Ervinton knocks Bland County Lady Bears out of state tournament

By JERRY SCOTT/Correspondent

The one certainty about winning championships in sports is that there can be only one team come off the playing field with smiles on their faces, smiles that come with winning. Unfortunately for Bland County’s Bears, those smiles will still have to wait until another day.
Last Saturday morning and then into the afternoon at the Salem Civic Center in the Group A, Division 1 quarterfinals, Bland County could not come up with any answers in which to stop a taller Ervinton Rebels squad, a team that took it to the Bears early and except for one brief moment in the third quarter, had its way throughout before ending Bland County’s season with a 66-46 whipping of the Bears.
With Chelsea Hill pouring in 25 points and teammate Kelly Rasnick adding 21 more, the Cumberland District champions and Region D runners-up basically had little trouble in stopping the Bears, who captured Mountain Empire District and Region C titles en route to their third state tournament berth. The loss also brought to a close the Bears’ 16-game winning streak and closed their season with a 22-3 record.
The Rebels jumped on the Bears right out of the gate, taking a 7-0 advantage during the opening minutes of the game. Hill had five of the Rebels’ first seven points and the game was four minutes old before the Bears got on the board on an Erika Duncan 3-pointer.
Hill hoop on the baseline made it 9-3 and a Kim Hill putback had Ervinton up 11-3 with 2:41 left in the first period. The Bears’ Kirby Mustard treyed 20 seconds later to close the gap to 11-6 but jumpers from the Rebels’ Rasnick and Chelsea Hill as well as two Rasnick foul shots pushed Ervinton to a 17-10 lead by the end of the quarter.
Ervinton scored the first eight points of the second quarter to increase their lead to 25-10, Kim Hill getting two baskets in the burst. Laurel Hankins, one of five Bland County seniors that played their final game, converted a 3-point play with 4:23 left before halftime and Katie Tate added a layup off a Kirby Mustard assist as the Bears drew within 25-15 by the 4:05 mark.
“We gave up penetration way too much, especially in the first half,” Bland County’s Jason Lambert said. “The Hill girl penetrated at will, did what she wanted to. You hear about the Rasnick girl but the Hill girl’s a good player too.”
The Bears eventually pulled to within 29-21 with 2:23 left on Samantha Magyar’s second trey but two deuces by Rasnick as well as a Brett Newton free throw, all in the final 1:40, had the Rebels on top 34-21 at the break.
The third period got off to a rough start for Jason Lambert’s club with Rasnick converting the first of her three three-point plays as the Rebels led 37-21 just 24 seconds into the stanza. However, three Hankins free throws got those points right back moments later and kicked off a 14-2 Bears’ run that closed the deficit to 39-35 by the 1:46 mark. Hankins, who finished as the Bears’ lone double figure scorer with 20 points, had 10 points in the run.
“Laurel has always been the one that kind of takes over,” Lambert stated. “She knew we were struggling offensively and she started to take control. She’s a player. As a team we weren’t shooting the ball real well and she just took over.”
With 1:03 remaining, Ervinton’s Autumn Bond nailed a three-pointer that seemed to dash Bland County’s hopes right on the spot. Hankins answered with a deuce just inside the head of the key that made it 42-37 but a three-point play from Rasnick added to two Chelsea Hill foul shots in the final 41 seconds increased the Rebels’ lead to 47-37 to begin the final stanza.
“We made a heck of a comeback there but then we went three straight possessions and didn’t score,” Lambert noted. “When they scored eight straight at the end of the third quarter, I knew we were in trouble.”
After Chelsea Hill’s layin made it 49-37 in the opening seconds of the fourth, her two foul shots at the 6:16 mark enabled the Rebels to match their largest lead to that point at 52-37. A Mustard trey for the Bears cut it to 52-40 and a Jessie Blessing basket sliced the lead back to 10 at 52-42 but when Rasnick converted another three-point play, the Bears trailed 55-42 with 5:00 on the clock.
At this point, time was against the Bears and time was ticking away. Forced to foul, the Bears could only watch as Ervinton marched to the line and hit nine of 12 free throws in the final 3:19 to win going away. The win pushed the Rebels into one of two state semifinal games tomorrow at the Stuart C. Siegel Center in Richmond against Surry County, a 60-48 winner over Altavista in another semifinal game from the same side of the bracket.
In addition to scoring her 21 points, Rasnick also had eight rebounds for the winners. Kim Hill grabbed seven boards for Ervinton, which held a 33-29 edge on the boards. Bland County held an 11-9 advantage on the offensive glass but the taller Rebels converted second chance baskets on their end that the Bears couldn’t on the opposite end.
“They’re solid, they’re really aggressive, they rebound well, and they’ve got two girls that handle pressure well,” Lambert stated. “This time of year you’ve got to have that and they do a really good job. Down the stretch I knew it would be hard to come back on them.”
Hankins also grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked four shots for Bland County in addition to her career-ending 20 points. Fellow senior Magyar added eight points and Mustard six.
Chelsea Hill scored her 1,000th career point during the game for Ervinton and was awarded the game ball and a plaque after the game. Bland County’s Mustard fell 16 points short in her quest for 1,000 points as she finished her career with 984 points.

ERVINTON (24-4) 66
Mullins 1-3 0-0 2. Ka. Hill 0-3 1-2 1, C. Hill 6-13 12-15 25, Rasnick 7-13 7-7 21, Newton 0-0 1-2 1, Marshall 0-0 0-0 0, Spangler 0-1 0-0 0, Looney 0-0 0-0 0, Chaffin 0-0 0-0 0, Ki. Hill 4-10 0-2 8, Bond 3-5 1-2 8. TOTALS 21-48 22-32 66

BLAND COUNTY (22-3) 46
Dillow 0-3 2-2 2, Mustard 2-12 0-2 6, Magyar 3-7 0-0 8, Hankins 7-16 6-7 20, Duncan 1-7 0-0 3, Blessing 2-5 0-0 4, Tate 1-3 1-2 3, Morgan 0-0 0-0 0, Blankenship 0-0 0-0 0, Dinger 0-0 0-0 0, Wright 0-0 0-2 0. TOTALS 16-53 9-15 46

Ervinton 17 17 13 19—66
Bland County 10 11 16 9—46

3-point goals: C. Hill, Bond, Mustard (2), Magyar (2), Duncan
Rebounds: Ervinton 33 (Rasnick 8), BC 29 (Hankins 11)
Assists: Ervinton 8 (Rasnick 3), BC 7 (Hankins 3)
Steals: Ervinton 11 (Rasnick 4), BC 12 (Blessing 3, Tate 3)
Blocked shots: Ervinton 4 (Ka. Hill 1, C. Hill 1, Ka. Hill 1, Bond 1), BC 5 (Hankins 4)
Total fouls: Ervinton 14, BC 24
Fouled out: Mullins, Mustard