By LLOYD COMBS
for the Daily Telegraph
HURLEY, Va. — Neither bitter cold, nor snow, ice or dark of night could keep the Black Diamond District from its appointed final rounds. On yet another icy cold night in a long, cold month Twin Valley captured the BDD girls title with a 49-44 victory over Honaker in Wednesday night's opener.
In the boys finals Honaker easily ran past short-handed Grundy, 67-50. The games capped a tournament that began back on Dec. 17 and it was all about bragging rights and trophies in this first year after VHSL realignment. No other area district staged a tourney.
Twin Valley picked up its second win over Honaker in less than two weeks with a balanced effort in an occasionally sloppy, but tightly contested game that featured 15 ties and 15 lead changes a high number for a game in the 40s.
Alexis Vance scored 12 points, Kara Goodman added 11, Alexis Boyd 10 and Lakin Keene tallied nine, including a 3 that accounted for the last lead change of the game. It gave Twin Valley a 44-42 lead with 3:29 remaining.
Leah Elswick's bucket with 2:21 left marked the last tie at 44-44. Goodman broke that tie with a free throw at the 2:12 mark, Katelyn Jackson added a runner and both Vance and Keene added free throws in the final minute.
"I think we just got lucky and made some shots and Honaker missed a few down the stretch," Twin Valley coach Rick Goodman said. "Katelyn made a big shot down on the baseline and Lakin hit a big three for us. I thought Lakin's defense and Boyd's defense made a big difference, too."
Losing Laken Robinette to fouls with 1:54 remaining hurt Honaker (10-5) at the end. She was the Tigers lone double figure scorer with 14 points.
Megan Ray added nine points for Honaker, which shot just 27 percent (17-of-63) from the field.
"Our shooting percentage has killed us both times we've played them," Honaker coach Misty Davis Miller said. "We shot 22 percent at home and we shot 27 percent tonight. "We did do a better job defensively and we did a better job on the boards against them. It's just hard to beat a good team shooting like that."
Goodman pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds, while Vance, a freshman, added four assists and three steals. Vance hit six of eight free throws in the fourth quarter.
"There were just a lot of momentum changes in the game," Miller added. "It seemed like we would make a run and then we couldn't make a shot. And they shot well at the free throw line, I thought that made a big difference."


Girls
HONAKER (44)
Musick 3 0-1 6, Deel 2 1-1 5, Shelton 0 0-0 0, Miller 0 0-0 0, Robinette 4 4-6 12, Elswick 2 1-2 5, Ray 3 3-3 9, Meade 3 1-1 7, Vandyke 0 0-0 0. Totals - 17 10-14 44.
TWIN VALLEY (49)
Boyd 4 1-1 10, Vance 2 8-12 12, Keene 3 2-4 9, Goodman 3 4-6 11, O'Quinn 1 0-0 2, Meadows 1 1-2 3, Jackson 1 0-2 2, Ramsey 0 0-0 0, Stanford 0 0-0 0. Totals - 15 16-27 49.
Honaker.............................7 14 16 7 — 44
Twin Valley.......................10 13 11 15 — 49
3-point goals-Hon-none. TV 3 (Boyd, Keene, Goodman). Total fouls-Hon
20, TV 13. Fouled out-Robinette, Deel. Technicals-none.