Honaker Girls Defeat Castlewood

BY ANTHONY STEVENS
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
HONAKER, Va. – It wasn’t a district contest, but that didn’t diminish the intensity as two Russell County rivals battled.

The Honaker girls took a 56-48 win over Castlewood at A.P. Baldwin Gymnasium. It was obvious by the outstanding play that these are two of the top girls teams in Region D, Division 2.

“Defense and energy won that game,” Honaker coach Nathan Breeding said. “I put up on the board before every game to win every loose ball, and I thought in the third quarter we did that.”

Honaker frequently went into a half-court trap that caused Castlewood problems most of the night. The Blue Devils finished with 27 turnovers in the game. But the Tigers had some problems attacking offensively. Castlewood tried hard to control Honaker’s Rachel Artrip and Paige Tiller.

“We’ve seen that defense from Council and some other teams,” Breeding said. “They leave one or two open. It’s hard to match up and play man on us, with the two big guns we have. They were willing to let Jennifer Ball and Hannah Bostic try to beat them and tonight that strategy didn’t work.”

Bostic finished with 11 points and did a great job on the boards, especially grabbing offensive rebounds with most of her points coming from putbacks. Ball was also solid with nine points.

The two teams were very methodical, feeling each other out in the first quarter. But Honaker went on a 10-0 run at the start of the second quarter to take a 17-8 lead. But Lorren Evans scored on a driving layup with 4:50 to play in the first half to end the Castlewood scoring slump. It started an 11-0 Castlewood run and they finished the first half with a 25-21 lead.

The Blue Devils added to the lead early in the second half. Evans who finished with a game-high 20 points hit a 3 to give them a 32-26 lead with two minutes to play in the quarter. Almost by herself Artrip got Honaker back in the game with 10 of her 18 points in the final two minutes of the third quarter. Artrip dropped in a 3 to give the Tigers a 38-35 advantage going to the final stanza.

Both Artrip and Evans had to sit out some in the fourth quarter in foul trouble. Castlewood battled back when Kayla Gordon dropped in a 3 to tie it at 40. But the smallest girl on the floor for Honaker, Nicole Roman scored her only points of the game hitting a critical 3 to give the Tigers a lead they would not relinquish.

Tiller, Ball and Bostic all made big contributions down the stretch for Honaker.

“It was what I expected, an up and down game,” Castlewood coach Barry Ruff said. “It just boils down to us not rebounding. They outrebounded us three to one. I’ve got kids that shouldn’t be turning the ball over that did tonight. Their pressure got to us, but I think we could have survived the pressure if we had done a better job on the boards.”

The two teams split their regular season series. Castlewood had defeated Honaker 56-48 in the first game of the year for each team in early December. But I think most fans left with the feeling that these two teams may meet again.

CASTLEWOOD (48) – Evans 8 0-0 20, Addington 0 5-6 5, Gordon 4 0-0 9, Hall 3 2-4 8, Trent 1 0-0 2, Counts 0 2-2 2, Keen 0 0-0 0, Jessee 0 0-0 0, Wohlford 1 0-0 2, Gilbert 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 9-12 48.
HONAKER (56) – Roman 1 0-0 3, Bostic 3 5-10 11, Ball 4 1-2 9, Artrip 3 10-15 18, Tiller 5 3-6 13, Kiser 1 0-0 2, Hess 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 19-33 56.
Castlewood 8 17 10 13–48
Honaker 7 14 17 18–56
3-point goals – Castlewood 5 (Evans 4, Gordon 1), Honaker 3 (Roman 1, Artrip 1). Total fouls - Castlewood 23, Honaker 15. Fouled out –Hall, Counts. Technicals - none. JV Game – Castlewood won.

Castlewood 72, Honaker 57

In the nightcap, it was the Castlewood boys with a win over Honaker. Justin Smith got the Blue Devils off to a quick start with four 3’s at they took a 17-10 lead after the first eight minutes. Castlewood (14-4, 7-1) led by as many as 15 points in the second quarter but the Tigers narrowed the gap to 40-33 at intermission.

“We knew Honaker had improved,” Castlewood coach Wayne Rasnick said. “We’re accustomed to withstanding runs, I don’t like to do it but we’ve got a lot of practice at it. I’m proud of the no quit attitude of my kids.”

It was a two-point game going to the final quarter but Castlewood dominated, outscoring Honaker 20-7 in the final frame to roll to the win.

Smith finished with a game-high 22 points including six 3’s. Ryan Meade added 19 points and dished out eight assists. Zach Bush was tough inside with 14 points.

Justin Hall led Honaker (5-12, 2-2) with 12 points and Ethan Davis contributed 10 points.

CASTLEWOOD (72) – Smith 6 4-4 22, Rasnick 2 1-3 6, Meade 7 9-14 19, Bush 3 8-12 14, Allen 2 4-5 8, Collins 0 0-0 0, Dingus 0 0-0 0, Fields 1 0-0 3, Summers 0 0-0 0, Owens 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 26-38 72.
HONAKER (57) – Davis 3 1-2 10, Dye 1 3-4 5, Hall 5 2-4 12, Murphy 3 0-2 6, T. Brown 4 0-0 8, Gent 2 0-0 5, Ray 0 0-0 0, C. Brown 3 2-2 9, Vandyke 1 0-0 2. Totals 22 8-14 57.
Castlewood 17 23 12 20–72
Honaker 10 23 17 7–57
3-point goals – Castlewood 8 (Smith 6, Rasnick 1, Fields 1), Honaker 5 (Davis 3, Gent 1, C. Brown 1). Total fouls - Castlewood 18, Honaker 25. Fouled out – Hall, Davis, Rasnick. Technicals - none. JV Game - Honaker won.