Marion edges Bearcats
Marion's Caden Burchett drives to the basket as Lebanon's Toby Baker defends in the third-place game of the 2025 Southwest District tournament.
Chilhowie's Jayden Schwartz shoots a three point shot over Patrick Henry's Kolby Hicks.
Patrick Henry's Jeb Stewart looks to pass the ball as Chilhowie's Bryce Robinson defends.
Patrick Henry's Autumn Parks drives the ball to the basket against Chilhowie's Mia Blevins.
Boys Basketball
Marion edges Bearcats
Caden Burchett’s free throw with 1.5 seconds remaining was the difference as third-seeded Marion survived for a 65-62 victory over Virginia High in the first round of the Southwest District tournament.
Burchett scored 12 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter as Marion outscored the Bearcats 22-13 over the final eight minutes.
Hayden Hall led the Scarlet Hurricanes with 21 points.
Marion had edged VHS 60-56 in the previous meeting between the teams on Feb. 3.
“Give a ton of credit to [VHS] Coach [Julius] Gallishaw. His team played hard tonight,” said Marion coach Jamie Hall. “Tonight reminded me exactly of our game a couple of weeks ago. We came out fast and had a pretty good first quarter. Things were pretty easy and our guys kind of relaxed after that first quarter and let Virginia High gain some confidence and before we knew it, we had a fight on our hands.
“I give credit to our kids though, they fought through it and found a way to win. I told them after the game that they work too hard to win games. I told them not to ever apologize for a win.”
Ryder Estes and Kayden Laws scored 18 points apiece for Virginia High. The Bearcats finished the season winless after losing all five starters from last year’s Region 2D runner-up squad.
VIRGINIA HIGH (62) – Estes 18, Laws 18, Anderson 3, Woolen 6, Presley 2, Hurley 3, Harvey 8, Collins 4, Robinson 0.
MARION (63) – Hall 21, Hutton 6, Pierce 6, Hylton 9, Burchett 16, Perkins 5.
Virginia High 13 15 21 13—62
Marion 19 10 12 22—63
3-point goals – VHS 7 (Estes 3, Harvey 2, Anderson, Hurley), Marion 3 (Pierce 2, Perkins)
Warriors rally for win over Holston
Chilhowie boys basketball coach Matt Snodgrass was not happy at halftime of Wednesday’s Hogoheegee District tournament game against the Holston Cavaliers.
“I was fired up,” Snodgrass said. “We had a little chat. The kids listened and we played a great third quarter.”
That chat translated into a 53-48 semifinal victory for Chilhowie.
The score was tied 24-24 at halftime and Snodgrass was frustrated that his Warriors were not attacking the 3-2 zone defense employed by Holston.
“Instead of driving inside, we were just passing the ball around,” Snodgrass said.
With 6-foot-3 senior forward Asher Chapman and junior point guard Jayden Schwartz providing the spark, Chilhowie pulled away with a 16-6 run to open the second half.
“We tried to trap a little more and pick up the tempo. And we were able to make things happen,” Snodgrass said.
Schwartz led the Warriors with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Chapman supplied six points, six rebounds, six assists and three steals.
“Asher does so many things that don’t show up in the scorebook,” Snodgrass said. “He sets the tempo for our press, takes charges, and is very unselfish. We have to tell him to shoot at times.”
What was the fundamental lesson that Snodgrass delivered at halftime?
“He just told us to pick it up,” Chapman said. “This was not our best performance. We were getting outrebounded , settling for jump shots instead of driving and not drawing fouls.
The Warriors created just one free throw attempt over the first two quarters.
“We can play much better than this,” Chapman said.
The halftime talk from Holston coach Chad Bailey was much more upbeat.
“We’ve had to make some tweaks to our zone because good coaches make adjustments, but it worked over the first two quarters tonight and we played with a lot of energy,” Bailey said.
Not much went right for Holston in the third quarter.
“No shots would fall and we missed out on a couple box outs,” Bailey said. “Chilhowie humiliated us in our last couple games, so I’m proud of our kids for fighting tonight.”
After falling behind 33-24 at the 4:25 mark of the third quarter, Holston pulled within 50-46 with 1:06 left in the game when junior Zac Cornett converted a 3-point play.
Free throws from Bryce Robinson and Schwartz over the final 37 seconds helped the Warriors hang on. Chilhowie made just 9 of 20 free throw attempts for the game.
Cornett led Holston with 17 points, while junior guard Brady Bailey added nine points.
The Rebels will face Chilhowie in Friday’s title game at 8 p.m., while Northwood takes on Holston in the 6:30 third place contest.
“Our guys don’t want the season to end,” Bailey said. “We were in the same position last year, and Northwood upset us.”
What lesson did the Warriors learn from Wednesday’s close call?
“That you can’t underestimate any team in tournament play,” Snodgrass said. “We always get the best shot from the opposition. That’s a compliment to our program, but we have to respond instead of just going through the motions.”
HOLSTON (48) – Bailey 4 0-1 9, Wuerz 2 0-0 4, Cornett 5 5-8 17, Tweed 2 0-0 4, Richardson 3 0-0 8, Tuggle 3 0-2 6, Norman 0 0-2 0. Totals 20 5-13 48
CHILHOWIE (53) - Chapman 1 3-6 6, Mullinax 2 0-2 5, Dickison 2 0-0 5, Sturgill 1 0-0 2, Schwartz 6 3-6 17, Bryce Robinson 3 3-4 9, Rouse 3 0-2 6, West 1 0-0 3. Totals 19 9-20 53.
Holston 10 14 6 18-48
Chilhowie 16 8 16 13-53
3-point goals – Holston 3 (Richardson 2, Bailey), Chilhowie 6 (Schwartz 2, Chapman, Mullinax, Dickison, West). Total fouls – Holston 18,Chilhowie 14. Fouled out – Norman
Rebels slam Panthers
Patrick Henry entered the night ranked first among all VHSL Class 1 schools in the Basketball Coaches of Virginia poll.
With a well-rounded performance, the Hogoheegee regular season champions lived up to that lofty ranking, besting Northwood 86-38.
“That’s a big honor for our program,” PH coach Fred Selfe said. “ We’ve embraced having a target on our backs.”
With his usual array of shots, senior forward Cade Caywood accumulated 29 points for PH. Junior guard Jeb Stewart (20 points), 6-3 senior forward Aidan Monahan (12 points) and senior point guard Carson Street (nine points) also played well for the Rebels.
Northwood opened the game in a 2-3 zone defense. But the Panthers had no answer for the powerfully-built Caywood in the paint or on the perimeter.
PH opened a 13-0 lead at the 5:01 mark of the first quarter and the margin expanded to 26-10 entering the second quarter.
When Street banked in a long 3-pointer at the buzzer, the Rebels had a 54-19 halftime lead and the suspense was over.
“It was a great team win,” Selfe said. “I was really proud of how hard all our starters and backups played. The guys love our playing style, and it’s great to have respect around the state.”
Six-foot-five junior post Brody Waddle topped Northwoood in scoring with 17 points
There is unique twist to the PH success story.
Before each game over the past three years, the entrance song for the Rebels has been the holiday standard “All I Want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey.
The bold idea was conceived by Monahan.
“I wanted us to run out to something happy, and Christmas is all about having a good time,” Monahan said.
Christmas is serious business for Monahan, who wore a Will Ferrell shirt from the motion picture “Elf” under his jersey on Wednesday.
“I’ve got like 40 shirts with Christmas themes and I watch the movie “A Christmas Story” every year,” Monahan said.
“It’s a blast having that tradition and being part of this team. My role is to play defense, get rebounds and do everything that other players don’t like to do.”
According to Selfe, the Christmas connection runs deep for all the Rebels.
“We listen to Christmas music during practices, at open gym session, and before games,” Selfe said. “We also buy Christmas shirts for the players.
“Aidan likes to be different and we just bought into the Christmas world. It’s worked for us.”
NORTHWOOD (38) – Prater 1 0-0 3, Little 1 0-0 2, Hockett 0 2-4 2, Colley 4 0-0 8, Gates 3 0-1 6, Terry 0 0-0 0, B. Waddle 8 1-3 17. Totals 17 3-8 38.
PATRICK HENRY (86) – Street 3 0-0 9, Rutherford 1 1-2 3, Stewart 9 2-5 20, Hicks 0 2-2 2, Monahan 4 4-6 12, White 1 0-0 2, Cannon 2 0-0 4, Barfield 2 1-2 5, Caywood 11 3-3 29. Totals 33 13-20 86.
Northwood 10 9 7 12-38
Patrick Henry 26 28 13 9-86
3-point goals – Northwood 1 (Prater) , PH 7(Caywood 4, Street 3). Total fouls – Northwood 6, PH 3. Fouled out – none
Panthers get past Indians
Duke Colley scored 20 points as the Northwood Panthers posted a 67-57 first-round win over Rural Retreat in the Hogoheegee District tournament.
Brody Waddle (15 points), Dalton Gates (13 points) and Dawson Prater (11 points) also scored in double digits.. The Panthers had beaten Rural Retreat in overtime last Thursday.
Rural Retreat had three players score in double digits as well with Brody Childers (20 points), Brody Allen (11 points) and Trever Shelton (11 points) achieving the feat.
RURAL RETREAT (57) – Childers 20, Shelton 11, Williams 2, Jones 0, Atwell 5, Allen 11, Robinson 8, Haga 0.
NORTHWOOD (67) – Prater 11, Little 6, Hockett 2, Colley 20, Gates 13, Terry 0, Waddle 15.
Rural Retreat 19 15 10 21—57
Northwood 15 14 18 20—67
3-point goals – RR 4 (Childers 3, Robinson), Northwood 2 (Prater 2).
Girls Basketball
Marion wrecks Richlands
Macy Osborne sank eight 3-pointers in scoring 30 points as the Marion Scarlet Hurricanes hammered Richlands 67-24 in the first round of the Southwest District tournament.
Aubrey Yarber added 12 points for the ‘Canes, who play at Virginia High in Thursday’s tourney semifinals in Bristol.
Marion sprinted out to an 18-5 lead and bounced back from a loss to Lebanon the night before.
“We played much better tonight than we have been,” said Marion coach Matthew Neese. “Needed a good night to try to get back on track. Richlands hit us with a tringle-and-two [defense] early. I am assuming they saw Lebanon’s success with it, but we handled it much better tonight. At this point in the year, you need to be playing your best basketball and we are hoping to win and advance.”
Jade Mitchell scored seven points for Richlands.
RICHLANDS (24) – Buchanan 3, Mitchell 7, Compton 0, B. Moore 3, Barnett 3, Breeding 5, Hale 3.
MARION (67) – Pike 3, Haulsey 2, Osborne 30, Mullis 9, Amos 8, Hall 3, Yarber 12, Phipps 0, Reynolds 0.
Richlands 5 6 6 7—24
Marion 18 13 23 13—67
3-point goals – Richlands 2 (Breeding, Hale), Marion 10 (Osborne 8, Pike, Hall).
PH topples Cavaliers
Autumn Parks scored 13 points and the Patrick Henry Rebels held off Holston for a 32-25 win in the first round of the Hogoheegee District tournament.
PH led 11-4 after one quarter and that fast started proved to be key.
“Our kids competed for four quarters and trusted the work we’ve been putting in all season,” said Patrick Henry coach Tyler Dotson. “Rivalry games are never easy, and I thought our effort and defense really set the tone. Earning a spot in the district tournament means a lot to this group. And they have their eyes set on hopefully extending their season.”
Andie Boone added nine points in the win.
Holston was led by the nine points of Allie Parks.
HOLSTON (25) – Long 0, Parks 9, Evans 8, Johnson 2, Jenkins 6, Remine 0.
PATRICK HENRY (32) – Alexander 0, Street 2, Counts 4, Bria. Garrison 2, Yarber 0, Scammell 0, Parks 13, Harris 2, Boone 9.
Holston 4 7 3 11—25
Patrick Henry 11 7 5 9—32
3-point goals – Holston, none. PH 2 (Parks 2).
Indians stomps Northwood
Lexi Buckingham had 15 points and five steals as the Rural Retreat Indians notched a 64-23 win over Northwood in the first round of the Hogoheegee District tournament.
Olivia Crouse added 12 points for head coach Charlie Cressel’s crew.
Channing Waddie scored 15 of Northwood’s 23 points.
