Luray falls in state championship to Galax, 57-39

Parlett, lone senior, leads Luray in final outing with game-high 15 points

By Randy Arrington

RICHMOND, March 13 — Ever since the Luray Bulldogs upset second-seeded Riverheads in the Region 1B semifinal, many have said they were playing with “house money” throughout the rest of the postseason. However, the youthful ‘Dawgs didn’t see it that way. They weren’t waiting on the future, they wanted to win now. Three victories later, the Bulldogs were in the state championship.

“What I’ve learned from this year is don’t take it for granted,” LHS sophomore Emily Benson said. “We don’t know if we’re gonna be back, so you need to give your all.”

Having struggled through an early loaded schedule against Class 3 talent from the Valley League and trudging through a tough Bull Run District in Class 2 during the regular season — which included eventual Class 2 state champion Clarke County — the Bulldogs were more prepared for the VHSL Class 1 state tournament than many thought.

“We belong here, that’s been the whole message all week,” LHS head coach Joe Lucas said after Friday night’s state championship. “You belong, you’ve earned the right to be here too.”

“This is different than the other runs we’ve made,” said Coach Lucas — referencing three-straight trips to the Class 2 title game from 2020-2022 — “because…I told them, no one expected us to be here. It doesn’t make it any easier [to lose], but no one expected this …except for the kids in our locker room… they are warriors.”

Prior to Friday night’s matchup with the Region 1C champions from Galax (26-3), the young squad from Luray (18-11) — featuring three freshmen and two sophomores starting for most of the season — was told to ignore the opponent’s height, their experience, and they were told the story of David and Goliath.

And throughout the state title game, Luray played with a competitive heart worthy of the biblical tale of courage. A perfect 4-for-4 from the line and a three-pointer by junior Chloe Gochenour left Luray down only four at the end of the first quarter, 15-11.

The Maroon Tide from Galax hit three triples in the first frame and four more in the second to extend their lead to 31-19 at halftime. The Bulldogs struggled to score in the second quarter despite three-pointers from senior Ella Parlett and freshman Makenzee Owens. Those shots would be Luray’s only field goals, as the Bulldogs went 2-for-8 from the floor just prior to the beak. Galax went on a 16-8 run during those eight minutes.

While the real “maroon tide” was on the Luray side of the Siegel Center — outnumbering Galax fans 2-to-1 — the Maroon Tide on the court extended its lead in the third quarter to carry a 16-point advantage into the fourth.

Parlett, in her final game as the lone senior on the Bulldog squad, left everything out on the floor in one of the better games of her four-year career…and yes, we remember that buzzer-beater three-pointer from the corner a couple of years ago. Parlett scored nine of her game-high 15 points in the second half.

“She’s a warrior,” Coach Lucas said during a post-game interview, getting a little emotional. “If we could put a plaque up of ‘this is what our program is about’, it would be about her.”

Galax only hit 40 percent of their field goals on the night, 36.4 percent from three-point range, and 64.3 percent at the line, while committing eight turnovers. However, one big difference proved to be on the boards, where the Maroon Tide out-rebounded the Bulldogs 36 to 23, with 16 offensive boards.

“We knew it was going to be a challenge, and that was the No. 1 thing…is keep them out of transition and keep them off the glass. I thought we did a good job keeping them out of transition, but then the glass…,” Coach Lucas said. “A lot of that is credit to us having to rotate and help, and that takes somebody off the body of No. 34 and somebody off the body of No. 50 or No. 24, and then they’re going to the glass. I thought more so than just boxing out and rebounding, it was being able to keep them in front and force shots that we wanted them to take and then we’d be in better position to rebound it. So once they got us in rotation and sort of broke us down it made it more difficult to rebound.”

Behind Parletts’ game-high 15 points, Benson scoed eight points in the state championship, while sophomore Caroline Donovan added six and Gochenour had five. Overall, Luray shot 34.3 percent from the field, 50 percent from three-point range and 62.5 percent at the line, while committing 14 turnovers.

Madelyn Goad lead Galax with a game-high 15, while Rylee Hawks had 12 and Keely Bartlett added 10. Kayla Young had eight points.

“They were as good as advertised,” Coach Lucas said. “The game plan was to try to keep their guards in front and make them take contested twos, and they came out and got some wide open looks in the first half of the game and sort of took us out of what we wanted to do.

“We had to break some pressure when we fell down and their [Goad] and [Young] are really hard to keep in front so they just sort of were able to break us down,” Coach Lucas continued. “We wanted to keep them off the glass, which I thought we did a decent job of, but a couple of times when we were trying to make a run they would miss a shot and get an offensive rebound.”

Despite the growing deficit in the second half, the Bulldogs never gave up.

“I told them that I was proud of them [after the game]…that in order to win a state title you have to beat someone that is really good, and Galax is really good. We had a chance there in the first half, especially, and then they got it to 12 or 13 and we could never really chip back into it,” Coach Lucas said. “I was thinking even at the beginning of the fourth, can we get it under 10, to where maybe turn it into a foul game or try to bait them into some rushed shots. We had them take two threes and two consecutive offensive rebounds there and stuck it back in…if we rebound one of those and go down and score maybe we can put some pressure on them and make a run.”

As the final seconds ticked away, emotions overtook both teams. But despite the loss in their final game, the 2025-2026 Luray girls basketball team knew this season had been a special journey.

“It’s beyond special,” Parlett said after her final high school game. “I couldn’t have asked for a better group to do it with, and for them to let me be a part of it with them.”

“After losing that game, you see that nothing is handed to you,” Benson said after the state championship. “You have to work in the off-season.”

And that’s exactly what these young Bulldogs plan to do.

“I think we have a bright future,” Benson added. “I think we will get back, but at the same time we have to work and constantly stay in the gym to get back, and we have to stay focused if we want to get back.”

Though losses at this level are never easy, Coach Lucas hopes a state runner-up finish this season — his third in the past seven years, with one state title (2021) — will fuel his young squad to be hungry to return to the Siegel Center next year.

“I would hope it would light a fire under us….not just angry or upset that we lost, but saying like, man, this can be done…especially at Luray, where for the longest time girls basketball was kind of an afterthought,” he said. “Now, getting a taste of it, and seeing what it’s like…and all the fun things that come along with it, I think it will.

“They are made of the right stuff, and I think that it will motivate them to work on some things and get better and hopefully, have a chance to get back here.”

VHSL Class 1 Girls State Basketball Tournament

QUARTERFINALS ~ Tuesday, March 3