Fort Chiswell girls roll through MED Tournament

The Fort Chiswell Girls’ Varsity Basketball Team opened up MED Tournament play this week with a 20 plus point win over Auburn on Tuesday and scratched out another victory Thursday night 55-44 against the (17-4) Galax Maroon Tide to earn a third straight trip to the MED Championship on Saturday.

Galax had defeated the Pioneers in two regular season meetings by double digits each time. Fort Chiswell has put-up a 19-4 record under new Coach Jacob Underwood but stumbled a little at the end in regular season play with all four losses coming from Galax and George Wythe. However, Thursday night Coach Underwood had the Pioneers looking like they have at the end of the past two seasons with some glimpses of uptempo in-your-face pressure defense that kept Galax stumbling all night.

Pioneer seniors, Kara King and Sadie Robinson made it hard for the Tide to look inside to their three bigs as they picked passes and deflected many balls while the other two FC seniors, Blair Jackson and Elizabeth Cauldwell blocked shots and grabbed rebounds with the assistance of Pioneer Sophomore, Krista King. These efforts allowed the Fort to grab a 20 point lead in the second half, however, Galax was not willing to go quietly as they closed the gap to 6 points on Jenna Sawyers 14 points, Kayn Young’s 9, and Jaylen Leonard’s 9. But FC would find a way to hold-on down the stretch as they have done the past three years at this time of the year.

Blair Jackson, Pioneer All-Time Leading Scorer with over 2000 career points, led all scorers with 21 by getting Galax big three in foul trouble as she went 13-15 from the free throw line but the big story was the effort of her teammates that was so inspiring to all that was in attendance. 1000 point career scorer, Kara King, scored 15 points with three baskets coming from behind the arc. Saddie Robinson and Lily Goforth also busted some big treys while Krista King tossed in 4 points and Elizabeth Caudwell notched a big bucket for FC.

You never really know what will happen this time of year but one thing is for certain, these seniors from the Fort can make runs as they have made the Single A State Quarterfinals the past two years and won the Region C Championship in 2023. They have struggled with injuries and sickness for most of the season but just maybe, they might have one more run in them. I guess we’ll just have to sit back and hold on. It sure is fun to watch!!!