Luray rolls past Essex in state semifinal, 54-23

Bulldogs making fourth appearance in state championship in seven years

By Randy Arrington

LURAY, March 6 — For the fourth time in seven years, the Luray girls basketball team is headed to Richmond to compete for a state championship. The Bulldogs easily defeated Region A champions Essex in a state semifinal on Friday night, 54-23. Luray (18-10) will now face off with Region C champion Galax (25-3) at 6 p.m. this Friday, March 13 at VCU’s Siegel Center.

“I’m so proud of them,” LHS head coach Joe Lucas said after Friday’s semifinal. “They just battled, and battled, and battled all year long. They’ve gone through some adversity, and they’ve shown some toughness.

“I told them, even if we weren’t in this position, they’re never going to get a chance to play with this exact same group of people. Most high school kids never get a chance to play for one state championship… So, just enjoy the heck out of this one tonight. They’ve earned it.”

Luray’s defense once again played a big part in the win, as Essex committed 21 turnovers in the first half alone. In the last three games, the Bulldogs’ opponents have committed a total of 74 turnovers.

“I was super stressed first half because we couldn’t score. I thought, we should be winning by more right now, but defensively I thought we were good all night long,” Coach Lucas said. “That’s sort of been our calling card all season being able to keep us in games when we don’t have great offensive games.”

The first period of the state semifinal proved competitive behind the play of Essex seniors Morgan Self and Aryeon Robinson. With 50 seconds left in the first quarter, Self went down, screeching in pain and gabbing her left knee. The visiting Trojans wouldn’t be the same for the rest of the game.

“She was a problem. She’s really good. I thought they might be able to rally around her a little bit and try to make a run, but I told our girls just ignore it, just play. Stick to our game plan. Even with her being out, we wanted to try to speed them up and put some pressure on them,” Coach Lucas said after the game. “We figured if we could put some pressure on their guards, push everybody left…you know it’s terrible that their best player got hurt there….We knew they were strong and physical in the half court, so we’d have to speed the game up a little bit, and that’s what we tried to do throughout the course of the game.”

Essex went 2-for-9 from the floor in the second quarter, and with a 13-4 run during the period, Luray held a 22-11 lead at the half. The momentum continued in the third, as the Bulldogs outpaced the visitors 17-10 and held an 18-point advantage heading into the fourth.

The Trojans would go 0-for-8 from the floor in the final frame and only score two points from the line. Overall for the game, Essex hit 27 percent from the floor, 46 percent from the line and committed 37 turnovers. Robinson lead the Trojans with 10 points and was the only Essex player with more than three.

Freshman Brylee Painter lead Luray with 18 points, followed by freshman Makenzee Owens with 11 and sophomore Caroline Donovan with 10. Overall, the Bulldogs hit 46 percent from the floor, 46 percent from the line, and committed 19 turnovers. Both teams combined for 56 turnovers during the state semifinal.

Luray has breezed through the last three playoffs games, including the Region 1B championship. Having gone from being one of the smallest schools in Class 2, to one of the largest in Class 1, Coach Lucas recognizes how a tough early schedule against quality Class 2 and Class 3 schools has prepared them for this year’s postseason.

“It’s been huge for us. Playing those teams in the Bull Run and then our out-of-district schedule [among Valley District teams]…we wanted to play that type of competition and be able to respond to some losses and be able to game plan for really good teams,” Coach Lucas said. “All year was about building habits, even when we had to go play Clarke, or Strasburg, or Broadway, or East Rock, those type of teams, it’s just…this team is really good, how do we prepare and how do we practice, and what do we need to do to give ourselves a chance to win. And then now, we’ve been doing it for four months, so now with these play-off games…our play-off preparation, isn’t any different than what we’ve been doing all year long.”

Their next opponent is a tough 25-3 squad from Galax that captured the Region C crown after defeating George Wythe, 76-68. In order to reach the region championship game, No. 2 Galax upset No. 1 seed Narrows, 66-50. They met George Wythe again in the other state semifinal on Friday night. The eight-point win they earned in the region title game, grew to a 24-point victory seven days later.

Coach Lucas knows the task will be tall at VCU’s Siegel Center on Friday, but he believes his team has the grit to earn a second state championship for Luray.

“It’s their maturity, it’s their toughness…we purposefully scheduled some really tough games… We might take some lumps along the way, just so that we’re hopefully prepared for big time games like these, Coach Lucas said. “They work extremely hard, they’ve raised their confidence throughout the year.

“We’ve talked a lot the past three or four games about just trust in all the work you have done, not to be nervous, not to be afraid…They’ve done what it takes and now it’s starting to show.”

VHSL Class 1 Girls State Basketball Tournament

QUARTERFINALS ~ Tuesday, March 3