Two for the Show: Radford Sweeps Titles

CHRISTIANSBURG, VA—It was a clean sweep for Radford High School’s basketball teams on Friday night, as both the girl’s and boy’s squads picked up victories in the finals of their Three Rivers District tournament championship games.

It took overtime in the night’s opening action between the Floyd and Radford girls, but the Bobcats were able to overcome a four point lead late in the extra session to pick up the incredible 53-51 victory.

Radford (20-2) trailed Floyd (17-5) late in overtime, 51-47, before mounting a comeback in the game’s final moments. Elizabeth Carter would hit a crucial three-pointer and pull the Bobcats within one point, as coach Kevin Conner took a timeout to set up a play with just 19.6 second left on the clock.

“I thought we had plenty of time,” Conner said. “A lot of teams in that situation will try to foul right off the bat. I didn’t want to. I felt that with 19 seconds that maybe we could force them into a 10-second call. So we were going to run a trap and try to get a steal. If they broke it and got past half court, then we were going to foul.”

What would happen in the next 10 seconds though would shock the Floyd crowd and send the Radford fans into hysteria. The Buffaloes would in-bound the ball and attempt to get it past half court.

However, Radford guard Pip Pattison would get a steal and almost fall out of bounds, but she would find teammate Maryah Sydnor for the lay up just before falling out. Sydnor would be fouled as well on the play, as the game completely changed in one moment. Sydnor recalled the play after the game.

“I just thought ‘oh my gosh’,” Sydnor said. “We knew we had to go all out and I just got in their faces. Pip came up and made a big steal, saved the ball, and I knew she was going to throw it to me. I saw her looking at me. We made eye contact and I just made a play.”

“Pip just made an unbelievable play on the basketball,” Conner said. “You aren’t going to see a more athletic play than that right there.”

Sydnor would hit the ensuing free throw and a Floyd attempt to tie the game came up short, as the Bobcats defeated their rivals for the coveted championship.

Radford had trailed by double digits heading into the second quarter of the game. Floyd’s Brittany Ingram scored eight points in the first quarter, six of which came from three-pointers. A career-high performance by Sarah Hale though would help lead the Bobcats to rally in the game.

Six of her 15 points in the game came in the second quarter, as Radford took an 11 point deficit and turned it into a two point margin, 34-32, heading into halftime. She finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.

“I feel like it was a game between two of the best teams in the state tonight,” Hale said. “It probably won’t be the last time we play them. I don’t want it to be the biggest game of the season though. I want us to go to bigger and better things.”

“This is her best game of the year and probably the best game of her career,” Conner said. “I thought she did a good job on [Carmen] Bolt. She got tired. We have been waiting for her to have a big night for us. She has been a solid role player for us and tonight she just stepped it up.”

That changed the game dramatically, as both teams continued to battle all the way to the final buzzer. Hale would also have the tying basket for Radford, which sent the game into overtime at 41-41.

Maryah Sydnor led Radford with 22 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks. Hale added a career-high 15 points and eight rebounds, while Pip Pattison didn’t score, but had nine assists and four steals, one of which helped five Radford the win.



In the boy’s championship game, it was hot shooting by Radford that gave the Bobcats the Three Rivers District Tournament Championship to match their regular season district championship.

It was all Mustangs early on in the game, as they would take a quick 12-2 lead thanks to four points each from Brad Wooten and Shawn Christian. That forced Radford into a timeout to regroup.

“I didn’t feel a sense of urgency or feel a sense of panic,” said Bobcats coach Rick Cormany. “I just felt like we needed to have a quick 30 second timeout and tell the guys it was going to be OK and that they had to defend harder and they are going to run out of steam. You can’t play at that pace if you don’t go to your bench.”

The Bobcats clawed their way back in the first quarter with clutch three-point shooting, exploiting the Mustang’s zone defense. In total, Radford hit four three-pointers in the first quarter to close the gap to 24-19 at the end of the first.

The hot shooting continued into the second, as a five point Eastern Montgomery lead quickly became a 15 point Radford lead before the quarter ended. Four Bobcats—Jerome Alexander, Jordan Alexander, D.J. Palmer, and Dontae Carter—would rally the effort, as the Bobcats hit five more three-pointers.

While the Radford shooting remained consistently hot in the second half, Eastern Montgomery would struggle to get scores. That stretched Radford’s lead into the 20s.
The Eastern Montgomery slump would end in the fourth, as they started to get some points, but the Bobcats never let up and answered every basket. That helped to seal the 82-61 victory and the Three Rivers Tournament Championship.

Jerome Alexander and Dontae Carter tied for scoring honors for Radford with 19 points. Alexander also grabbed 11 rebounds. D.J. Palmer scored 14 points and Jordan Alexander had a season-high 15 points.

After starting the season late and having a young team, Cormany talked how special this championship was with this group compared to last season.

“The thing about it is that it feels real rewarding and real special because I never would have thought we would run the table in our league like we did,” Cormany said. “I just didn’t think we were capable of doing that, especially with losing all of the players we lost. I think we’ve done it by committee and we’ve had different guys step up. We’ve been able to play so many players that we just kind of wear people down. We just keep the pressure on them. I think that is the best part of that.”

Carter reflected on winning two championships, first with a veteran group last season to a relatively young team this season.

“Last year’s team, we just had a lot of good leaders and a lot of seniors that helped encourage us and make us practice harder,” Carter said. “This year, it has just carried over from the leadership we had last year and helped realize what it takes to win a championship here. We’ve just brought that to the court and it has helped us.”

After their respective games, Radford’s Dontae Carter and Maryah Sydnor were both named Three Rivers Players of the Year. Cormany was also named Coach of the Year. Five Bobcats were given team honors, including Sydnor (First Team), Carter (First Team), Pip Pattison (First Team), Jerome Alexander (Second Team), and D.J. Palmer (Honorable Mention).

The Radford girl’s will return to the court for their first playoff action in Region C. Radford boy’s basketball team will also have a home playoff game on Wednesday. Pairings will be officially announced on Sunday on the Virginia High School League website, vhsl.org.