The Salem High girls continue to roll over the area competition as they improved to 20-1 with a 54-26 River Ridge District win at Pulaski County Tuesday night. The victory marks the third season in a row the Spartans have won 20 or more games.
The Spartans are currently the top-ranked team in Region 4D. The South Region tournament begins on February 20 but Salem will have a bye, then will have home games for the semifinal and final if they continue to win. The South final is on February 25 and the South and North winners will meet for the Region 4D championship on Friday, February 27.
Salem hosted Staunton River, the second place team in the Blue Ridge District, in the Adam Ward Classic last Friday night at Salem High. The visiting Eagles came in pumped up but proved to be no match for the Spartans as Salem took a 66-45 win behind 25 points by Gabby Crawley. Bailey Rider had 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Emme Custer had 15 points and 13 boards, including the 500th rebound of her high school career.
“Big win for us against a very talented team,” said Salem coach Scott Jester. “I wasn’t sure how we would play having two weeks without a game, but we really responded well.”
On Monday the Spartans played a make-up game at Blacksburg High and hammered the Bruins by 57 points, 75-18. Custer outscored Blacksburg herself with 23 points, Rider had a bakers’ dozen and Kourtney Goens had 12 points.
“Happy with our offense,” said Jester. “Our shot selection was good and all 10 players scored.”
Salem has yet to lose to a team from Virginia, as the Spartans only loss was to Gatlinburg-Pittman of Tennessee in a Christmas tournament. Salem will close out the regular season with a game at Hidden Valley next Tuesday and a home game with Christiansburg a week from tonight.
