The Salem High girls will be back in Richmond Saturday to attend to some unfinished business. Salem will play for the Class 4 state basketball championship at 11 am at the Siegel Center on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University.
The Spartans will be in the state final for the second year in a row. Last year they lost in the championship game to Heritage of Leesburg to finish their season at 27-3. This year the Spartans will be heading back up 81 with a 27-1 record and an undefeated record against Virginia teams. Their only loss was in a Christmas tournament in Tennessee to Gatlinburg-Pittman High, 58-51. It was a game the girls agreed that they didn’t play their best and should have won.
The Spartans have won 20 in a row since then, including a 42-34 victory over Hampton High in the state semifinal in Salem on Tuesday. The Spartans will be playing Manor High of Portsmouth in Saturday’s championship game. Manor defeated Heritage of Leesburg Tuesday in the other semifinal, ending the chance of a rematch of the 2025 championship game.
It’s an interesting matchup to say the least. Manor is 25-1 after Tuesday’s win but their post-season has not been without controversy. During the Region 4A tournament the Virginia High School League ruled that a Manor player was ineligible and the Mustangs were forced to forfeit a playoff game, which would have eliminated them from the tournament. However, a few days later Portsmouth judge Brenda Spry ruled that the Manor High team would be allowed to continue postseason play, ruling that the previously ineligible player was, indeed, eligible. Given new life, Manor beat Hanover in the state quarterfinal by 54 points, 95-41, then eliminated defending state champion Heritage of Leesburg in the semifinal by 32, 62-30.
Salem’s semifinal game was a lot closer, although the Spartans never trailed in their game with Hampton. The Spartans jumped to a 10-0 lead as Gabby Crawley hit two three-pointers and the smothering Salem defense forced the Crabbers to take highly contested shots.
“It was good to get off to an early lead but I knew they’d make a run,” said Salem coach Scott Jester. “It was a game of runs.”
Hampton regrouped and cut the lead to 22-17 by the half, then scored six of the first eight points in the third quarter to cut the lead to one, 24-23. From there it was nip-and-tuck but the visitors never did draw even as Salem answered the bell every time it rang. Center Emme Custer was big down the stretch with seven points in the third quarter and two big back-to-back buckets in the fourth that put Salem up by seven at 38-31. The Crabbers got no closer than four after that, and some good defense and a couple free throws by Kourtney Goens put it away.
“Our defense was definitely the key, especially in the fourth quarter,” said Jester. “We got some big stops down the stretch.”
Custer finished with 16 points to lead the Spartans, followed by Crawley with 13. Bailey Rider had seven, Goens had four and Lexi Hart had just two points but played a solid game handling the ball against Hampton’s pressure defense.
Jester is hoping being in the state final last year will be a benefit this Saturday.
“Last year we were wound up pretty tight when we got on the bus to leave Salem,” he said. “Now that we’ve done it before, I’m hoping we just relax and play.”
Jester has seen video of Manor and knows it won’t be easy. It never it is this time of year.
“They have a couple really good guards and a good team,” he said. “But I like our chances against anybody.”
SPARTANS ARE ON THE AIR SATURDAY
Saturday’s Class 4 girls’ state championship basketball game between Salem High and Manor High of Portsmouth will be aired on Fox Sports Radio 910 AM, 104.3 FM and streamed live.
Salem’s own “Radio Ron” Myers will do the play-by-play with an airtime of 10:30 am for the game that’s scheduled to tip-off at 11 am. Dave Ross or Wally Dennison will provide color commentary.
