The Salem High girls basketball team won back-to-back games to start the week and improve to 11-1 on the season. Salem beat Blacksburg on Monday, 76-24, and Hidden Valley on Tuesday, 74-13, both at home.
The Spartans dominated the two district opponents. On Monday they raced to a 19-0 lead and never looked back. Emme Custer had 14 points, Gabby Crawley had 13, Bailey Rider had 13 points and eight steals and Aniyah Fox came off the bench to score 11. Kourtney Goens had 11 rebounds.
“Important game since Blacksburg is in our district and region,” said Salem coach Scott Jester. “We shot it well from three, making eight as a team, and got some good contributions from our bench as well.”
On Tuesday it was more of the same against Hidden Valley. Salem’s defense smothered the Titans and led to easy baskets. Crawley had 26 to double Hidden Valley’s team score herself while Custer had 15 and Goens had a dozen.
Last week the Spartans spent the last three days of 2025 in Sevierville, Tennessee playing in the Smokey Mountain Winter Classic. They lost for the first time this season but won twice against some of the best competition they’ll play all year.
“Overall it was a good trip for us,” said Jester. “It was good to get out and see some different teams with varying styles of play.”
Salem opened the event with a 58-51 loss to Gatlinburg-Pittman High of Tennessee. Four girls scored in double figures led by Goens with 13 points. Crawley had a dozen and Rider and Custer had 11 each.
“Tough loss against a really good team,” said Jester. “We didn’t do a good enough job of taking care of the ball to win. Learned a lot from this game.”
On Tuesday the Spartans bounced back with a 68-34 win over Wren High as Custer scored 23, Rider had 11 and Crawley 10.
“Good bounce back game,” said Custer. “We did a great job of attacking in transition for easy baskets.”
Salem closed out the Classic with a 70-48 win over Farragut. Rider led with 15 points in this one, Custer and Crawley had 13 each and Hart had 11.
“We were able to get paint touches all day, which allowed us to shoot 56 percent from the field as a team.”
The Spartans will hit the road this Friday with a game at Christiansburg. Next Tuesday, January 13, they go to Patrick Henry.
