HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS HOOPS: Honaker gets yet another Hogo win, takes over sole ownership of first place with win over Chilhowie (copy)
Honaker's Cadence Rose shoots the ball as Chilhowie's Madi Preston defends.
Chilhowie's Lexi Williams goes up for a shot around Honaker's Cheyenne Musick.
Honaker's Carey Keene calls a timeout as a pair of Chilhowie players go for the ball.
Chilhowie's Lexi Williams dribbles the ball down the court as Honaker's Dani Whaley guards.
Honaker's Cheyenne Musick shoots the ball through the Chilhowie defense on Friday night.
Chilhowie's Madi Preston goes up for a shot ahead of the Honaker defense.
Chilhowie's Madi Preston drives to the basket as Honaker's Cheyenne Musick defends.
Honaker's Paislee Lowe dribbles toward the basket as Chilhowie's Raegan Jones defends.
Honaker's Carey Keene shoots the ball as Chilhowie's Raegan Jones stretches up to block.
Honaker's Cheyenne Musick steps out of bounds as she drives the ball around the Chilhowie defense.
Honaker's Dani Whaley dribbles the ball around Chilhowie's Nia Hastings Friday night.
Chilhowie's Kylee Dancy drives to the basket as Honaker's Paislee Lowe defends.
Chilhowie's Lexi Williams dribbles the ball around Honaker's Ily Bandy.
HONAKER, Va. – Veteran Honaker High School girls basketball coach Misty Davis Miller called it her team’s best performance of the season and the masterpiece came at the most opportune time for the Tigers.
Playing tenacious defense and sharing the ball superbly, Honaker cruised to a 57-33 win over the Chilhowie Warriors on Friday night to take over sole possession of first place in the Hogoheegee District.
It was a familiar scene as Honaker hasn’t lost a Hogoheegee girls hoops game since rejoining the league for the 2023-24 school year.
A 15-0 run to conclude the third quarter sealed the deal for the Tigers in their latest triumph.
“I’ve been waiting for that turning point,” Miller said. “I told the girls to just keep working hard, buy into the system and hanging their hat on defense. Tonight, I thought we played with more intensity than we have all year.”
First-year Chilhowie coach Andy Blevins would agree with that assessment.
“Honestly, they played fantastic,” Blevins said. “They played better tonight than anything we’ve seen of them on film. Hats off to them. They deserved this win.”
Chilhowie (14-4, 4-1) scored the first six points of the second half to cut Honaker’s advantage to 26-21.
However, the Warriors didn’t score again over the final 4:55 of the third period as the Tigers had built a 20-point lead by the time the fourth quarter started.
“They make everything difficult,” Blevins said. “Every point we scored, it was a dogfight and was well-earned and that’s what good teams do. They make you earn every bucket.”
Honaker (12-5, 5-0) finished with 14 steals.
“We kept grinding on defense and played hard,” Miller said.
The duo of sophomore Julianna “Juju” Farmer (15 points, 11 rebounds, two assists, two steals) and senior Carey Keene (12 points, 11 rebounds, three steals) were once again tops for the Tigers.
Farmer burst on the varsity scene in a major way last year as Honaker won the Region 1D title and advanced to the VHSL Class 1 state semifinals.
There has been no sophomore slump as she’s been consistently good this winter.
“I knew I had to pick up my role on this team,” Farmer said. “I had to put in the work and that’s what we’ve all done."
Honaker finished with 13 assists on Friday, five coming from Cadence Rose.
“We’re really good at sharing the ball,” Farmer said. “Nobody’s selfish. We know how to read each other and know what each other is going to do.”
If you need more proof here's a remidner that nine of the 10 players in a Honaker uniform reached the scoring column on Friday.
“They are so unselfish,” Miller said. “Sometimes we pass when we should shoot, but I’ll take that any day. We saw the open man and made the right passes tonight. We had a lot of composure and didn’t turn the ball over.”
In what was a measuring-stick game for the Warriors, they couldn't quite stack up with the tough Tigers.
“They don’t really have weaknesses,” Blevins said.
Blevins has guided Chilhowie to one of Southwest Virginia's top turnarounds this season as the Warriors went 8-17 last season. Kylee Dancy had a team-high 13 points in Friday’s loss.
“Watching film on them the last two weeks, we knew they would come out aggressive,” Miller said. “[Blevins] has them playing hard and scrappy. They’re a good ball team.”
In what was a measuring-stick game for Chilhowie, Honaker remained the ruler of the Hogo.
“We got back into it [early in the third quarter] and that’s a credit to my kids,” Blevins said. “We didn’t play great tonight, but we played hard and gave ourselves an opportunity. Over the last half of the third quarter Honaker didn’t make any mistakes and they pulled away from us.”
CHILHOWIE (33) – Williams 1 1-5 4, Hastings 1 0-0 2, Montgomery 0 0-2 0, Hester 0 0-0 0, Hock 0 0-0 0, Preston 2 1-3 6, Dancy 6 1-2 13, Sheets 1 0-0 2, Jones 1 4-6 6, Blevins 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 7-18 33.
HONAKER (57) – Musick 2 1-4 5, Rose 2 3-6 7, C. Keene 4 2-2 12, Bandy 1 0-0 2, Whaley 3 1-2 7, Campbell 3 0-0 6, Farmer 7 0-0 15, Av. Keene 1 0-0 2, Al. Keene 0 0-0 0, Lowe 0 1-2 1. Totals 23 8-16 57.
Chilhowie 8 7 6 12—33
Honaker 10 16 15 16—57
3-point goals – Chilhowie 2 (Williams, Preston), Honaker 3 (C. Keene 2, Farmer). Total fouls – Chilhowie 13, Honaker 17. Fouled out – none. Technicals – none. JV game – Honaker won.
