Fort Chiswell girls fall in region final

The Fort Chiswell Girls’ Basketball Team Played in the Region C Tournament Finals for the third time in three years Saturday night. FC won the title in 2023 as they defeated East Mont. in a come-behind win at VA Tech, however, the last two years the Pioneers have not been as fortunate as they have runup against the GW Maroons. GW prides itself on defense and that was the story on Saturday as the Maroons doubled and sometimes tripled Pioneer 2100 plus point scorer, Blair Jackson. She was held to a season low of 10 points and her counterpart and 1000 point scorer, Kara King, was also contained as she led the Pioneers with 12.

GW also struggled to score as well as they were led by Makaylan Luttrell’s 12 points as no other Maroon would break double figures as the Fort’s defense held strong for most of the game until the last quarter where a couple of three point shooters were left wide open. FC also killed themselves again at the freethrow line going 7-21 but still had a chance as GW was only up 3 with 1:00 remaining, however the score would end up at 47 to 39, GW.

With the loss, the girls drop to 20-6 on the year and have to travel to Honaker High School for the First Round of A State while GW will stay at home at host J I Burton. Honaker has a solid team talling only one loss on the year and will pose a challenge for the Pioneers as they have three girls averaging double figures. Maybe the girls from the Fort have a little magic left, we will just have to see.

FC Boys’ finished their season up on Friday night as they drew the GW Maroons in the Semis of Region C Play at Northside High School. The Boys’ from the Fort got into some major trouble early as senior bigman, Brayden Billings got 3 fouls in the first quarter and had four before halftime but the Pioneers still somehow managed to keep it close going into the second quarter as the Maroons had only a five point lead. However, this would soon pass due to the smothering GW pressure defense. Reed Kirtner, David Goode, and many other Maroons reached double figures on run outs and easy layups.

GW actually held the Pioneers their lowest point total of the year at 42. Pioneer freshman sensation Owen Jackson was held under his average of 23 as he noticed 16 hard earned points going 3 for 4 behind the arc. FC Junior, Kenton Sutphin, also helped the cause as he tossed in 9 points in the season ending 74-42 loss.

On a positive note, the boys from the Fort put up a solid season going 18-9 and they will return the majority of their team for a run next year, however, it will definitely sting to lose seniors Brayden Billings, Parker Moore, and Wyatt Ayers as they have played a vital part in the successful season.