7-2 deficit to claim a 15-13 lead at the break. The sophomore forward knocked down a pair of long jump shots – including an early 3-pointer – drove to the rim and made all four of her free throws across the first two periods.
“Victoria, offensively, kept us in the game in the first half,” said Gilbert. “She attacked the basket, hit open shots when nobody else was hitting… Without Vic in that first half, we’re not going into halftime with the lead.”
But Hamilton got plenty of help in the second half. PM came out firing as a team, starting the third quarter on an 8-0 run that featured four points from Claytor and a jumper from Mohler. That stretch put the Blues ahead 23-13, and the Maroon Tide wouldn’t come any closer than six points the rest of the way.
Gilbert thought his team showed some nerves in the opening two frames, but the Blues’ spurt early in the third quarter allowed them to take control.
“I thought we played tight in the first half. Every year, it seems that’s the case: you go into it, it’s that playoff atmosphere – that your season’s on the line,” the PM coach said. “I thought that [second-half run] was huge. That settled us down a little bit.”
PM took a 40-29 lead on Claytor’s transition bucket with 3:33 to go. After a triple from Leonard and a pair of Emily Edwards foul shots cut the margin to 40-34 at the 2:54 mark, the Blues would shut out the Maroon Tide the rest of the way.
And PM salted the game away at the foul line. After shooting just 21-of-37 at the charity stripe in their previous contest, the Blues converted 19-of-23 attempts against Galax. That included a 7-of-8 performance in the final 47 seconds.
“This team can shoot free throws. That is one of their better qualities,” Gilbert said. “We’ve just got to continue to get to the foul line and knock those down late.”
Jenna Sawyers added seven points for Galax, while Lena King tallied four points and four rebounds. Roberts notched four points for PM, and Emore recorded five rebounds and four assists.
