Four teams from the southwestern part of the state won state basketball championships in the Virginia High School League tournament in Richmond from Thursday through Saturday.
Both George Wythe’s boys and girls teams won state titles for the Wythe County school. The girls teams from Central of Wise County and Lord Botetourt in Botetourt also won state championships in their respective classifications.
Here’s a day-by-day recap with a full list of all 12 state championship games below.
Saturday’s games: Class 6 and Class 3
Lord Botetourt girls win
Lord Botetourt won the Class 3 girls state championship, defeating previously unbeaten James Monroe of Fredericksburg 49-44. The team rallied from a halftime deficit of 29-23 with a third quarter that saw the Cavs outrun James Monroe 16-5 to take the lead.
See our previous story on Lord Botetourt’s 2020 team that never got to play for the state title after the pandemic shut down the tournament.
In other VHSL action Saturday:
Spotswood won the Class 3 boys title, topping Hopewell 57-50.
South Lakes won the Class 6 boys title, defeating G.C. Woodson 68-60.
Osbourn Park won the Class 6 girls title, beating Manchester 60-48.
Box score from Lord Botetourt game:
LORD BOTETOURT (26-3)
Kingery 3-7 0-0 8, Dann 3-5 1-4 8, Winterton 1-12 4-8 6, Caron 7-16 1-2 15, Hoover 0-6 6-9 6, Naff 2-3 1-2 6, Meade 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-49 13-25 49.
JAMES MONROE (25-1)
Black 2-3 0-0 4, Johnson 3-6 0-0 9, Lewis 4-17 6-8 14, Jones 2-3 0-0 4, Salgado 4-12 0-2 8, Robinson 1-3 0-0 3, Swain 1-2 0-0 0. Taylor 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-48 6-10 44.
Lord Botetourt….10…13…16…10–49
James Monroe……14…15….5…10–44
Friday’s games: Class 4 and Class 1
Both George Wythe boys and girls win; Salem girls fall short
George Wythe fans will have a happy ride back to Wytheville. Both the boys and girls basketball teams from the school won state championships Friday.
The girls won the Class 1 girls basketball state title, defeating Buffalo Gap 50-44. Then a few hours later, the boys won a championship as well, topping Franklin 77-38.
Meanwhile, Heritage-Leesburg defeated Salem 46-37 in the Class 4 girls title game. In the Class 4 boys championship game, Atlee triumphed over Varina 66-44.
The state championship games for both boys and girls in Class 6 and Class 3 will be Saturday at the Siegel Center in Richmond. The only remaining team from the western part of the state is Lord Botetourt, whose girls team takes the court against unbeaten James Monroe of Fredericksburg on Saturday.
Thursday’s games: Class 5 and Class 2
Central-Wise girls win state title; Graham boys and Fleming girls come up short
Central High School from Wise County claimed the Class 2 girls basketball championship Thursday, defeating John Marshall 75-45.
John Marshall hoped to win two state titles on the Siegel Center court at Virginia Commonwealth University, but only took one. The boys team defeated Graham 107-81 in the Class 2 boys game.
In Class 5 boys, Green Run defeated Albemarle 43-41 on a buzzer-beater while Princess Anne ran away with the Class 5 girls title, 70-28 over William Fleming.
VHSL state championship action continues Friday and Saturday.
Here’s the full schedule:
Class 6 boys:
South Lakes 68, C.G. Woodson 60
Class 5 boys:
Green Run 43, Albemarle 41
Class 4 boys:
Atlee 66, Varina 44
Class 3 boys:
Spotswood 57, Hopewell 50
Class 2 boys:
John Marshall 107, Graham 81
Class 1 boys:
George Wythe 77, Franklin 38
* * *
Class 6 girls:
Osbourn Park 60, Manchester 48
Class 5 girls:
Princess Anne 70, William Fleming 28
Class 4 girls:
Friday, March 14
Heritage-Leesburg 46, Salem 37
Class 3 girls:
Lord Botetourt 49, James Monroe 44
Class 2 girls:
Central-Wise 75, John Marshall 45
Class 1 girls:
George Wythe 50, Buffalo Gap 44