The varsity and junior varsity women’s basketball programs at Pulaski County High School hosted the Salem Spartans Tuesday. The end result was a win for the JV squad and a loss for the varsity.
The JV Lady Cougar basketball team completed a perfect, undefeated season Tuesday with a 41-19 victory over the visiting Salem Spartans. Their final record will be recorded at 21-0.
The JV team outscored their opponents this season 915-441. In four of their games, the defense held the opposition to under eight points or less. With one of their games won by forfeit, that’s an average score of 45.75 points to 22.05.
Winning has become a normal thing for this team. In the 2018-19 season, they finished 22-0. The next year they took one loss, the season opener on the road against Carroll County with only five players on the team, but finished 21-1 after several eighth-graders were pulled up. The 2020-21 Covid season saw the team finish 6-0. The 2021-22 season was another perfect record at 17-0. Last year, the team finished 18-2.
That put the JV Lady Cougar basketball team at 105-3 over the course of the past six seasons.
“Our JV girls put in the work, and normally they’ve got some younger players out there,” Lady Cougar Head Coach Scott Ratcliff said. “This year we had two eighth-graders on the team. They will all be key players for us in the future. We’re all really proud of them for finishing up the way they did.”
Against Salem Tuesday, the JV squad took the lead early and never let up. At the end of the first quarter they led 8-1. It was 21-5 at the halftime break. With everybody getting in on the action throughout the game, the Lady Cougars led 32-11 after the third quarter and finished out the fourth quarter with the 41-19 win.
Kaliyah Green led the way with nine points. Lylah Minnick, Ellie MacDonald, and Ellie Russell added six points each. Peyton Harper, Palyn Sweet, and Dayonna Lewis added four points each. Brooke Millirons added two points in the win.
The Spartans were led by Brinklee Hall with eight points.
In the varsity contest, the outcome wasn’t what Coach Ratcliff and the Lady Cougars were hoping for. Salem came in with a record of 19-2, with their only two losses coming against Patrick Henry (18-4). Pulaski County had a record of 12-8, a position the Lady Cougars are not accustomed to.
At the end of the first quarter, the two teams were tied up at 7-7. Pulaski County outscored the Spartans 15-10 in the second quarter to take a 22-17 lead heading into halftime.
Things changed in the third quarter. Salem went on a run offensively and shut down the Lady Cougars defensively. Salem won the third quarter 19-5 to lead 36-27 heading into the fourth. The Spartans won the fourth 12-9 to earn the 48-36 win.
The Lady Cougars were led by Morgan Vest with 13 points. Six of her points came on two very timely three-pointers. Hannah Keefer backed her up with 10 points. Reece Nolen scored seven points. Jaden Lawson scored four points before fouling out. Taylor Goble added two points.
Salem was led by Gabby Crawley with 13 points and Bayley Rider with 11.
The Lady Cougars will now enter the River Ridge District playoffs. Friday, they’ll travel to Salem High School to take on Salem again.
Patrick Henry has the regular season district title and sit in first place at 12-0 in district play. Salem is second at 10-2 in RRD action. The Lady Cougars are third at 8-5 in the district. Blacksburg is fourth at 5-7. Christiansburg is the first team out at 4-7 in the district. Cave Spring is 3-9 in district play and Hidden Valley is 0-12.
Currently in Class 3, Region D, the competition is tough. Lord Botetourt and Magna Vista have records of 18-3. Carroll County, the defending State Champions, have a record of 17-3. Abingdon is sitting at 16-4.
“If we want to move on to the region playoffs, we’re going to have to do some big things in the district tournament,” Coach Ratcliff said. “We would need some things to go our way that are outside of our control also. Right now, we need to focus on playing the best basketball we can play Friday against Salem. That’s the only thing we need to be worried about.”
The game Friday at Salem High School is set to begin at 6 p.m.